Capt. Lee Noga
The winter shrimping still has pocket of activity and people with heart who still frequent Titusville pier. The Melbourne area has been inconsistent but the hardcore still line up and take their places at Eau Gallie and Mather’s Bridge. You just have to love those that will stand for hours and take their chances to get a meal. Anglers are reporting alligators and sharks in the Indian and Banana River area. The bad news is small pockets of shrimp are bring caught in these dangerous areas. The Daytona summer shrimp has been a bust with small ones being reported around High Bridge. This comes as NO shock to me. Somebody lost a bio mass of jumbo white shrimp after Hurricane Mathew. Central Florida cashed in on these beasts from December to May during the winter months. For us to have this gift some other part of Florida came up short. They clearly did not belong to Central Florida but the shrimping Gods pushed them in to us by accident. What does this mean? This means this huge bio mass of white shrimp never reached their correct destination and this is going to throw many regions off possibly. Normally we hear activity in South Daytona by now. It is possible this could just be a late season or this can mean, no season. The warm waters, an October hurricane, and millions of white shrimp making a winter wrong turn into Central Florida spells UN-certainty. The scallops are going off! Crystal River is reporting large meat. Steinhatchee is crazy with frenzy and they are reporting large meat. We have found ourselves in a shrimping lull between our summer and winter season. We have been struggling last 4 years to get back into summer white shrimp patterns. This year was predicted to have both quantity and size back in 2016. Now, we sit and wait. It won’t be the first summer shrimping season where we had to tow to Welatka and Palatka, Green Cove or Shands Bridge in Jacksonville. They had a great season last year. Shrimping can change overnight so keep the faith. For up to date intel and reports, join us on Facebook at the “Florida Shrimping Academy – Tips & Tricks”.
Capt. Lee Noga
Academy of shrimping
www.leenoga.com