Shore Lunches & Shrimping Season

Michael Cheser

Content Marketing Supervisor

The Lowcountry is home to so many great fisheries full of game fish, bait and other marine life. The ecosystem here offers so much food for marine life making the area a huge tourist destination for fishermen. One of the greatest parts of the fishery here is it's abundance of white shrimp, they're excellent bait for inshore fishing and of course, they make great table fare.

We recently set out to shoot a new episode of The Sportsman Experience. I have only been in the lowcountry for about four years not so I am still learning the ways down here and that means I am still experiencing a lot of new great things. One of those activities I have not done is shrimping whether it be with bait or deep hole nets. I have thrown a cast net for shrimp to use as bait but never set out for the day with intentions of bulk shrimping to fill up a cooler. In this episode I was about to learn a good bit about local traditions and get some awesome content for a new episode.

Breaking it down, there's two ways of shrimping outside of the use of a commercial shrimp boat which there are many here in Charleston. The first is a seasonal method, you set up poles in an area and you make bait balls, mostly comprised of fishmeal and clay, you toss the bait near the pole, wait for it to dissolve into the water, then you begin throwing your net onto it. This method is shrimp baiting and it's only for a few weeks out of the year and require special tags and permits from the SCDNR. The next method is what we were using, deep hole shrimping. You use large nets with taped edges which allow the net to open up and not close as it falls. When it reaches the bottom it covers a large area and as you retrieve it you close the net capturing the shrimp that were in the hole you threw your net into.

When "deep holing" as the boys call it, you wait for low tide (less water to let the net fall through) and you start to find holes near creek mouths and out in the bay using your Garmin MFD. Once you've found said hole you scan the bottom looking for what seem to be fuzzy steeples, this is shrimp. Once you locate them figure out how fast the boat is drifting and in what direction, do a few practice casts to see how fast the net will fall and then it's time to line up your shot.

I was under this grand assumption that we'd toss the net into a hole and bring up this heavy load of shrimp, dump it on the deck and it would look like a commercial shrimping operation. You know, a few tosses and bam the 48qt shrimp limit is met and we are headed off to go eat these little tasty saltwater bugs. That's not the case at all, if you land 25 at once you're doing really well. All I can say is you better be good at throwing a cast net and have some good stamina because it's not for everyone but it's rewarding to say the least.

To add a fun element to the show we decided let's pack up some gear and when we get done shrimping we will beach the boat and boil some shrimp and have a nice little shore lunch. If you're interested in doing this there's two options to how you should do this, first there's the way we did it and second there's the way we should have done it. The way we did it, we packed the Coleman camping grill, a cast iron pan, bottle of water, some seasoning and something to stir the shrimp. This in all honesty was perfect for a quick snack on the sandbar but if you want to go above and beyond and do a true lowcountry boil here's what you'll need.

I recommend using cast iron for just about everything, if it's seasoned well you'll never get the same flavor but for a boil it's not that big of a deal just get a decent sized pot, though I do love using my cast iron dutch oven for this. You'll need some sort of burner, a pop up grill like the Coleman camping grill is great and it packs up small. If you're really ambitious you could build a fire on the shore (mind local rules here) take that cast iron dutch oven and place it in the coals, boil your water and then you're ready to add the ingredients. We only cooked shrimp in a cast iron skillet but again we are going above and beyond in this scenario. Toss some chopped potatoes, corn and a healthy amount of seasoning into the pot to boil until they're nearly done, next add your sausage, let this cook for about 10-15 minutes. Once the sausage is cooked to your likeness kill the heat (if you're over a fire make sure you've got a good glove to remove the pot from the fire) and dump in your shrimp. In about two minutes or so they'll be nice and pink and ready to eat. We recommend leaving the heads on, it just adds flavor and saves you time cleaning the shrimp.

Once it's all done cooking remove the food from the water and place it out on a nice surface for everyone to start picking from, the Yeti cooler top was a great option for us as we didn't need to pack anything else. At this point it's time to dig in and enjoy the fruits of your labor and enjoy a nice meal with your buddies on the beach.

This adventure turned out to be a great trip for our entire crew. We shot what's turning into a fantastic episode showing the true lowcountry traditions and lifestyle and got to showcase how the Masters 247OE makes for a great boat for this type of fishing. If you're interested in watching The Sportsman Experience you can do so by clicking HERE to see full episodes. Then you can tune into our YouTube page for more short videos along with loads of other content.