The 2014 Winter Shrimping Season Is Officially ON

From Titusville to Oak Hill, Florida, the 2014 winter shrimping season is in full swing.

The sounds of five gallon buckets echo throughout the night on both of Titusville's  fishing piers as sport shrimpers of all kinds try to load them up with jumbo "crickets" as they are called by the locals .

So far this April, Volusia County has been on fire with reliable harvests and predictable action night after night from the Lopez area of Oak Hill to as far North as the New Smyrna Beach pier.

The Oak Hill area, noted for their small size shrimp, has been providing sport shrimpers of late with some impressively sized shrimp that have  not been seen in years.

The shrimp are averaging from 4-3/4" to over 5" and most of the boats are making full pulls (30lbs/5 gallons) .  Volusa County shrimpers in general have been harvesting a minimum of 1 to 2 gallons of shrimp on any given night under the lights.  This video shows how easy it is to get a cooler full when you hit the tide right.

Although Oak Hill shrimp occasionally reach impressive sizes during late February through March, usually in April the size of the shrimp harvested gets considerably smaller.

You'll still be able to cull out some large shrimp, but the majority will be 4" or smaller; much less than the preferred size.

If you're shrimping in Volusia County, plan to hit Oak Hill.   Edgewater has not

been as productive as Oak Hill and if you hit the back end of the tide, you can still get a shot at some of the big 8" shrimp in Oak Hill before the "smallies" take over.

From February to date, Brevard County shrimping remains moody.

Titusville shrimpers from Haulover Canal, to the railroad bridge, to the fishing piers on the Indian River are having a more difficult time filling their buckets.

It has been reliably either very hot or totally cold since the first of April.

The shrimp in Brevard County seem to run when they feel like it and some of the die hard shrimpers on the rails dip all night only to harvest a half bucket.

The difference between a good and bad night shrimping during the shrimp run seems to boil down on how well you set up your underwater light field.

The old timers who shrimp on a regular basis know that a badly laid out light field makes for a bad night on the pier.   They also seem to know when to go shrimping and when to stay at home.

Knowing when to go obviously gives you an advantage.   If the winds are blowing in over 10 knots, don't bother loading up your shrimping gear.

Timing is everything, and March and April are magical in Brevard County.

The cold fronts for the most part are a distant memory and the pleasant evenings make the two fishing piers a gathering place for sport shrimpers, night fishermen and party-goers alike.

Although the shrimp in Brevard County are by far much larger than anywhere else in Florida, you have to put in your time on the rails and plug in to local shrimping information to make it worthwhile when you schedule a trip to our area.

Brevard remains King of the slobs (jumbos), and when the stars are lined up perfectly, Titusville pier shrimpers can load up their buckets with mediums and jumbos of over 5".

April is also the best month to load up on blue crab and shrimp at Haulover Canal.

I've been told that as Volusia County shrimping starts to wind down, North Brevard will be the best seat in the house.

It appears it's time to get out and enjoy the 2014 winter shrimping season.