Yes, and they are difficult little bastards to catch. They bite a lot like walleye and it’s really hard to tell when they’re munching on your shrimp. I hate those little bait stealers. LOL.
My guys (husband and son) mostly spearfish, so they don’t have to trick them into getting on hook. I think in recent years they may have come out with a rig that is specifically for their type of mouth. Being a 7th generation Floridian, the fishermen I’ve seen with the best technique for catching Sheephead will pull up near a piling on a bridge and scrape the barnacles on the piling which sends them into a bit of a feeding frenzy, they catch them in that atmosphere.
They are my favorite fish to eat. The guys spear every kind of fish, grouper, snapper, hogfish, mackerel, amberjack...but I say, just take some time out of chasing those and bring me some Sheephead. Plus the Sheephead has the lowest mercury content of almost any fish because they’re not eating other fish,
but barnacles, crustaceans, etc.
A lot of people think they’re “junk fish” but a local captain says “The only people who don’t like Sheephead are the people who’ve never eaten a
Sheephead.”