Superbowl may be over on TV, but the waters in both Brevard and Volusia County are dueling in a shrimping smack down. Full pulls have been resonating since December in the Brevard area for both Haulover Canal and Railroad Bridge. The two most popular hotspots early in the season. The sizes were impressive in December – January and seem to have gotten a little smaller in February. Don’t count Oak Hill and Edgewater out of this fight. Both areas been spitting 5 gallon pulls and building a boat flotilla that extends for miles. February got noisy with 5 gallon pulls and high gallon counts for many consecutive days in both Counties. The frenzy and fever has reached epidemic proportions and there are many newcomers this year entering into the battle of the rivers. The size of the Oak Hill and Edgewater shrimp are smaller than Brevard County Indian river shrimp. Indian River shrimp is landlocked and these shrimp believe they are in the ocean based on the 32ppm salinity. We Oak Hill warriors count on a long standing South wind affecting Indian River. Why? The waters stack up forcing Haulover Canal to go positive and that moves shrimp from Indian River into Mosquito lagoon. They begin migrating towards Ponce and the Oak Hill shrimping brigade line up to dip these big delicious troops passing through. Is Oak Hill all migrating shrimp? No, a high majority of our shrimp are being released from the neighboring flats and we intercept them in the intercoastal channel when they move around flat to flat. The breeders (3.3 in. And up) head towards Ponce Inlet and the smaller move around to different nurseries in the flats using the intercoastal to get around. This is why Oak Hill shrimp are smaller than Brevard. Our shrimp are not landlocked and they do not hang around and get large like the Brevard shrimp do in Indian River. We depend on fronts to come through to change up the winds and push Haulover positive. We been running 12 degrees warm last 2 months and we are now into cooler waters. Get out now, the sizes will only get smaller in March in many areas. This is the “do or die” month for getting the last of the larger sizes in Volusia County. The on-line Academy (LeeNoga.com) is posting large number of daily shrimping, fishing in-shore/off-shore and hunting reports. Posting reports earn lottery tickets, over $1000 prizes up for grabs.
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