Night Shrimping On The Indian River Is Picking Up

Evidently night shrimping on the Indian River is picking up a bit.

Yesterday evening just after the full moon, the new fishing piers were populated with a variety of shrimpers and night fishermen who were thoroughly enjoying the evening.

The temperatures are getting cooler and this month should see an increase in the amount and size of shrimp that are being dipped from both piers.

I was told by a couple of old timers that Haulover Canal shrimpers are getting more than their share of shrimp by boat.

The dirty little secret is that Haulover Canal is pretty decent for shrimping almost all year around.

A few shrimpers I talked to were using 12 volt batteries with the lights below hooked up in tandem with good results.

The days of gas powered generators powering underwater lighting arrays are pretty much over with.

These days the shrimpers are plugging into the outlets on the pier or bringing their own batteries.

The underwater lights in the pic are relatively cheap and put out enough light to do the job. When a few are hooked up together, they light up the water column enough for easy snagging.

Most of the shrimp caught were large to jumbos which is common for this area.

Around Oak Hill farther north in the ICW, the shrimpers are catching more shrimp but they are almost always smaller in size.

I plan on picking up some more underwater lights and giving it a try again.

The last time I went shrimping was in Haulover Canal in my old boat a few years ago.

I loaded up on shrimp, but had to spend the night out on the water until I could get a tow into the boat launch the next morning.

My old Mercury outboard wouldn't start and even though I enjoyed the night's activities, I learned why Mosquito Lagoon got it's name.

Till next time, Tight Lines!