The 2019 shrimping season is one for the history books. Water temps are running into the high 70’s and catfish, mullet, and pilchards have made this season exhausting. The water has been dirty adding another level of complexity.
Oak Hill has been consistently delivering an average of 2 gallons on building moons. (3-4 days before a moon event and 2 days or so after on a declining moon) The sizes are impressive. The bio mass of dinks will enter the arena this month and it takes dinks to get a full pull in Oak Hill or Edgewater. The crowds have not been bad at all this season, but light blackouts from cats and baitfish have taken their toll on the shrimpers.
The Lopez boat ramp is closed so many are not steaming that far South from Riverbreeze boat ramp in Oak Hill. The ramp at Max Brewer is also closed. The 528 Causeway is slow but at least some shrimp are coming through (very few). This season has been productive for those that can battle the bait fish. The water is not cold enough to drive them out. This is the 4th season of warm winter shrimping raising the difficulty level several levels. Those using the MacDaddy 7 mode AquaSmartIQ lights use the strobes to blast off the bait and get visuals back. The binary lights (on/off) are having to re-deploy and reset their lights every 15 minutes.
Titusville pier reporting low counts. Haulover Canal is never mentioned. This warm weather winter pattern and hot summers with red tide has taken its toll on our Eco system. These warm winter shrimping patterns are changing the rules in Central Florida. It takes more education, more sophisticated lights to be successful. The last 2 hurricanes did not reboot the lagoon in Volusia County or Brevard County. For more intel, daily reports and mentoring join us on our Facebook group, “Florida Shrimp- ing Academy – Tips & Tricks”.
