Night Shrimping On The Indian River

Night shrimping on the Indian River Lagoon has been picking up for the past couple of weeks, according to some of the regulars that I spoke with this evening.

Since I've been working in South Carolina for the past couple of weeks, I haven't been able to do much serious fishing.  The seven hour drive really wears you out.

I had planned to catch a few sea trout this afternoon but as luck would have it, the blower motor on our HVAC unit went out.

Today was windy for the most part and a healthy east wind was blowing smoke into the city of Titusville this evening, apparently from a controlled burn .

After I walked around the block to get some exercise, I decided to run down to the fishing pier to see what the shrimpers were doing.

The smoke around town looked more like an eerie fog and driving down to the river felt strange this evening.

When I got to the fishing pier it was apparent that the party goers didn't mind the smoke one bit.  A band was playing at the outside bar and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I didn't bother bringing my fishing rod, only my Nikon Cool Pix.

There were lots of people on both fishing piers this evening.  The shrimpers on the higher pier were not doing as well as the ones who staked out the lower pier.

Because of the heavy east wind, not many people were fishing.  The guys that were fishing were using shrimp and were catching mostly catfish and a few small sea trout.

The shrimpers on the lower fishing pier closest to the sea wall were literally murdering the shrimp.

The east wind was pushing shrimp towards the sea wall and the shrimpers closest to the wall were dipping up shrimp almost constantly.

I took the video below of the action and as you can see the shrimpers were pretty active.

Night shrimping on the Indian River in May can be rewarding, and coming off a "super moon" might have something to do with the abundance of shrimp that were being caught tonight.

Although no one I spoke with had their 5 gallon bucket limit, several shrimpers were well on their way to filling their limit with jumbo size shrimp.

When I got to the pier at around 10:15 pm, there was a steady east wind blowing and it stayed that way until I left about 45 minutes later.

I ran out of memory on my camera and got tired of breathing smoke so I said my goodbyes and headed back to the hacienda.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get out tomorrow and catch some reds.

Tight Lines to you all.

 

Post Thanksgiving Day Shrimping

Shrimping on the new fishing pier this evening reflects the fact that it's the day after Thanksgiving.

Post Thanksgiving Day shrimping was as I expected.

There were only a few shrimpers out this evening and from what everyone was telling me the shrimping wasn't all that great.

I got to the fishing pier on the Indian River Lagoon at about 10:00 p.m. and only stayed long enough to get a shrimping report.

On the day after Thanksgiving, everyone stays home with their family and this evening was no exception.

The shrimp that were caught were medium to jumbo in size and everyone I spoke with had some in their buckets.

No one this evening had underwater lighting arrays set up and the people shrimping this evening were evidently "newbies" to sport shrimping.

I personally believe that the underwater lighting they were using  could have been the reason for the poor results.

Everybody I talked to had above water incandescent lights taped to the rails, which really didn't light up the water column enough to spot or attract the shrimp.

There were large shrimp jumping out of the water on a regular basis, evidently being chased by sea trout and as I was leaving for home the activity seemed to be picking up.

There were at least a dozen shrimp caught while I was taking these pictures.

I suspect that a lot more shrimp would have been caught if the shrimpers would have been using the underwater 1000 to 3000 lumens colored shrimp lights that the regulars use.

In any event, it was a nice evening on the pier.

Many of my subscribers have asked about where they can purchase underwater lighting for fishing or shrimping.  

The link below will take you to some videos of different types of lighting that the shrimpers in this area use on the fishing piers.

You could also use these lights from your boat to really light up the water column.  They would be great in Haulover Canal.

Didn't get to go fishing today, but I hope to wet a line tomorrow.

Till then, Tight Lines!

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!

Night Shrimping On The Indian River Is Still Going Strong

Night shrimping on the Indian River is still going strong in August.

Normally in August the sport shrimping run on the Indian River is over and done with.  However, this year the norms have been redefined by this past winter's severe cold fronts.

