Shrimp

By Capt. Lee Noga

Finally, we are moving into the transition month for Atlantic shrimping. Several shrimping enthusiasts have been boating in both Brevard and Volusia County in the hunt for the pink and brown crickets. The Titusville pier South side has had no shortage of anglers at night netting up some nice sized large-jumbo white shrimp. It has been reported small shrimp have been spotted around Railroad Bridge & Titusville Pier in Brevard. Volusia County is waking up this season attracting boaters starting their hunt in the Edgewater and Oak Hill area. Volusia reports are anywhere from small yields to 1.5 gallons of bait size shrimp. Personally, it is music to my ears after our coast line took a glancing blow from Hurricane Matthew. Historically, January and February has been the run of the “med-jumbo” size shrimp in Volusia County. But we were under-whelmed with last year’s lack of “run” that we do not know what to expect this season. Hurricane Matthew did not spoil the summer shrimping run in N.E. Florida, they went on to enjoy a great season well into the Fall. So, I feel comfortable the 2017 winter shrimping season in Central Florida is showing signs we will not be skunked. My concern during Matthew was whether the shrimp were far enough along in their infancy to sustain the salinity changes etc. Small shrimp is what we want to see in Volusia County in November and small shrimp were reported. Shrimp grow 2 inches a month, so maybe 2017 will put us back into a normal pattern. We have been out of sorts the last few years. The cold fronts are cooling out waters down, and I personally start hunting in the waters this month. Typically, full pulls do not get reported in Volusia County until late January to later February. We need that bio mass of 4 inch shrimp to come through to reach our 5 gallons. However, the short pulls in Jan and February will be a high percent of 5” plus shrimp anticipating our season to be healthy. Those boating from Edgewater to New Smyrna on the river are reporting small shrimp “popping” everywhere. Brevard County has been dipping from the Titusville Pier (0-150 count) since October. The seawall shrimp trappers are also trapping at the pier too. The Brevard boating reports from Haulover Canal and Railroad Bridge have been more miss then hit but Nov-Dec are not really the months we expect consistency. Beware, the frame nets cannot be made of mono-filament for either commercial or recreational shrimpers, last year was the year of education, this is the year of fines so we are told. For daily Intel, go to Facebook “Florida Shrimping Academy”™, my educational 2.5 hours of teaching videos are on YouTube, “How To Shrimp Florida”™. Attend free sit down seminar at MYCFOA.COM on January 16th, 2017 at 6:30pm (721 W New England Ave Winter Park, FL 32789)

Captain Lee Noga
Academy of shrimping
www.leenoga.com