Area 10 West One Day Opening Delivers!
Area 10 regulations only allow for a 4 hour window (8am - noon) one day per year. We rarely limit at 80 spot shrimp but this year we did well. We 'soaked' 4 pots around 300 feet between 2.5 and 3.5 hours, only pulling them once. We must have been in the right place as we set our traps all in a line, roughly 50 yards apart. It was blowing 15 knots, switching from ebb to flood, with a max current of 3/4 knots. It was a pleasure to be able to handle the wheel (avoiding the dreaded line in the prop debacle) while the 3 man crew handled lines and traps.
Over the years we've refined our technique to use a block at the end of the boom and rig a preventer to hold the boom 3-4 feet out from the boat. Since we pull these traps by hand, we can use our stonger triceps (vs biceps), and keeps the traps away from the boat and the line away from the propeller.
Bait: This changes every year depending what I can find cheap. You are trying to create a soft mash that sends out a scent stream to attract your quarry. You want it thick, like mashed potatoes. Here's my basic recipe:
- Potatoe flakes (base for mash)
- Minimum two cans 12oz fish (mackeral or salmon)
- Dry cat food (fish flavor, preferally)
- 1-2 cups fish fertilizer (or Shrimp/crab fuel)
- Or just use cat food soaked in vegetable oil (frozen the night before)
- Adding fish heads/guts is always a good idea.
Cleaning your shrimp: Lots of videos out there but this way works best to remove the 'vein'.
- Remove their heads by twisting the tails from their heads
- Peal the shells off leaving the last two segments
- Pinch the tail and pull it upwards
- Slowly remove the tail from the meat
- This captures and removes the digestive track (vein) that runs down the middle of the tail
