Shrimping 2019

[WalkinDead]

Went to St. Andrews today to catch some mullet for red fishing, made two pulls and the dolphins showed up and hit our net. Took our bait to the pier and managed these in about three hours:

 

[bnz]

Nice. I was out there yesterday without a bite

 

[oldboat]

Update on the oil situation...
It seems that St. Simon's sound is experiencing some oil issues. The have put out floating yellow devices to try to keep it to a minimum at Clam Creek entrance, around Bird Island, and Morningstar Marina, as well as other areas where there are inlets into the marshes. I did not see any evidence of it on the North beach by the pier, but did not get in the water, as we were fishing off the pier and didn't want to sit there with wet clothing on.
We went down to the beach to seine afterwards, but the sand gnats pretty much put an end to that before we even got started, so we went to St. Andrews for our shrimp.
I'd say it's a bit iffy on shrimping the north beach right now until they get the oil situation under control. Do so at your own risk...
On a brighter note, they had around 25 or so people picking up trash on the north beach while we were there. Looks like they got quite a bit from the size and numbers of bags they were carrying off.

Thanks for the report!

 

[matthew j]

How do you think this storm will affect seining shrimp

 

[WalkinDead]

It will keep me off the beach till the rain passes. Then it will be business as usual.

 

[WalkinDead]

Wife won't seine in the rain... so we went fishing for a couple hours. Managed one bull red and several sharks. Pier was crowded and quite a few reds were being caught all over it along with flounder, trout, black drum and the usual whiting and croaker. The fall bite is on...

 

[BrileyDog]

Beautiful bull red!! I’m glad to see the pier was good today even in all this mess..??

 

[WalkinDead]

Went back again today for some more red fish.

 

[Bobbrown]

I’m sort of having a hard time figuring out these bull reds by the pier. Looks like you were fishing low outgoing with the scheduled low at 8:15 or so. Interesting I spent that exact tide during the morning hours (along with a bunch of others) on the river east of the pier and didn’t see anyone have that kind of action. You a one greatbull red guy!
So...you think the pier attracts the fish or just closer to the channel. The interesting question is.....do you do as well along the beach as from the pier.

 

[bnz]

There were some guys fishing the beach by the pier last night around low tide that landed 5 in 2-3 hours. I fished in the sound from slack high to the outgoing yesterday afternoon and didn't get a bite. Ended up going out front and caught four.

Go figure

 

[WalkinDead]

We do equally well, if not better, on the beach by the pier using surf rods. No chance of them cutting you off on the pylons; we've lost quite a few to them. We've been fishing the pier with some friends that prefer to fish the pier. I prefer the left end of the pier by the white wall on incoming tide and the right end of the pier on outgoing tide. Either tide works on the beach if you are below the outflow of Clam Creek about 150+ yards where the channel swings in toward the beach. The peak times are 2 hours prior to and after high or low tide, although they can be caught most anytime. Fresh cut mullet or blue crab if you want to eliminate the sharks and potentially catch a nice black drum.
We typically seine for our fresh mullet/crabs prior to going fishing. Most any fresh bait fish will work; we've used croaker, whiting, yellow tails, blue fish, lady fish, big pogies, etc. We don't use chunks, we use fillets instead because the water leaches the oil from the meat which may serve as an attractant.
I have had little luck trying to catch them on the south end of Jekyll, though I have caught a few there. Unless you're in the right location, you can't cast close enough to the channel there without a surf rod and most don't want to make the long walk to the best locations because you get stuck behind the trees at high tide or you have to walk a long way from the soccer fields.
We are at 132 for the year so far and our biggest was ~45 lbs, caught by my wife. She's about 6' tall, the fish was about 60", they usually run around 33" to 43". We have never caught a "keeper" off the pier.

 

[Bobbrown]

Great..thanks. So fresh is better than frozen I assume

 

[WalkinDead]

Made it to the beach to try some daytime shrimping. Not much action and the dolphins were a pain. Waited out high tide and went back at night, ended up with 20+ lbs of mixed sized shrimp before my partner called it; he needed to get some sleep for work the next day. Back at the house by midnight. We shrimped the south end during the day and the north beach at night. No oil from the ship wreak was encountered while we were there. Let him have what we caught, so no picture to post.
Couple of gentlemen were surf fishing on the beach while we were there and caught several bull reds.

 

[WalkinDead]

Pulled the net twice for bait for red fishing Wednesday, very few shrimp but enough finger mullet for fishing. Turned out to be a disappointing day for us, but I witnessed several caught by others on the beach. We moved from the beach to the pier to fish with some friends before dusk, as the critters were beginning to come out. Caught some sharks, but no reds.

 

[WalkinDead]

I was reviewing our catch history from last season. This time last season we were catching a cooler full of shrimp in 3-4 pulls during the day along with half to a full cooler full of crabs. Makes me wonder where the shrimp/crabs are this year. Things will have to start happening here pretty soon, I hope.

 

[WalkinDead]

Pulled the net once for mullet at St. Andrews, dolphins showed up, so we went to the north beach, made one pull, no fish or shrimp???. Still only a few shrimp during daylight hours, but nice size. No bull reds, but 4 decent sharks, two 20+ lb sting rays, and a mess of whiting. Not a disappointing afternoon.

 

[tlee22]

Nice. can you still take home shrimp or is it for bait fishing only? Did not know if the season already ended.

 

[WalkinDead]

Typically ends December 31.

 

[WalkinDead]

With all the "global warming" we've had lately, time to break out the wet suit...

 

[WalkinDead]

Made it to the beach Friday afternoon, pulled 4 times on incoming tide and managed 15 lbs. of shrimp and 20+ nice blue crabs. At least the crabs are beginning to show up! Shared the beach with a nice family from up north.