What is your biggest sheepshead?

I know most think sheeps are a NUISANCE, but this one caught me off guard, how big do they get?

Lets see what you guys have caught:

Here is mine, all 26″ of her! She fought like a champ too!

I looked up the state record and they do not list sheephead. I see it now

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/staterecords.html

Drum, Freshwater (Sheepshead) 35-3.2 (weight) 36 / 31 (length/girth) Mississippi River Winona 10/05/1999

It is listed at 35-3.2…that is one big drum

They are a blast to catch. This is my largest this year. Sorry no weight or measurement, just another pretty fish

I’m waiting for Pierbridge to post his pic…that was a hog!

Never did find out how it tasted.

13 lbs.

Those are some nice ones But personally, they are not allowed in my boat. To slimmy

Nice fish. Though the small ones can be annoying I’d gladly catch a bigger sheephead. I think they are surprising old fish too.

Actually, they (the small ones anyways) are pretty good eating too.

This one gave him all he could handle.

Fisherdave (Dave Scott) caught the biggest one I’ve seen in my life this summer. I had just got my cell phone and didn’t know how to work the camera on it yet so needless to say it didnt save but dang whas it huge.

If I catch a 10#+ Sheepie, I may have to mount it and put it on the wall. Brian, lay off the mount part.

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She fought like a champ too!

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24lbs and pretty as Peach …..This guy was super THICK thought we had the record for sure…

They really do fight almost to death we revived this one for over 20 minutes let him go twice and it just floated down river finally we got it to swim off.

Heard they’re really good to eat we passed on this one…

not sure what he weighed or lenght thought it desereved a pic

Did anyone get the pearls out of there heads, if you get a big one like that the pearls are huge.

I know of a few old boys yet that target these big boys in the fall using big crawdads for bait.

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Did anyone get the pearls out of there heads, if you get a big one like that the pearls are huge.

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Can anyone enlighten a rookie on sheep pearls, sounds like the making of an anniversary gift

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Can anyone enlighten a rookie on sheep pearls, sounds like the making of an anniversary gift

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There is a set of flat stones behind there eye’s referred to as pearls. The grunting noise you hear from a sheepshead is made by the fish rubbing the stones together.
I have seen some very cool jewelry made from the stones. Back in my younger days, my Grandfather use to pay me for the stones, needless to say I put a hurt on the sheepshead back then

They are called otoliths. All fish have them, but they are a bit bigger on the drum.
A lot of times, that is the only way to properly age a fish. They have rings like a tree.

Thanks guys,
I really do learn something new here every day.

Hey Jarrett – After you make this Sheepshead nugget necklace for your wife, let the rest of us know how that worked out. She will probably have cats chasing her every time she wears it.

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Hey Jarrett – After you make this Sheepshead nugget necklace for your wife, let the rest of us know how that worked out. She will probably have cats chasing her every time she wears it.

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Dam you Steve, the boss knows I have been screwing around now that he caught me laughing

Record

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Nice one!

@vandy caught the largest one I’ve ever seen locally.

A friend of mine and I were fishing out of Alma and he said he wanted to keep some sheephead for the “lucky stones” in there heads. His boat and his cooler, so I was game. He did the surgeries and dealt with the smell, recycled the remains and then showed me the stones. I could see the L in the stone that gave them their names and was really impressed with what he and a artist friend of ours did to make them into jewelery. I will enclose some photos of the finished work.

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That’s really cool. I had a cat fish tournament last weekend, ended up catching more drum that cats. Had a couple 7-8 pounders too. If I’d have know about the ‘lucky stones’ I would have operated on them more than I did. Only thing I usually do with drum is cut off the tail and bleed them into my cut suckers for added scent. Now I have a different purpose.

Thanks for all tis good info in the catfish forum…ya just never know what us cat fishermen will come up with next.

L8R…Ken

31.5″ from early July.

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Pulled this one out of Lac Qui Parle this year.

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This time of year they actually start becoming good catfish bait.

does this count? They are awfully similar.

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15lbs

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