by Jason Brooks, May 02, 2017

May brings on one of my favorite fisheries, but it is not one where you use a hook, line, and rod to reel in the catch. Instead, baits are in the form of canned cat food, tuna fish, and pellets that resemble dried dog food. Rope is needed, not monofilament lines, and the net is a metal box made of 1 inch mesh. Yes, May is the beginning of shrimp season!

Puget Sound offers a very good shrimp fishing opportunity that a lot of anglers don’t even realize is right out in front of them. Just about everyone who has a boat can partake, with the protected coves and inlets for small watercraft and of course the San Juan Islands for those that have a larger vessel and can maneuver through large tide swings and cross the Sound. Gear is simple, as long as you adhere to the rules and regulations.

Spot Shrimp are the most prized species in Puget Sound because of their size, growing up to 9 inches with most around the 6 inch length. In May, on days when Spot Shrimp is open you can keep 80 shrimp per person. You must keep each person’s shrimp separate from other anglers, so it is a good idea to pack along a few zip-loc bags with each anglers name on them. Finding the shrimp can be a bit tricky but if you don’t have any ideas where to go then look for other boats and the yellow buoys. Spot Shrimp like to live in deep waters and are often caught from 200 to 300 feet deep on large benches and shelves.

Coonstripe, or Dock Shrimp, are the second most common shrimp anglers catch in Puget Sound. They are from an inch or two in length up to 6 inches. Often found is shallower waters, near 100 to 200 feet, the smaller shrimp like sandy bottoms and areas where there is a bit of a tide movement. These are my favorite shrimp to catch because starting in June, on days when Spot Shrimp is closed; you are allowed ten pounds per person! Again, you need to keep each person’s limit separate from the others, but once I am home I sort through all of the shrimp. The largest ones head for the bbq with a brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Medium sized shrimp are used for deep frying and making “popcorn” shrimp or sautéed and put into dishes like smoked salmon and shrimp pasta. The smallest of my Coonstripe Shrimp get sorted once more, with the larger ones cured for fall Chinook and Coho fishing and the smallest ones cured for winter steelhead fishing. This is why Coonstripe Shrimping is my favorite kind of shrimp to target; I get a great appetizer and a bunch premium salmon bait.

There is a lesser known shrimp that is also a bit smaller than the Coonstripe. This is the Pink Shrimp and found in waters from 30 to 200 feet but mostly shallow. When I catch these shrimp in my pots they are almost always the perfect winter steelhead bait size. They count towards your daily limit combined with Coonstripe. For a complete guide on identifying shrimp be sure to check out the WDFW website and the resources it offers.

Gear for shrimping can be a bit confusing for the novice but once you read up on it and collect your gear it is pretty simple to figure out. Spot Shrimp pots must have a minimum one inch mesh opening, and all pots used in Puget Sound during the month of May must also have this one inch opening. In June the pots only need to have the one inch opening when Spot Shrimp is open, otherwise you can use ½ inch mesh pots. Rope must either be sinking (lead lined) or have a weight attached to sink it if it becomes disconnected from the buoy. Buoy’s must be yellow and made of durable material, not bleach bottles, detergent bottles, or paint cans. In other words, no homemade buoys, as they can be very harmful to the environment. Make sure to put you name and address on the buoy and if your gear gets lost then you must report it, you can all WDFW lost gear hotline at 1-855-542-3935, or online at their website.

Since shrimp are found at deep depths and in areas where the tides can move your pots make sure to use enough rope and account for drop off and ledges. I use spools of 400 feet rope and keep them on garden hose rolls. This makes it easy to keep everything organized and tangle free. A series of locking clips allows me to hook up to the shrimp pot, lower it down easily, and then attach the buoy marker. When it is time to pull the pot it does take two people, one person pulling up the pot or feeding the rope through the pot puller, and the second person winding it all back onto the hose reel. Shrimp can easily escape through the mesh of the pot so you need to always be pulling on the line when retrieving it. If you stop to take a break the shrimp will escape, but if you keep pulling they are pinned against the side and you will retain more shrimp in your pot. This is why a pot puller is a great idea.
Once you catch your shrimp you need to take care of them as they are fragile and spoil easily. Coonstripe and Pink Shrimp can turn quickly due to their small size so I try to keep them alive as long as possible. I purchased a small bait live-well pump that is battery operated and use a five gallon bucket. Fill it with seawater and keep the lid on it, as the shrimp are great jumpers and will jump right out of your bucket. I then place the bucket into my large cooler with ice to keep it cold. At the end of the day I either keep them in the bucket or place them on ice, depending on how long the drive home is. Remember if you have more than one person fishing then they each need their own container for their limit of shrimp. For Spot Shrimp I pretty much just put them right away into a zip-loc bag with my name on them. If you want to keep the shrimp really cold then make seawater ice slush. Simply put some seawater into your cooler full of ice. The salt in the seawater keep the slush very cold.

May offers a great opportunity to get out and do something new. Give shrimping a try and you will find that it is pretty easy and a lot of fun. Taking home some great tasting shrimp for dinner as well as stocking up on fall salmon baits, this is a great way to spend some time on the water with friends and family.