I?ve never attempted deep hole shrimping but would like to give it a shot this year. I was hoping someone with a little more experience could give me some advice as to when to go, where to go and what net I would need I?m a Marine stationed on Parris Island so I would be looking to go in the Beaufort area.
Look online to how to rig your net, I use packaging tape with the fiber strand in it (can’t remember what it’s called) you want to run it around the bottom of your net above the weights on the outside and inside, basically tape to tape, being carful on the inside not to tape your drawstrings. I use a fish finder and look for areas that drop off to 20 or 30 feet looking for fish on the screen at the bottom, I believe when I see them that they are feeding on shrimp at the bottom of the hole, when I see that I throw. Some folks have different methods but this seems to work well for me. If you can get a map, it will display the depths at low tide and you should be able to find holes, or drop offs. I use to live there and just guessing but port royal boat landing area might be a good place to start. Hope this helps. Thanks for you service btw. Good luck.
Always remember, It could suck worse than this…
Sorry, use a net that won’t kill you, has to be half inch mesh for shrimping, heavier is better, but keep in mind, your gonna have to pull it in a long way but the payoff can be good. Make sure to add about 50 foot of extra line to it as far as going, you can go any time, think all shrimping ends in December to April, check the DNR book, if the boys who are baiting are catching shrimp you should do good, went a couple of weeks ago and shrimp were still small. Find which tide works the best also, and if your trolling around and see shrimp flipping on the top of the water, stop and throw, watch for propose also they love to chase the shrimp and when the shrimp are trying to run away they’ll be hitting the top of the water, another good time to throw.
Always remember, It could suck worse than this…
Ask some of your fellow Marines that are on one of those patrol boats. Several times I have seen them come over to where everyone was deep holing and throw a net.
thanks for the advice
Your depth finder can be your best friend when it comes to deep holing. Look for peaks or “condos” as some call it on the bottom. These reflections can tell you where the shrimp are in the holes but more importantly where they are not. As far as nets go I prefer a lighter taped net. All my deep hole nets have just one pound of lead per foot and are 5/8" (nets are 8’, 10’, 12’). Even though you do have to wait a little long for it to sink I seem to do better with these nets plus I don’t spend half the day popping heads off little shrimp. The only time I use the heavier nets is conventional baiting because I need the net to sink fast. I have to agree with Skyhook when it come to rope length. Everyone of my nets have at least 50ft of line on them. The last thing that I tell people when deep holing is don’t “JERK” the net up at first. Slowly pull the net up off the bottom. The object behind this is to use the weights on the net as feelers or ticklers. The big shrimp boats use chains to do this to get the shrimp off the ground so use the weights on your net to do the same thing. If you get into them you will feel then flicker in the net. After you know the net is closed then haul it up as fast as you want.
Pathfinder
2200 Tournament Edition
200 Yamaha
The best tide for deep holing is no tide ie slack low or slack high. Otherwise your net will move too far before it gets to bottom.
186 Bone Flats Boat
140 Suzuki fourstroke