It seems like everything has been pushed back a month or so.

Sunday evening I got bored watching the doom and gloom on the boob tube, so I decided to drive down to our new fishing piers and check out the action, if any.

I didn't expect to see many people doing anything but partying at the pavilion but was pleasantly surprised by how many people were on both piers shrimping, catching blue crabs and fishing.

I took these pics of the activity and composed this short video to show the "goings on".

I arrived about 10:00 pm armed with my trusty Nikon and a 7' spinning rod baited with a Rootbeer/Gold D.O.A. Shrimp just in case the trout were biting.

It was windy and there was a little chop on the water.  The shrimpers had their shrimp lights out and the fishermen were doing their thing using mostly live or dead shrimp for bait.

This gentleman in his motorized wheelchair was catching a good number of shrimp and had the bottom of his bucket covered when I got there.

He had only been shrimping since it got dark and expected to net up quite a few more before heading for home.

He told me that he comes to the pier about once a week to shrimp and that this is the first time the shrimp were still running in good numbers through the month of August.

I moved on down the length of the pier taking pictures of all the people enjoying the evenings activities.

One couple even had a crib out there with their kids while shrimping and several others were lounging around on the chairs they brought with them.

I flipped the
D.O.A. Shrimp out a few times around the lights, caught a couple of under size sea trout and missed several more before calling it a night and going home.

On the way out, I took a snippet of this guy's cooler that he was filling up with blue crabs which were drifting by on the surface along with the shrimp.



He told me that he planned to fill it up before leaving.

I wished him well but personally I hate messing with cleaning them.  Especially the smaller ones.

I much prefer soft shelled blue crabs in sandwich form!

I'm happy to be able to report that the night shrimping is still going strong on the Indian River.

Till my next report, Tight Lines.

The Shrimp Are Still Running In The Indian River

A friend of mine told me the shrimp are still running in the Indian River and that the regulars were getting up to a couple hundred shrimp a night.

There wasn't anything exciting on the boob tube so I decided to take a ride down to the new fishing pier and check out the shrimping activities.

Since it was Monday evening, I didn't expect to see many people out and about but boy was I wrong!



When I parked at the pavilion near the fishing pier it was about 11:45 p.m. and the place was loaded with people.

Some were shrimping, some were catching crabs and many were fishing for the sea trout that were competing with the shrimpers.

I brought one rod and my trusty Nikon and took these pics of the evenings festivities.

There was a steady wind blowing from the south and it was hard to spot shrimp under the lights but despite the challenge, several of the shrimpers I spoke with had several dozen large to jumbo shrimp lining their 5 gallon buckets.

I took some more pictures and decided to try my luck on the sea trout that were just above the lights. Occasionally you could see them dart out from the depths to snag a shrimp or small bait fish from the surface.

I tossed a Creme paddletail swim bait, a Lazer eye jig, and a D.O.A. shrimp at the fish with no takers. Finally I changed over to a Johnson gold spoon and that did the trick.

I discovered that when I cast just outside of the shrimp lights and brought the spoon in about a foot under the surface, the trout couldn't let the lure alone.

I caught five fish in about a half an hour and missed three more.

All the fish were undersize and released but they were still fun to catch.

I finally got tired of messing with the trout and left the pier to the shrimpers at about 1:30 a.m.

Hope to get out tomorrow and catch a red or two.

Till then, Tight Lines!

Went Walking The Dog This Afternoon

This afternoon my wife and I decided to get out and try for some of the slot sized redfish that abound in the Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River.

We got a late start and decided not to take the boat because of the Redfish Tournament and the local fair that is ending this weekend. Parking spaces are hard to come by.

For some reason, Peacocks Pocket road was still closed; so instead, we fished a small feeder creek that empties into a larger shallow marsh area that almost everybody passes up when entering the wildlife refuge.

We jumped two nice sized redfish in water that was no more than a foot deep, but they weren't interested in our offerings.

