to avoid when females are carrying
eggs. The spawning of spot shrimp
is something unique as well as they
are “hermaphrodites” which means
they are born males and at about
two years of age they transform to
females. Living usually four or five
years, they grow to 9 inches in length
not including tentacles.
Spot shrimp seek deep areas and
are often fished in waters deeper
than 200 feet and down to over 400
feet. They stay close to the bottom
and feed on just about anything that
is rotting. This helps keep the ocean
clean with shrimp being the “garbage
can” of the ocean and yet somehow
they taste so wonderful. Some of the
most popular baits are canned cat
food mixed with chub mackerel and
“shrimp pellets” which are usually
fish meal byproducts. Mix in some
shrimp attractant which again is
usually the byproduct of a bait company’s
products such as salmon egg
“juice”, ground baitfish oils and such.
Mixed all of the ingredients in a large
bucket to the consistency of peanut
butter. You know you have a good
bait if you let it soak in a container
and it’s half gone in an hour.
Bait is truly the key to packing
your pots with spot shrimp. A few
years ago I was just learning how
to catch shrimp and used the old
standby of canned cat food with
holes punched in the cans. Catching a
few shrimp, it felt good to know I had
it figured out, until the boat next to
mine pulled up a nearly full trap. The
research began and soon I confirmed
you need a “leaching” bait that
spreads out with the tides and attracts
the shrimp. They really do like nasty,
smelly, and rotten baits as long as you
keep the pots well baited.
Most let the pot soak for up to an
hour and then pull it to collect what
is inside and then re-bait. Depending
on where you shrimp the pot dimensions
might alter but most require a
1-inch mesh. This means that smaller
shrimp, which are often the males,
can come and go freely.
One “tip” that increases your catch
is to never stop pulling up on the pot
when you are retrieving it. If you
Caring, Cooking Your Shrimp
One of the best ways to keep your
shrimp fresh until you get home is
to make an ice water slush. This
works if you want to keep the
heads on for a few hours or if you
have a long wait to get home, such
as going clamming afterwards and
just keeping the shrimp tails fresh.
Simply take a bag of ice, break it
apart and add seawater. This is an
extremely cold solution and keeps
the shrimp fresh for hours. When
you get home package them in dinner
size portions and freeze them.
They freeze well with the shell on
and will keep for months in the
freezer.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Panko crumbs
1/2 cup coconut flakes
2 tbs coconut oil
12 peeled spot shrimp (tails on)
DIRECTIONS
Mix Panko and coconut flakes
in a one gallon resealable bag.
Rinse shrimp and place in bag
while wet. Toss to coat shrimp
in Panko and coconut flakes.
Pan fry in coconut oil about 3
minutes or until golden brown.
Enjoy! JASON BROOKS
www.salmonandsteelheadjournal.com 17