Let ‘em Eat Shrimp

The middle of summer doesn’t have to be dead for angling, not as long as anglers have live bait.

The tide had been slack when we neared the little section of bank where a pair of smaller creeks funneled out of the marsh and spilled into a larger creek.It was that brief moment between the last movement of the incoming tide and the first stirrings of the outgoing tide.

Fish weren’t stirring and no-see-ums were the only things biting. Capt Tommy Rickman of Southport Angler Outfitters (www.fishsouthport.com, 910-264-7722) had said the bite wouldn’t start for a while but he wanted to be in place and not take a chance on disturbing anything once the tide started falling.

Once Rickman positioned his FlyCraft flats boat at the mouths of the twin creeks, he eased the anchor over the side. We were pretty much motionless in the water and drifted listlessly in the slight southwest breeze, the anchor line still not fully taut.

“Go ahead and hook up a shrimp and cast it over there,” Rickman said, pointing to the far side of the creek. “I seriously doubt we’ll see any action until the tide starts moving again, but you never can tell. Sometimes the fish don’t play by the same rulebooks as us. We’re here a few minutes early, so let’s set the table and see if anybody is hungry early.

“Once the tide starts moving, the drift will be left to right. Set your bobber-stopper to fish about a foot and a half down and cast up there just beyond the creek on the left. Try to get within a foot of the bank and you should be OK.”

The first cast landed about about 6 inches shy of the far bank of the creek. We watched as the bait and cork remained stationary. After about 30 seconds, Rickman suggested rattling the cork to see if the noise would attract a fish.

Easing my rod tip down close to the water, I tightened the line and gave the rod a sharp twitch with my wrist. The Betts Aggravator cork laid on its side, slid down the line a few inches then fell back into place with a click that was audible in the boat, yards away.

Unfortunately, if any predatory fish heard the rattle, they weren’t interested. I repeated the action and we waited, both of us hoping to see that cork violently jerked underwater. But it sat still, not even drifting.

“Don’t worry,” Rickman said. “They rarely bite before the tide starts moving again. We’ve got a few minutes yet to wait, but I wanted to see if there might be a hungry fish that showed up early.

“Relax and let that shrimp sit where it is. It still might get hit. We should have a couple of hours of good action once the tide gets going again.”

Slipping the rod into a nearby rod holder, I opened the cooler and got out an orange. If the action was to be as hot as Rickman promised, I wanted to be hydrated before it began and not need to stop to get something to drink. Then the cork was at the middle of the small creek. The movement had been so subtle as to be almost imperceptible. The tide had changed and was starting to retreat. During the next 30 minutes the flow of the current gradually increased and now was steady.

Then the float was nowhere to be found. Turning quickly to the rod tip, I was barely in time to see it take a sharp dip and stay down. It wasn’t rapid, but the little Wavespin reel was making a “zzzzt-zzzzt” sound as something peeled off short lengths of line.

Clearing the bent rod from its holder began the first of many little fights that morning. The fish surged out into the main creek then tried to break down current. There wasn’t much drag on the reel and when the fish didn’t continue taking line, we guessed it to be a small one.

It was indeed a small speck but of legal size that tired itself fighting its way to the larger creek. A few cranks of the reel led the trout to the boat where Rickman leaned over the side, cradled it and eased the hook free.

Once the hook was gone, the little speck sped away with a renewed burst of energy.

Rickman quickly picked up an outfit and joined in the action. Now that the tide had begun to move, fish were arriving to feed upon small shrimp and minnows flushed out of the marsh grass at the small creeks.

The intensity of the bite was rapidly building from non-existent to wide open. Rarely did a shrimp survive a drift across the mouths of the two creeks. Several times the float never stopped but disappeared before settling in the water.

At one point, just as the bite first began to build, one of the shrimp suddenly burst to the surface and began jumping wildly around the float.

“Watch this,” Rickman said with an edge of excitement in his voice. “That shrimp has just realized it’s about to get eaten and it’s trying to get away. As soon as whatever has it so stirred up keys in on it, that shrimp will be dinner and you’ll be fighting whatever eats it.”

Sure enough, after only a few seconds a big swirl roiled the water where the shrimp had been a moment earlier. The float disappeared, the light tip of the Ugly Stick rod bent sharply and the little WaveSpin reel in my right hand buzzed. The fish surged down the creek with the falling tide but quickly gave in to the resistance of the reel’s drag and turned out toward the center of the larger creek.

