Tried shrimping with my brother Friday night on the backside of Folly in Green Creek. I figured it was closer to the ocean and hopefully less affected by the fresh water inundation from the Hurricane near miss. Anyway, found a flat spot on the inside of an elbow in the creek not too far from the mouth, made a couple of test throws and picked out some small to mid sized shrimp, and figured that was a good sign. We then set out poles in about 4ā of water on an outgoing tide in that spot - threw out bait balls (the premixed stuff). We ran that spot for several hours and got practically nothing (less than before we baited) - we were throwing on the bottom of the outgoing, absolute low, and bottom of the incoming tide and had very little to show for our effort. What might we have gotten wrong?
Bad location?
Not enough current with the period that we chose? Should we choose a stronger current tide period?
Does it matter incoming/outgoing?
Is the premix shrimp bait garbage?
Hoping to try again the weekend of 10/5 and wishing to have something to show for the effort! Any insight you guys could provide would be gratefully appreciated! Thanks in advance.
I found out if youre the only one shrimping an area the its probably not a good area.
Seapro 180 and a 2 stroke
Thatās probably good advice. We did notice several left over shrimping poles at the grass lineā¦kinda figured that was a good sign - but I guess it just means someone else picked it once or twice before but not that they had any success.
Find someone with experience and buddy boat with them a few times. Im at buck hall almost every weekend and i dont mind helping anyone. Im no expert but would be happy to let you follow me out and offer some pointers that work for me. Best thing ive learned is dont chase reports, find what works for you, focus on learning one or 2 areas and do it. I say theres always atleast one cooler worth out there just gotta find em
Iāve always used bait binder and had good results with it. I usually make my bait balls on the boat after setting poles and cracking open a tasty beverage.
So we set poles right at about low tide at 7:30pm last Friday night on the backside of crab bank - on the shore just a little west of Shem Creek. The bottom was pretty firm and sandy. There were several rows of poles setup already and we just continued the line toward Shem. I picked up 50lbs of clay and Fish Meal in Orangeburg on the way down and mixed up a 2 parts fish meal and 1 part clay balls there on the boat with a little menhaden milk thrown in for good measure. We threw a couple of balls at each poll and did a couple of test runs. Pulled in some nice size shrimp - though only one or two at a time. We placed more bait on the polls and ran them a couple of more times getting more shrimp and a little bigger. Our last five polls absolutely quit producing so we baited the first five with a little more and just kept throwing at those first five. We finally gave up at around midnight with about a 1/4 cooler full. They were large but coming really slow. I think the most I got in one toss (8ā net w/ 3/8" mesh) was 8 and I must have thrown the net 200 times while my buddy drove the boat and his wife sorted the catch and managed the light. Every now and then I would pull in a couple of massive shrimp and those kept my attitude strong and kept me going! Toward the end of our run, the guy next to me motored over and asked how we were doing. By his reaction, Iām guessing he wasnāt doing any better if not worse.
It was a LOT of work and effort but a whole lot of fun.
I plan to test the indissolubility of my bait balls next time in a bucket of water - I suspect it was going away really fast because I never caught a bait ball in the net and I might need to add a little more clay in the ratio or plan ahead and let them dry out a little.
We then went fishing for a good bit of Saturday before heading in to make a shrimp feast. Caught two flounder, a trout, three redfish (one a keeper), a toad fish, and a lizard fish. It was a fantastic weekend.
SYSH been there threw all nite first starting out. It getās better if you listen to the locals when they give advice thatās how I learned a lot. Traveling down from the upstate makes it even harder. Send me a PM I will be glad to give some info. that may help.
always did a 50:50 mix of meal to clay, anything less and we could tell it was falling apart pretty fast.
a good trick i learned a while back was to make really big bait balls, then pull them in half and just pat them into a nice hemisphere. they sink round side down (mostly straight down as opposed to pancakes which flutter and may hit the bottom somewhere else). then the first time the lead line tickles them, it flips them over onto the flat side and they should stay right there for the duration.
also, cat litter buckets fit in the corners of the boat real nice like.
Jake - Your earlier post mentioned a 3/8" net. I recommend not having that net on the boat if baiting shrimp. Per the regs: Cast nets used for taking shrimp over bait must have a minimum mesh size of 1/2-inch square (1-inch stretch).
Thanks for the ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā everyone! And thanks for pointing out the mesh size requirement. For some reason I incorrectly read the rules as a one inch āMaximumā mesh size and not āMinimumā as worded. Glad it didnāt cause a legal issue!
Tried shrimping with my brother Friday night on the backside of Folly in Green Creek. I figured it was closer to the ocean and hopefully less affected by the fresh water inundation from the Hurricane near miss. Anyway, found a flat spot on the inside of an elbow in the creek not too far from the mouth, made a couple of test throws and picked out some small to mid sized shrimp, and figured that was a good sign. We then set out poles in about 4ā of water on an outgoing tide in that spot - threw out bait balls (the premixed stuff). We ran that spot for several hours and got practically nothing (less than before we baited) - we were throwing on the bottom of the outgoing, absolute low, and bottom of the incoming tide and had very little to show for our effort. What might we have gotten wrong?