Hello again fishermen of reddit! Im planning on targeting sheepshead this weekend by positioning myself beneath bridges and against their pillars, after looking around online I see alot of fishermen recommend bringing a scrapper to scrape barnacles off the pillars to chum the water– I also see that the recommended setup is a multi-hook drop rig similar (but not exact) to the picture I attached. Most sources I found recommend a 1# live-bait hook but I was wondering if it would be alright to use a circle hook? And if so what size?
Bonus question: I plan on spacing my hooks 1/2 foot apart with about 3-4 inches of line between the hook and the "mainline"– For fishing in a somewhat shallow river does this sound about right?
TLDR; is it okay to use circle hooks on a multi-hook drop rig when targeting sheepshead, and if so what size?
(Picture attached is just for clarity the size and specifications do not match what I plan to use).
Posted by FishingCollin
4 Comments
Also forgot to mention I plan on bringing sand-fleas and shrimp as bait! I hear crab is the best but I haven’t been able to find a store for it. Just writing this in case anyone was wondering.
That rig with shrimp will work, I never used sand fleas but that’s probably ok too. Scraping barnacles off pillars is a good idea to chum the water.
I sure hope you mean 1-3 OUNCES of lead and not 1-3 pounds! Haha
Don’t put a whole shrimp on a hook, they will just pick it clean. Use small pieces. I like size 1 hooks. You can use circle hooks just fine. Im not a big fan of using multiple hooks like that because I think they’re a pain in the ass, but that rig will catch them fine. I like picking crabs from the mangroves and using those as bait. They work the best because they actually have to inhale and crush the crab giving you more time to feel it and set the hook. With shrimp I feel like they inhale it and feel the hook and try to spit it out quicker.