Captain Lee Noga
Central Florida normally endures a “county” change of guard this month. Volusia and N. Brevard slow down and South Brevard/Melbourne turn on. Historically, the shrimp run starts tapering down from New Smyrna Beach to Oak Hill in May. Titusville gets more erratic. Anglers head South to start scouting for shrimp in South Brevard waters and Melbourne Causeways. Don’t get me wrong, Titusville will keep swinging nets well into June. In Oak Hill the nights are warm, the bugs are fierce, and the size of the shrimp are getting smaller. Throw in spring pattern bait fish and warm water attracting catfish to our lights, and we quit. But is the end of the season really coming to an end in Volusia & Titusville? I don’t think so. This season we endured a coastal glancing blow from Hurricane Matthew in October. Swarms of large jumbo white shrimp (blue/green tail) flooded Brevard County. Brevard was reporting full pulls during the day cast netting, and at night using cast nets, lights and dipping nets. The majority of the large/jumbo shrimp where the white specie with 12 – 15 inch antennae. We do not normally see a high volume of any size white shrimp during the winter. We do target them from South Daytona to Jacksonville starting in June/July when our waters warm up. Problem has been our water has been warm all winter hovering 68 – 70 degrees. Where in the world did this bio mass of jumbo white shrimp come from over the winter months? It is very odd to see the white shrimp have such a strong presence in both Counties for 6 months. We pray for these large white shrimp to show up in July in South Daytona and we have been bagging and tagging them since December? Can we say “backwards”. Granted, the average boater only got 20-50 jumbo whites per outing but folks reported missing just as many or more. Titusville pier been dipping high majority of whites as well. Those who found structure cast netted full pulls of mostly whites dating back to December. Since these white shrimp are known as our summer shrimp, they may very well remain in our river for awhile. We may be able to hunt them down at night with lights well into the summer in South Volusia (Oak Hill & Edgewater). This would be a first in all my years of shrimping. Titusville pier , Haulover and Railroad Bridge are on “hit and miss”, you have to put in your time and take a chance. It is not unusual for Haulover and Railroad Bridge to get full pulls in May/June. Melbourne is scouting all their Causeways. They are reporting some early season glory netting triple digit counts. The water state of health has been a topic of discussion in some Melbourne areas. 2017 will go down in history as the most atypical and bizarre winter season on record. The invasion of the jumbo white shrimp may be the new norm. I plan on chasing the season and tracking the migration of these whites. If these squadrons of whites continue to populate South Volusia & Brevard Counties will we have a summer season much further North in S. Daytona to Jacksonville in July – September? Stay tuned. If your attending “thefloridaboatshow.com” May 19-21, 2017 at the Halifax Marina, I will be a guest speaker. Follow all things shrimping on Facebook® for education, intel, seminar dates and what is going on, “Florida Shrimping Academy – Tips & Tricks™”, we are 13K Floridians strong.