sheephead..

I was fishing a local river yesterday with a leech and a couple of split shots when i got a hit. it felt big and i thought i felt a head-shake. so naturally this got me thinking it was a big walleye or pike. so as i tried to bring it in and it kept taking out line. after a couple minutes of this i felt it roll… my heart sank because i knew it was a sheephead. so i pulled it in and to no surprise it was about a 20 inch sheephead. So i was wondering if any of you have thought a sheephead was a walleye?

When fishing my walleye spots I occasionally mistake a sheepy for a walleye. In faster current it can be hard to tell sometimes. Especially if you’re like me and reel it in like its a 30lb cat.

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So i was wondering if any of you have thought a sheephead was a walleye?

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Yep

Smaller sheeps tend to squirm around a lot more on the line than a walleye. Big sheeps just stay down and hold like a big eye. That is until they come up way behind the boat and start spinning like trash can lids in the current.

A few years ago a buddy and I were out night trolling on opener in the blackduck area. We hooked into a good one and I was convinced that it was a walleye. We got it in and it was a huge sheepie. I had never caught one at the time. My buddy had caught many and said it was the biggest sheepie he had ever seen. We went into the bait show the next day and saw a replica of the state record sheepie. My buddies looks at me and says, “Last night we tossed back the state record sheepie.” I looked at it and agreed…… so yes I have been fooled by the sheepie.

Yup! There are times on the Mississippi, where, if you aren’t catching sheephead in with the walleyes, you are getting shut out. Go figure!

Fishing Lake Winnebago…. I have come to assume it is a Sheep, and then hope to be surprised when the white tip shows itself close to the boat. Fishing the other way around can be depressing at times.

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Big sheeps just stay down and hold like a big eye. That is until they come up way behind the boat and start spinning like trash can lids in the current.

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That’s a good way to describe it.

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So i was wondering if any of you have thought a sheephead was a walleye?

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Yep

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+1

Yep trolling on Lake Pepin on Memorial weekend I though for sure this big guy was a large eye, I even handed the rod to my wife as it would have been here largest walleye instead it turned out to be her largest sheephead.

Was hoping this was a post on who knows how to play the card game Sheephead.

My question about sheepies is are they edible? I’d be interested in hearing from those that have actually tasted one, not just “I had this friend that said…” types. While I’m not an Andrew Zimmern (sp?) by any stretch of the imagination, I do go off the reservation quite a bit when it comes to food and am curious. I don’t live in an area that has much if any of them.

id say catch a bunch of sunnies and one sheephead, fillet them up throw them in some beer batter. that way no-one will know they are eating sheephead, and if no-one complains you know they taste decent.