I've never caught them before and I'd like to give it a try.
Wisconsin Fishing Discussion
Where might I catch Freshwater Drum (sheepshead)?
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Mississippi River anywhere. Throw a crawler on bottom. Seems like a weird question to me but I live by Mississippi so have caught so many of them. Usually an accidental catch fishing for other fish. Also catch them on cranks fishing for walleye. Bigger ones typically hit the cranks. Have ate smaller ones. They are fine. Great fish to take kids after as they grow to nice size and are easy to catch in spots like Miss.
My son and I caught about 15 of them today on the Wolf River , 3 miles north of Shiotcon there is Koepke Park. There are two docks there and about 8' of water . It is a clean river and the sheapshead should be good out of there. A worm is all it takes. Heck I got one on 3/4" of old hollow nightcrawler today they were biting so hard. It was nuts. I also keep a few here and there. I dont mind the taste but for the size there isn't much meat on them. If I screw up the fillet , it id no big deal. Everyone should keep a few . They are good eating cause there is little oil in the meat. Bury them in ice like others here have said and you are good to go.
Back in my younger days (lol) when I'd catch white bass, I threw them on a stringer and basically allowed them to poach in the water. That was also back when I'd try to keep the entire fillet, and didn't remove the dark meat/fat. Didn't think much of it and just dealt with the fishy taste. Wound up with a bunch that were caught ice fishing and out of necessity A) I bought an electric fillet knife and B) only kept the backstraps because I had three buckets to get through and it's just a lot easier to take those than deal with an entire fillet (IMO). I will say I noticed a HUGE difference in taste in that they weren't fishy at all. So that was the start of me throwing all the fish I catch on ice right away, and it has been good eating ever since!
Sorry, I know that was all about WB and this thread is about Sheepshead, but my point is that the fishy taste is really easy to avoid. I can promise that if you try deep fried sheeps, you'll wish you'd been keeping them all along.
I’ve had lots of fishy White Bass over the years.
Have not had a fishy Drum yet.
I agree with putting them on ice and keeping the back straps.
Agree on the sheeps being good eats. If they're under 18" and have a white belly with no yellowish tint to it, throw it on ice and try the backstraps. I won't say they're better than white bass, but they are certainly every bit as good. How they're cared for between catching and cleaning makes the biggest difference.
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