Another Raritan Bay sheepshead on My Three Sons

Catching a fish species where it doesn’t “belong” is always a memorable experience, but doing it twice is really a long shot.

I was casting for weakfish with Capt. Joe Massa from his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina on Sept. 9, 2013 when we were running out of sand worms and I decided to try a Gulp Jerk Shad on my jig head — soon hooking up with a much tougher fish. When I first saw it, I thought it might be a juvenile black drum, but a Florida angler was with us and immediately identified it as a sheepshead. That 20-inch fish weighed 7 pounds on my scale before being released. I thought that would be my sheepshead personal record for a long time, but got lucky again in 2018 when I hooked a 23-inch 9 1/4-pounder while drifting sandworms for weakfish at the Verrazano Bridge with Chuck Many.

Massa was releasing blackfish yesterday on rough bottom in the bay when an 18-inch sheepshead hit his jig tipped with crab. He released that beautiful surprise catch, though sheepshead are a very good eating fish.

Gerardo Ciriello with big sheepshead from Cape Fear

Most anglers consider sheepshead to be a Florida fish, but they are actually common in N.J. from the south jetty of Barnegat Inlet to Cape May.

The forecast is for northeast winds at just 5-10 knots — changing to southeast in the afternoon.

Capt. Ron Santee said a 6 a.m. downpour kept many anglers away, but those who got aboard the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands were happy with catches of fluke up to 5 1/2 pounds.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had jigging limits of small blues plus some larger bonito up to an estimated 8-pounder by Ron Bara. Most fares also had their single sea bass allowed at this time.