We moved on and fished a point on the Indian River side for about an hour with no luck except for a large catfish that my wife picked up on her Cajun Thunder rig.

I was wading , the wind was picking up, and I was clammy, so when some rude people decided to park their car directly next to ours, we decided to leave.

On the way out of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve we decided to give our first spot one last shot, so we pulled alongside the area which now had a flock of spoonbills feeding in it, and resumed our fishing.



My wife was using fresh frozen xlarge shrimp, and I was "walking the dog" with my Heddon Super Spook, Jr. top water.

In about an hours worth of fishing before dusk, I landed six slot sized trout, and missed at least three or four others, including one huge fish that blew the plug right out of the water.



There were 5 or 6 very large redfish busting baitfish in the shallows, almost into the grass. I tried casting to them, but they were way out of range and with the gators in the area, I decided to use discretion and not go wading in after them.

My wife didn't fare so well this trip, but we enjoyed the day none the less.

On the way back home, we saw at least a dozen shrimpers setting up for night shrimping on the Indian River, so we decided to stop and see how they were doing.

Guy and Cathy who regularly shrimp the area said the shrimp were "on and off" again. Guy got about 50 large shrimp the previous night and some of the other people I spoke with on the bridge reported about the same or less.



I promised to post their pictures, so here they are. Last time I spoke with them, I took a picture of a Jumbo shrimp in his hand and neglected to post his pic. Hope he can find my website!

Anyway, I took some pics and wished everyone well with their shrimping.

With any kind of luck, my wife and I (and of course our wonder dog Elmo) will get to wet a line tomorrow.

Till then, Tight Lines!

Night Shrimping On The Indian River

Night shrimping on the Indian River causeway is beginning to pick up shrimpers but not shrimp.

Saturday evening, I decided to check out the "happenings" at the causeway bridge. The shrimpers were out in droves despite the windy conditions.

The moon phase looked to be about 3/4 full and there was a moderate chop in the river. The shrimpers I spoke with were not filling their bucket limits, but they were all having a good time.

Guy and Cathy, two of the Titusville residents who shrimp at least two days out of the week, said that the water is still too cold for the shrimp to really start the "big" runs.

The shrimp that were caught were BIG. See the pics below of the one I took that was at least 8" long.



There were others caught in the net socks that were at least that size and several that were larger.

This seems to be the trend in this part of the Indian River.



Generally, there are more shrimp netted in the Oak Hill area, but they run very small compared to the jumbos that are regularly netted in Titusville.

The shrimpers were blaming the sea trout for eating all the "good ones" and I really couldn't argue their point. There were a lot of small sand trout schools and many larger slot limit trout swimming over the shrimp lights this Saturday evening.

Anyway, enjoy the pics. I hope to get some fishing in tomorrow if the wind cooperates.

Tight Lines to All!

Night Shrimping On The Indian River

Planned on getting out and making a few casts before dark, however I drove in from Savannah, Ga. and ran into some unexpected traffic and didn't get home early enough. After my last traffic stop by Volusia county, I try to keep it way under 95 mph! Just Kidding!!

Anyway my wife, Elmo and I drove down to the causeway bridge to see what was happening.

There were few fishermen on the water, and about a dozen or more shrimpers doing their thing from the bridge and a wooden fishing dock.

The old timers complained about the slow shrimping. Several told me that this time of the year should be when the shrimp begin to run in ernest, but the cold snap of the past week put the shrimp down. The general concences is that Feb. or March should be when they really turn on.

One thing is certain, the trout were there in droves and I suspect they were the main reason no one was loading up on the shrimp. The trout were eating everything in sight. The water column above the shrimp lights looked like a fish hatchery.


I took a couple of videos of the fish activity you all might find interesting. Turn down the audio unless you love the sound of generators.



The videos were taken about 7:45 . Later on in the evening, the big bull redfish come cruising in like miniature torpedos looking for a trout dinner, I suspect.

In any event, I hope to get out and bend a rod tomorrow. Till then.

Tight Lines.