My Dad and I tried shrimping in Bulls Bay Tuesday. Just as we left the landing I felt the wind pick up another 5 knots out of the south west. By the time we reached our shrimping grounds it was blowing a steady 15 knots and the bay was white capping. As we setting our poles I observed a gentleman close by in a jon boat shrimping by himself. The gentleman looked pretty experienced, but trying to run the boat and throw the net with the winds and waves looked like they were getting the better of him. I thought to myself why is this guy not using the “One Pole Method?” With the wind and chop even the one pole method would be extremely difficult, but it would have had to have been better than what this guy was attempting.
If you have ever spent any time on the Shrimping Forum Page of CharlestonFishing.Com you have seen the posts from CharlestonFishing.Com member One Pole. One Pole has been a member for several years now and has contributed a lot of good information to our readers over the years. Provided below is an explanation of the one pole method provided by no one other than One Pole in September of 2006 on the forums page.
I will once again describe my onepole method due both to this question and 2 E-mail requests I’ve had to explain it. I’ve done this now for the 3rd year, but am happy to do it if it helps anyone catch more shrimp with much less effort than running 10 poles.
First and most important is to find a good location. I use a GPS to mark good spots, some of which are only good on incoming tide, while others only are good on the outgoing tide. Some spots work on both tides.
Once I determine where I want to end up, I determine which way the tide and wind are moving. You can set an anchor out for a minute or two to determine the tide direction. I prefer to set up so the tide will run down both sides of the boat equally. Some times I have to set up so the bow is pointing towards the wind and waves. If this occurs, I always catch more on the bait on the upcurrent side.
Once the tide h