Once out in the middle of the larger creek, the fish lost its boost from the rush of the falling tide exiting the small creeks and slowed. Without the push of the stronger current, I was able to turn it and lead it to the boat where Rickman waited with the landing net.

When the fish saw the landing net, it gave one final surge, but the hook was securely imbedded in its jaw and the resistance of the drag quickly stopped it. On the next attempt, it allowed itself to be led all the way into the net where Rickman expertly scooped it up.

At first the bite was just trout. Then a few puppy drum joined in the mix. Next were a mixture of various fish that included black drum, a sheepshead, some huge pinfish, one ladyfish and a few croakers. Finally, flounder got into the act.

However, Rickman said the flatfish had been there all along but didn’t begin feeding until the tide dropped enough they could easily see and capture the baits drifting above their heads.

“The live shrimp are the key to this bite,” Rickman said. “When the water’s this hot, the fish get fairly lethargic and won’t chase much. However, everything likes shrimp and gathers at the smaller creeks and other drains in the marsh where they have to come out when the tide falls.

“It’s sort of like an ‘all-you-can-eat’ special and many species of fish key in on it. My thought is if shrimp are what they want to eat, then that’s what I should use for bait.

“With all the oyster rocks in this area, I like to suspend shrimp under floats. You can put them on the bottom on a Carolina rig or some folks just put them on a light jig head, but you’ll get hung up and lose rigs, bait and fish.

“I believe using the floats is simpler, works easier for my charters and is just as productive for everything but flounder, and we catch some of them too.”

Rickman makes rigs he uses to suspend live shrimp, including 12 to 15 inches of 12- to 20-pound fluorocarbon leader with a Size 8 treble hook, one or two 1/4 ounce split shots and a Billy Bay Adjustable Depth Aggravator float from Betts Tackle.

The float comes with a bobber stopper, bead and swivel in the package. Rickman likes the ability to slide the bobber stopper up or down the line and quickly adjust the fishing depths of baits. On fixed popping or rattling corks, this adjustment requires changing leaders.

Rickman began by putting the bobber-stopper and a small bead on the line from the reel about a foot from its end. With the bobber-stopper and bead on the line, he slid the cork on the line and tied on the swivel. He added fluorocarbon leader, hook and split shot below the swivel.

Rickman prefers lighter leaders for trout, but if bluefish or other toothy nuisances are prevalent, he uses heavier leader to prevent having many bite-offs.

The Adjustable Aggravator is mounted on a brass tube and some weight must be balanced to get it to stand upright. The split shot performs that task and also helps keep the shrimp down in the water. Usually one split shot will be enough to balance the float and keep the shrimp down, but when the current is flowing swiftly, sometimes two lead shot are needed.

Rickman recommended a single split shot — as long as it works. One lead weight allows a shrimp to swim more naturally and the float sits higher in the water, which makes it easier to see.

Shrimp are hooked lightly, just under their “horn,” between their eyes and brain. The two dark spots just behind a shrimp’s head are its brain and nervous system. It’s important not to impale either of them when putting a shrimp on a hook.

The shell is strongest directly beneath the horn and will hold the shrimp securely enough to allow casting yet allow it to swim a little. It’s imperative to learn how to put a shrimp on a hook to produce good catches. If hooked through the brain or nervous system a shrimp will die and is not as productive as when alive.

Rickman said one of the keys to success with this rig is to fish as deep as one can without attracting too many pinfish. Pinfish are present in big numbers during the heat of the summer, have voracious appetites and will attack baits up to their own size. Sometimes they seem to be competing to be the first to steal a bait.

Fortunately, pinfish primarily are bottom-feeders and anglers often may drift a shrimp a foot or so over their heads and pinfish don’t seem to notice. However, once they see bait overhead, they surge off the bottom.

Shrimp fishing is arguably the most productive way to catch speckled trout and a wide variety of inshore fish during the hot summer months. It’s also pretty easy fishing too.

Just get the shrimp hooked properly on the hook and cast it into productive waters. The cork being pulled under signifies a strike, which is something every fisherman can understand.

As Rickman noted, fish gather in certain spots to eat shrimp as the tide falls and they must vacate the safety of flooded marsh grass. At that point it simply becomes a matter of being in the right location with a bait gamefish prefer.

Rickman said most inshore fish place live shrimp high on their list of favorite foods, so he brings them what they want for the best success.

Let ’em eat shrimp.