Page 102 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2020

SPORTS & OUTDOORS
Tiny Nibbles,
Anglers Without Boats Can Still Catch Big, Powerful Fish
story and photos by
John N. Felsher
A
nglers chasing speckled trout and red sh frequently rank sheepshead
low on the desirability scale because their thick spines and
tough scales make them di cult to clean, but nobody disputes their ghting abilities. In recent years, though, more people began to take advantage of the fabulous sheepshead action found all along the Mississippi coast, particularly when the weather turns cooler.
With teeth set in muscular jaws and perfectly suited
for crushing shelled creatures, sheepshead typically stay around any hard barnacle-encrusted structures. They like to hang around bridge or dock pilings, sunken boats, shing piers, seawalls, reefs, petroleum platforms and similar places. For this reason, sheepshead give anglers without access to boats opportunities to catch large, powerful sh.
Built for power, not speed, sheepshead don’t slash and ash like speckled trout. Instead, they simply rely upon brute strength. They hunker down in entangling structure refusing to budge and daring anyone to bring them to the surface.
102 | November 2020
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