Oak Hill Shrimping Report – 01/19/14
Capt Lee enjoys shrimping in Oak Hill Florida, the shrimping Capital of Florida. Her reports are both informative and educational.
My shrimping lights I used were (2) GW 75/75 MacDaddy with the green and white strip. I fired off both strips. My light configuration was 9pm and 3 pm set. Imagine looking at a clock. I pulled the 6pm scout light which I deploy when I want to upwell the fat daddy’s lurking lower in the water column. If there are none, I pull the light and in this case I pulled the 3rd light.
Total GALLONS:—-> 1.5 +
Size Breakdown:
% 4 Inch ————-70
% 5 Inch ———— 29
% 6 Inch ————- 1
% 7 Inch ———— Dunno
COTTON Disease [quantity]: Dunno, friends took shrimp home
Kill Zone [Nbr Lights Used]: 02
Type Of Lights Used [LED, Starfire etc]: MacDaddy 75/75 Green/White Mode
Location: CM 4
Water Temperature: 56
Wind: Mild to stagnate
Water Clarity: Dirty/Gritty
Debris Issues: Clear jellies, saw 2 cannonballs, light grass
Frame Net Used: Yes, Shumaker 1/2″ mesh with 1″ stretch to cull
Shrimp Stream [Weak, Mod, Soup]: Very weak, onsy twosy
Anchor SetUp Direction: horizontal in current
Boat Congestion On River: 10 boats
Dipping Time: 3.5 hrs
# Dippers: 02
Bucket was not marked, it was between 1.5-1.75 gallons, guessing, so I called it 1.5 so as not to exaggerate but I may be understating too.
Rain was out in front of boundary (3:30pm) dropping in and front dropped in while we were out. Created a fish feeding frenzy. Fish were popping the shrimp in our fields, but also stirring them up to the top. The stream was weak but I knew this would be the case, so I hunkered down in a narrow area of ICW. Shrimp ran in all levels of the water column, staggered. Constantly faced with picking off the top water runner or hoop diving 3-4 foot down for larger one.
My friends did all the dipping, and this was their first mac smack, and they are addicted. We just talked the night away. Dummy me, forgot waterproof clothes and boy was I cold and wet. I played with the new Shumaker net, and I love the culling, the shrimp in the net were all delicious size and NO dinks.
Other dummy move on my part was I forgot to take my bimini off, and it was a bear to pipe out the new Shumaker net which I did not modify (cut down the two clear 12 foot ropes) to pipe. But I rigged it up despite the obstacles but rest assured, lesson learned and today I am righting all the “oops” from my first shrimp trip of the season.
Opted for 2 light field due to lack of wind chop and stagnate water. Set up goal posts but stair stepped the lights, my east light was set higher than my west light. Was expecting a west wind, and stair stepped my lights to turn the shrimp west. My boat was pitched similar. It worked.
Did I mention, I hate setting up when the tide is already going out? The tide had some attitude like a lion but the topwater was a sheep. The clarity at time allowed me to see the LED dots, other times I could not.
The migrating pink shrimp from Indian river populated the bucket. The legs were as pink as the body, no doubt they have been swimming hard. Equally, we had some nice size browns, that popped up and out of the mud from the cold snap the night prior.
This time of year with water temps mid 50’s, it is quality over quantity in Oak Hill….the majority of size was 4.5″ and up which is my favorite size. I did not take the shrimp home, so I cannot give you more specifics.
Million dollar question is……is it worth pulling the mono out and begin to weapon up and head out into battle.
Yes.
Worst part of the night? A boat full of yahoo’s bombing rap music for which they sang along with. They were 1/2 mile or more from me and the serenity of the night was dueling boat music stereo systems….good thing I was not closer to them, I would have had to take a shotgun and sink their boats. Listening to music is one thing but cranking it up all the way was offensive.
For those that may have passed me out there, thanks for the wakes when clearly you saw a person standing on bow, you forced me down on my knees to keep from being tossed off the boat.
Folks, if you see people standing on their bows, SLOW DOWN, its a idle zone any ways and I get the anxious drive to get where your going when your late in getting there…but do not send 2 foot rollers to boats with people on the bow!
Temperature on truck mirror at 11:30pm heading home was 46 degrees. Thank goodness for leather seat butt warmers.
