Hey guys, havent posted in a while, had to even register again.. but, been trying out the jetties lately and haven't had much luck, have a 19' boat and have no problems getting close enough, just not sure where "the" spot is.. I have caught a ton of toadfish, sea bass, and blues, but I would really like some sheepshead.. any pointers?

I have tried the jetties all over, been on the fernandina side, inlet part, jax beach side, just always seems to be the same... and I am talking about the jetties in Mayport in case there are any others..lol. I have tried bottom fishing near them with a fish finder rig with shrimp(dead/alive) fiddler crabs, etc.. I have also tried to "bounce" a jig head with various bait along the rocks, just not getting the target fish I want.. Maybe its just the luck? Well, the girlfriend planned a surprise trip to the keys from saturday to saturday for my birthday, so I don't have to worry about not catching anything, going to bring the boat down and can let you guys know what I catch there if anyone's interested!

update: going to hit the jetties up this morning just becaue I still have the vacation days rolling ; )

Welcome back. Sheephead has always given me fits until I went with someone who gave me a little lesson. He says basically you have to set the hook before they bite. OK smart guy, so how do I know they're ready to bite? He just laughed. Anyway, they are pros at stealing bait. I improved my chances when I bought a bait caster and stopped using my spinner. With a spinning rod you open the bale and close it when it hits bottom, but you can't feel the line as it drops due to slack. By the time you close the bale and reel in any slack you've been robbed clean. With a bait caster I can thumb the line so there is no slack on the way down, thus I am able to feel any bump or movement of my line. I can also throw up into the rocks and "bump" my bait down the contour of the jetty. I'm not saying you have to have a bait caster, only that it improved my success.

As far as tackle I've used jigs as well as fish finder rigs. On the fish finder I only want about 6 to 8 inches of leader between hook and weight. The more leader, the more slack thus the less "feel".

Here's a couple of pics from the last time I fished Mayport jetties, which has been quite some time. It was by far my best day of sheepshead fishing ever. Between my buddy and myself we caught 37 in about 3 hours. We of course only kept our legal limit of 30. Wow, what a day.

Wow! Definetly a nice day! I will have to give that a shot, been using the bait caster now just because its my favorite kind of rod to use anyways..lol. I did go back and look and I could trim my leaders quite a bit. I will say that I have noticed what looks to be phantom bites where I reel up and no bait.. But I did have a decent day yesterday, two sheepshead, and man is it good for the table. I did lose a few rigs trying to bounce the rocks though Also not sure if you remember, but how far out along the rocks were you? And what kind of hooks were you using on the end of those fish finders? Keys trip tomorrow, holy cow am I excited. And thanks guys for the welcome backs!

Day 1, a little tired from the drive to do any real fishing, just messed around off the back dock and caught some really small mangroves and tarpon. Day 2, caught almost 30 something mangrove snapper, only 7 of them keeper size, kept 2 to eat : ) Also a couple of little tarpon.. not bad for a first day. Going to do a little off shore trolling tomorrow and we'll see what kind of good stuff I get there, supposedly the good weed lines are only 1 mile off right now. Thanks DFjoe, looked up that anchors aweigh charters thing you do, pretty cool stuff, good for you. Must feel like a million bucks everyday.

Sounds like you're having a good time, but what about this low. Been blowing like crazy around here. What's it like down there?

On the inside of the north jetty about 100 yards from the end and on the outside of the south jetty about 30-40 yards from the end.

