The problem with using clams is non-target fish like pinfish that also eat clams live at the same structure areas as sheepshead. But there are places where clams are incredibly effective. Most anglers find fishing during fast-moving tide stages keeps bait stealing to a minimum.

Barnacles are also good baits. Scraped from hard structure with a metal bar or plastic paddle, barnacles reveal their soft internal workings. Sheepshead eat living barnacles, nipping through their shells to extract the animals, so why wouldn't a barnacle make a great sheepshead bait? Many anglers don't even think about using barnacles, but such unconventional thinking is what separates successful sheepshead anglers from the rest of the flock.

For most fishermen, though, the one-armed bandit is the appropriate bait for tossing into the den of thieves. Living among other bait stealers in pier-piling jail cells, the sheepshead, with their dark-striped sides, have earned the nickname "convict fish."

There are several ways to approach sheepshead fishing. Beginning anglers often try their luck in areas where they don't need a boat. Ocean fishing piers that charge daily fees are excellent places to catch sheepshead. A check of photos tacked up on pier house bulletin boards will show many anglers posing with sheepshead. It's not unusual for pier fishermen to haul sheepshead of 8 pounds or more from the ocean to a pier deck.

Other anglers catch sheepshead from private docks and marinas. Virtually any series of dock pilings with saltwater running beneath them holds a few sheepshead. However, all docks are not alike in respect to the numbers and sizes of convict fish they attract. Anglers who want the best success fish many docks to find the hotspots.

Only one out of 20 to 100 docks will hold large numbers of super-sized sheepshead on a consistent basis and there will only be certain places during certain tide stages at any particular dock where the fish bite the best.

The same is true of ocean fishing piers. A look at the pier house photos will show only a few individuals catching those big fish. Those anglers get to the pier early to monopolize the choice spots. Certain pilings get a reputation for holding sheepshead. A sheepshead fisherman drops his baits beside one of those pilings without relinquishing the known hotspot. Anyone studying the fishing techniques of anglers on the pier can easily identify sheepshead fishermen and return another day when the honeyholes are vacant.

To catch sheepshead from boats, anglers find pilings covered with shells or shell-covered bottoms. The edges of cut navigation channels are ideal spots for the fish and they are not visible at the surface. Once you find them, you'll probably be fishing over less-pressured sheepshead.

Some anglers scrape barnacles from pilings during low tide, and then fish beside them as the tide rises. The exposed barnacles and dislodged crabs create ready-made chum. Another trick is to chum with fiddler crabs, even those too deteriorated to use as bait. Tossing them by the handful beneath a dock attracts sheepshead, even moving them away from the structure to make it easier to land a hooked fish.