You can easily catch sheepshead in while bay fishing in Port Aransas. Catching these species is a delight especially for people who prefer fishing during cold and blustery weather. Fishing in winter winds that sometimes reach 25 mph is a little difficult but the number of sheepshead you will reel in will make it worth the effort. Port Aransas fishing guides can help you identify sheepshead species and teach you how to catch them.
How Port Aransas Fishing Guides Identify Sheepshead Species
If you sign up for guided fishing trips in Texas, you will learn that sheepshead species do not hunker down and stop eating in teeth-rattling chilly conditions like other species. During Port Aransas fishing trips, your guide may inform you that sheepshead are members of the porgy family and that if you look at their teeth, you will realize sheepshead are related to pinfish.
The sheepshead fish is a flat, oval fish that has humanlike teeth, which is very creepy especially when the fish is served on a plate. But the fish is just too delicious. On average, the sheepshead fish weighs about 21 pounds and can reach a length of 35.8 inches. Their backs are elevated behind their head and their body is usually gray or green-yellow in color. A distinctive feature mostly observable on juveniles of this species is the four or five dark vertical bars that run across their bodies.
What Do Sheepshead Eat?
Your Port Aransas fishing guides will tell you that the creepy sheepshead teeth help sheepshead process their varied diet. They use their adult molars and incisors to process food such as clams, crabs, oysters and even some plant material. Younger sheepshead do not have well developed teeth and for this reason eat marine worms, moss animals, and anything else that is soft bodied. Their jaw line musculature also becomes stronger as they get older which also affects what they eat.
Sheepshead Habitats Ideal For Fishing Charters In Port Aransas TX
Specifically in Port Aransas, sheepshead species can be found living near pilings where they graze for small shellfish and barnacles. But young sheepshead live in shallow, grassy areas. When the water temperature dips in late fall and winter, they move to offshore spawning ground. This is probably why they seem to be so abundant during the winter.
Catching Sheepshead
One thing all experienced Port Aransas fishing guides know is that sheepshead species are very good at stealing bait. So during your Port Aransas fishing trips, always reel in your line every two minutes to check if the bait is still on the hook. To catch sheepshead, go fishing during winter and use bait such as fiddler crabs, sand fleas, tubeworms, barnacles and more.