A big California sheephead is nearly strong enough to pull an arm right out of its socket! These "goats," as they are often affectionately called, don't make a long sustained run, like a yellowtail or other gamefish, but they will use every ounce of their prodigious muscle to bulldog back down to the rocks where they can easily bust off a stout fishing line. The trick is to keep them out of the rocks, or it's all over in the first five seconds - no two ways about it. 

There are plenty of down home anglers who thoroughly enjoy outfoxing an oversized sheephead. While sheephead are a favorite local fish, specifically targeting them requires a fair understanding of the species. Following here are some tried and true strategies for bringing in the sheep. 

The secret to catching sheephead is to understand their unique feeding habits. It helps to listen carefully to commercial urchin divers who commonly attract a sizable herd of sheephead which are following them around underwater waiting for a smashed urchin to fall their way. Urchin divers know sheephead pretty well, and one thing is generally agreed upon - these fish love hard-shelled animals. 

By studying the hard mouth, protruding canine-like teeth, and powerful jaws of these reef dwellers, it is apparent they are well suited for crunching shellfish and pulling them off of the rocky reefs they call home. The way to target them is to bring along the right baits. That means leaving the anchovies, sardines, and squid strips at home or in the bait box for use with other species. Instead, some of the baits these fish can't resist include crushed mussels and clams, whole rock crabs, pelagic red crabs, sand crabs, and shrimp. These are the meals of choice for a hungry sheephead. Shrimp is perhaps the most commonly used bait for sheephead, and is widely accepted as a very tempting offering. 

The ideal habitat for these red and black fish is a rugged rocky reef zone, at depths ranging from 20 to120 feet. Many of the islands of the Southern California Bight are surrounded by perfect habitat for sheephead. Some very productive areas include the entire west end of Santa Cruz Island, rocky areas off of the front and back sides of Santa Rosa Island, the rocky structure off of the west side of San Miguel Island, the backside of Santa Catalina Island, and the west end of San Nicholas Island. These areas are perfect homes for shellfish, which means sheephead will be actively foraging. 

With the right bait and the best location, the rest is relatively easy. The strategy is to drift or anchor over rocky structure, and chum the area with some busted up mussels, or chopped up bait of almost any kind. That should get the fish to feeding and competing aggressively. 

There are a couple of ways to rig up to target sheephead. One, which works well in very shallow water, is a sliding sinker held about two feet up the line from the hook by a small splitshot or barrel swivel. The hook should be large enough to pin through a bait and still protrude slightly past the barb. Drift over the reef zone and drop the bait straight down. Hookups usually come fast. Spend a half-hour working the reef in shallow water before moving out to deeper water. If the sheephead just aren't biting, make a run to the next major reef zone and try the same strategy again. Persistence often pays off when herding sheephead. 

In deeper water, reverse dropper loops are more effective. This is made up by tying the hook to the end of the line and hanging a weight from a dropper loop a couple of feet up the line. Pin a shrimp, rock crab or pelagic red crab, piece of mussel, or other bait onto the hook and drop it right down onto the reef. Sheephead feed by biting shellfish off of the rocks or kelp stalks, so it is best to fish right on the bottom or not more than a few feet above it. 

California sheephead have an interesting life history. This fish starts life as female, and is red to pinkish in color with a white lower jaw. At around eight years of age, sheephead may become male, depending on a number of environmental factors such as abundance of food and presence of other males. During the transition from female to male, the head and tail become black, and the fish develops a large forehead, while keeping the white lower jaw. California sheephead are generally solitary fish, although they do occasionally appear in small aggregations.

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