When the calendar finally turns to March many families can finally start their count down the until their long awaited spring break beach vacations becomes a reality. Some families head for the mountains but most vacationing families choose to head south towards a beach and some much needed warmer weather. Enjoying the beach is always fun but many visitors choose take a brief break from the beach and take an exciting inshore fishing charter with Fins and Family Fishing. Spring fishing can mirror the weather and be a bit volatile at times but it can also produce some of the best weather, and thanks to Sheepshead, the best inshore fishing of the entire year.
Sheepshead are a beautiful, strong, and tasty saltwater species that moves to the inshore waters in the spring to spawn. They are frequently caught around jetties, bridges, docks, and reefs and their reputation as tremendous fighters is well earned. Most spring break anglers aboard a Fins and Family Fishing inshore charter will catch their Sheepshead on circle hooks baited with live shrimp or pieces of fresh shrimp but we sometimes use Fiddler Crabs as well. The average Sheepshead we catch weighs north of five pounds and they can occasionally weigh in at more than ten delicious pounds.
Sheepshead meat is generally considered to have a mild flavor and it can be prepared in a number of tasty fashions. Fried, blackened, grilled and pan seared methods are all great choices and are common cooking methods in kitchens and restaurants all along the gulf coast. But a lesser known and super tasty way to prepare the white, flaky meat of the Sheepshead is to wrap it in chessecloth and boil it in crab boil. That's right! We said crab boil! The best poor man's crab you will ever make is made from Sheepshead.
So if you find yourself along the Alabama gulf coast on your spring break trip look us up and book an inshore fishing charter and see what Sheepshead fishing is all about. Your stomach will thank you!
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