a dip and a miss

Les ( lobsterman ) asked if I wanted to make a run at some shrimp. Without thinking I said sure, why not. What was I thinking ?? It turned out that the tide turned at 10:30 at night and ran for about 6 hours. It was going to be an all nighter, something I don't do at my age.

I got over to his house around 8:30 and he had his boat all hooked up and ready to go. About an hour later we were putting the boat into the inter-coastal. A short half hour run to "our spot" only to find three other boats already there. We scouted around and picked out what looked like a good spot for us to set up at. We dropped anchors and set out the lights. The current was already heading out so we were just in time for the start of the run ( we hoped ).

Les spots the first shrimp and it is in my light field, I grab my net, a quick dip and we have the first shrimp of the night. I dip about 5 more shrimp before Les gets in on the action. But it is slow and the shrimp are medium size at best. The first hour goes by and we might have about a dozen shrimp in the cooler. Some of the other boats start to leave. We think about it but decide to stay put.

Time goes on and the other boats leave. We are here by out selves. Then it happens, A big shrimp pops into the light field. Les dips at it and misses. I told him it was probably a bait fish he chased. He still claimed it was a shrimp. Them I see one in my light field, I move my net into position to scoop him out and he's gone. He jumped clear of my net before I could capture him. The shrimp start to come through our light fields, they are big, they are fast and they are skittish, we can't get a net near them. And they are coming in groups of 6 to 10 shrimp at a time, almost like they were in formation. We dip and we miss, we dip again and we miss again.

We are netting maybe one out of every 3 or 4 shrimp we try for. We keep changing our technique to find something that will work on these shrimp. Then things slow down, it's 4:30 in the morning and It's a long drive back home. We pull our gear and head back in.

Attachment 393397

My share of the nights haul was a little over a half gal of nice shrimp with a few monsters thrown in for good measure. If we could have caught all that we tried for, it would have been a very good night. But it is what it is. My Lady will have a shrimp dinner tonight.

Until next time, heres wishing you all tight lines and full nets. See you on the water.

Jim

Good fishing story if it was fish so it is a shrimp story like we say we will get them next time thank for the post

A good night, and you’re needing a nap. Glad it went smooth.

Sweet trip, thanks for posting.


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Very tough night Jim, makes me glad I can buy locally!
Doug

Way to go guys!

Thanks for sharing your shrimping adventure. I stayed late a few nights last year and it payed off big time. But, the older we get we pay for that break in our body schedule for a few days. Nothing like a fresh shrimp dinner. Hope you get a full pull this year. Tight Lines and Full Pulls.

Yep Jim those all nighters aren’t for me ether but the shrimp are hard to resist.