Weather has actually held up pretty nice down here, seems like our key is in between the two low systems they have here, it will rain for about 30 mins and then its bright and sunny the whole day, we actually got out and the seas couldnt have been more than 1ft. Yesterday was awesome, did some bottom fishing at a shallow reef. The girl had more luck than me, she pulled up 2 groupers at least 15 lbs each. Fished there for about an hour and headed out to deeper water, found the most obvious weed line I have ever seen in my whole life and trolled that all day in about 230 feet of water. Funny thing is we forgot our gaff, sunblock, spot map, and most importantly, cameras.. lol. But i had nice bites all day, first bite was a good size tuna that snapped the line about 15 feet from the boat, and 20 mins later had a sail that snapped the other, didnt get any other bites until about an hour and a half later and it was nothing but schoolie dolphins, those things are aggressive down here, they chased the boat and we got so tired of putting new bait on the lines that we just started throwing trolling skirts out and were catching them with those. Couldnt get one big enough to bring home, so we had to eat nasty ol grouper, I know, soooo terrible : ) Going to go out around 3 today, will bring the camera this time..lol

Reads to me like your having a great time Zieggs! Wonderful! I look forward to reading your next report and viewing your pics Zieggs and friend.

Reads like exciting times to me Zieggs!


YVW Zieggs. Thanks for creating the time and looking up AAC and for your very kind words. Ubetcha, mentally and emotionally I feel like a million bucks everyday Zeiggs. However, in complete openness, physically at the end of a day this ye ole pirate feels more like 2 cents! I love it sooooooooo!

Zieggs, hope you'll pass the Anchors Aweigh Charters information along. Thanks.

Wishing you oceans of fun in the sun and tons of fishies, Zieggs & friend!

well fished again, nothing big, but tons and tons of little dolphin, and the weedlines again were very clear and there were water lines galore, saw sails popping the water all around us, maybe wasnt trolling fast enough or something.. but heres a couple of the pics, pretty much a million of these types of pics, lots of schoolie dolphin, caught a video of a sail chasing a flying fish too, pretty neat stuff out here.

Dolphin sure are a pretty fish. Never been to the keys. Maybe one day.

yeah, def not liked the grilled or blackened versions most people are used to seeing on their plates, my favorite fish! Not to mention there isnt a spine or barb or anything on them, they are silky smooth, so easy to handle.. And no problem dfJoe, and consider passing it along already done : )

oh and by the way, probably caught 50+ dolphin the entire time we were here, no bulls or cows, must be the time of year or luck, everything we caught was in at least 100+ feet of water too, even saw a boat 30 yards from me pull up the biggest bull I personally have ever seen, guess thats how it goes, but not going to lie, best times I have ever had fishing, very nice to only boat a few miles and be in 200 feet of water, saw a couple of 15 foot sharks just cruising along, saw a bunch of sailfish chasing their schools of baitfish, tons of dolphins (mahis and flippers : ) ) nice weather, beautiful green/blue water.. all and all I couldnt have asked for a better trip (maybe a bull.. lol) Honestly, if you have never been fishing in the keys, you should, every local here is happy to give you their fishing spots, other boaters will stop to give you the gps spots of schools of fish they were just catching, its a great place, very relaxing too, even had a guy who caught his boat limit of dolphin offer me one of his catches : ) I def recommend this place to anyone who even tosses a rod around recreationally.

Hi peeps!! Sorry for posting so late. In my opinion, if you're not dropping or slightly flipping to the rocks, you're too far away. You will go through some tackle fishing for them, cause if you're not in the rocks, you're not where they are. Here's what I prefer for sheepies. I love to find an incoming tide, where the cleaner water is making it's way through the rocks. I like to fish in the little whirlpools, and at color changes. I prefer fiddler crabs for bait on a 1/0 sharp as hell hook. (owner brand) Only use enough weight to get to and feel the bottom. I like using a slider sinker with a slightly lighter leader line, so if I get snagged, I don't lose everything. (snags WILL happen) My leader line is about 8"-10" long at the longest. I drop it down, or slightly flip it over to a spot, then I slowly lift it up off bottom and down into voids, cracks, and hiding spots where they are staying out of the current. You should be able to feel the bottom and the rock formations very easily. I use a bait caster with about 20# mono or braid, and about a 15# leader. I use a rod that is small enough to be very sensative, but have a little back bone to get those puppies out of the rocks quick. Hope this helps!!