He admits that some days the fish will be within 3 feet of the surface and others will be hugging the bottom; but whatever their depth, they are always within a foot or two of the structure. He slowly raises and lowers the bait, keeping constant tension on the line. The idea is that a bait with slight upward motion will give away the fish’s presence while it is biting the bait. Ambush Inshore

Finding sheepshead and catching sheepshead are two different things. The old cliché about catching a sheepshead is that you have to set the hook when it’s looking at the bait. The sheepshead earned the reputation as a bait stealer due in part to the deftness of its teeth. The bite of a sheepshead is the result of the fish plucking the bait with its teeth rather than sucking a bait into its mouth like most predator fish. In order to pluck a bait, the sheepshead must bare its teeth by rolling back its thick, fleshy lips. If the sheepshead’s teeth are its great advantage, then its lips are its greatest weakness.

No one is more adept at taking advantage of this weakness than Captain Johnny Spitzmiller of Mount Pleasant. Spitzmiller specializes in fishing for sheepshead during the summer months through his guide service, Ambush Inshore Charters.

The Mount Pleasant guide concentrates almost all of his efforts on fishing the jetties. He is especially fond of the oceanside tips of both the North and South jetties and the edges of the historic breach in the South Jetty known as the “Dynamite Hole.”

He employs a vertical presentation that requires pinpoint boat positioning.

“I like the tide to be up on the rocks when I’m after sheepies,” Spitzmiller said. This requires fishing the period of three hours before high tide and the three hours after high tide.

Fishing a vertical presentation on a moving tide around the jetties can be a risky proposition. While most anglers who target the jetties do so from an anchored position, Spitzmiller prefers to maneuver his boat with the aid of a 24-volt 90-pound-thrust trolling motor.

His choice for rigging is a light-action Allstar rod on spinning tackle. The lighter the line, the better the technique, so the guide opts for 8-pound-test monofilament.

Spitzmiller acknowledged that the most popular bait for catching the sheepshead is a fiddler crab. His second favorite bait is a whole live shrimp.