Shrimp baiting started out in the early nineteen eighties and became a very productive then, the method continued to grow for the next forty plus years. As a child growing up, it was honestly not something we did as a family. We went fishing and did other things as kids but never really shrimp baited. My first tastes of shrimp baiting really came later in life working in the tackle shop.
Toting fifty-pound bags of fish meal and clay to a shrimper’s car with the smell of fish meal and the white clay all over my clothing was more appealing at a younger age! That was what most used. They would buy either a couple bags of each or maybe two bags of fish meal and one bag of clay. Going “heavier” on the bait to strengthen the smell of bait for around the poles. Shrimpers would typically get setup closer to the harbor in shallower areas right before dark. Setting their poles in a straight line, separating them just far enough apart where you could throw on one pole, and the driver time it right to where you could dump your catch and load the net again for the next pole. Some poles produced more and some would scratch. Just like fishing, it could produce later in the tide or maybe right at the beginning but once you were setup it was usually home for the night. Mixing the fish meal and clay together, adding water, and forming them into hamburger patties so they wouldn’t roll away in the tide was the idea. Setting them just around the poles so you knew where to throw the net.
As the years went by some things evolved in the shrimp baiting world. It went from PVC pipe with metal tips to fiberglass poles with reflective tape already on them.
It went from fish meal and clay, to a premixed concoction called Bait Binder with the idea of having more bait to “binder” mix. Nets became more supple and easier to open; some having more weight to sink faster and catch more shrimp!
This sixty-day season starts mid-September and ends early November. An individual on the boat must purchase the shrimp baiting license from the SC Department of Natural Resources and each individual on the boat is to carry a SC saltwater fishing license. Cast nets have to be a minimum of a half inch mesh size to throw over bait. With so many different cast net options we suggest doing one of two things; a larger yet lighter weight net like a Betts 8′ Sea Green that is a pound per foot with a 5/8″ mesh, OR a Cracker 6′ with a ½” mesh that weights 1.5lbs per foot. Throwing what is comfortable for you is important, especially with the chance you might have to throw it often. Getting a net to cover more surface area and sink faster is the idea!
The popular method of catching shrimp over bait is the way to do it. Catching lots of shrimp in hopefully just a few passes on the poles and you had dinner!
Good luck shrimpin’!
Tight Lines
Capt Mike Able
Haddrell’s Point Tackle & Supply • Since 1983
843-881-3644 (Mt Pleasant)
843-573-3474 (West Ashley)