By Tim Barefoot
It’s kinda like the old Byrds song “For everything, there is a season…”
It could not be more true for the month of October, and the season for the shrimp, white shrimp to be specific. The (white) shrimp will start to “march” from the sounds towards the inlets and into the ocean. They will do this march against the current towards the ocean at night mainly. This is the very reason we fish and catch shrimp at night. With the new LED lights, you can produce hundreds and even thousands of lumens with very low wattage/battery drain.
Do your own research, but I’ve found the Illumisea brand to be cost effective and super bright. When you fire up the lights, you will attract the shrimp. When you have the shrimp, you have the fish. Pretty simple concept. I’m not saying the fish will not eat mullets, menhaden, cigar minnows and sardines, or whatever is prevalent in your location, but what I am saying is they will key in on the shrimp and become pretty darn picky if there are a lot of shrimp present. They don’t have to be huge shrimp, just a shrimp. I have seen really nice trout eating (keying on) the very small ones at times. If you can find the large 15-18 count then you’re good to go for whatever you want to catch. We call these “Tarpon Selects”. Everything in the water will eat these, from the average sized trout and drum to the largest snook and tarpon. Period. It’s the king of all baits, and October is the month to make the most of it.
For more information, visit barefootcatsandtackle.com and check out his YouTube channel.