After scouring the internetz and a quick phone call to Mr Bonzo for some last minute pointers, my father-in-law and I decided to give this shrimp baiting thing a try. Neither one of us has ever even been a passenger on a shrimping trip. My “knowledge” was literally from youtube, google earth, and CF.com, and Bonzo. Father-in-law has never driven a boat and I haven’t thrown a cast next in 5 years because I have always had some other sucker do it. The first hiccup was getting 10 minutes away from my house only to figure out that the boat keys were on my desk at home. Then went to the gas station to top it off (only had 1/4 tank). This is a new boat and it wasn’t taking gas. Was acting like it was full and gas wasn’t making it down to the tank. I knew it should because I had run it for a few hours the weekend before. After about 45 minutes of tinkering with it, I see a fuel filter in-between the fill hole and the main tank. This doesn’t make sense to me, so I detached the line under the fuel filter which was not letting fuel through and filled the gas tank directly into the line attached to the tank! PRESTO!!! Then, we get welcomed by rush hour traffic.
We ended up making it out on the water around 7’ish and didn’t get to do as much scouting as I wanted. Picked a spot and we set up. I think it was dark before I made the first cast. Anyway, after a driving lesson and some trial and error, the father-in-law was getting me fairly close to the poles.
Long story short, we ended up with about a gallon of shrimp. Very mixed, small, med, large.
Didn’t “cooler out” on our first try, but it relieved a lot of stress getting 5 shrimp on the net in the first cast. Pretty much 95% of casts had shrimp in it, but sometimes as little as 1-3. Most casts had 4-6 shrimp in there with a couple casts that had a dozen. Shrimping is a lot of work, but it was fun. Also caught a few baby flounder\fluke, a squid, and some lonely menhaden. Caught a small crab that fell in the bottom of the boat. Forgot about him
the pleasure was all mine…just glad you didn’t get skunked…you’ll be back at it again, and had you been able to do exactly what you wanted to do your odds of success would have gone up a lot…
thanks for the report - any info on which side of the harbor? I don’t want any spots, but we got NOTHING off of crab banks last night so it’s a little refreshing to hear there may actually be some shrimp floating around there somewhere.
so what you’re sayin is all that offshore experience doesn’t transfer?
Not sure. I’ve never used bait binder on a hot mahi bite!
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it's blowin 19knts. yall going back tonight?
Too calm for shrimp… The rougher the better.
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also, jsyk, when you can't post pix of killing stuff, it's protocol to post sunset pictures, nature, dolphins, etc. see penny's post for how to's.
“I am not involved in this thread, only helping Fred understand who he is dealing with.”
leadenwahboy posted a pic of a tasty sole... That should take care of it.
a quick phone call to Mr Bonzo for some last minute pointers
That was your first problem right there, the last time I called Bonzo about shrimping he was incoherently mumbling about only catching 3 shrimp. That was a couple years ago though…things can change
“Those who have the ability to make a difference have the responsibility to do so.” Thomas Jefferson
I’ve left the boat key home before so here’s the TIP: KEEP AN EXTRA KEY IN THE TOW VEHICLE, it will happen again. As for leaving things home, A couple of years ago while at Edisto I made a last minute decision to go shrimping late in the afternoon. I made bait balls, installed lights, ice in cooler and headed for the state park landing. After the long run to my spot at the combahee banks I realized I left the shrimp poles home.
I’ve left the boat key home before so here’s the TIP: KEEP AN EXTRA KEY IN THE TOW VEHICLE, it will happen again. As for leaving things home, A couple of years ago while at Edisto I made a last minute decision to go shrimping late in the afternoon. I made bait balls, installed lights, ice in cooler and headed for the state park landing. After the long run to my spot at the combahee banks I realized I left the shrimp poles home.
Rob
Triumph 17
Honda 75
Funny thing is, normally I do... For the big boat, I have an extra set of keys hidden in my truck. I've been meaning to ordering an extra set for the little boat, but just skipped my mind. Also, I typically have a check-list that I print out each time I go fishing. Keys is the only thing not on it, but I am not used to taking keys because the big boat is in dry stack and keys are always in the ignition... The extra set is only because someone stole my keys once in the past.
