Shrimp

SC is known for its shrimp. The shrimp season for recreational shrimpers is from the 2nd week in September to Nov. 10 this year. Bob has always wanted to learn how to shrimp. Trip and Dean Anderson, friends at the campground, showed Bob how to get shrimp, clean shrimp, correctly freeze shrimp and the southern ways to prepare and cook it. Recreational shrimping is done from a boat using bait and casting a net. You are allowed to set 10 poles which are used to mark where one drops the bait. When the shrimp come to the bait, you cast the net and pull in the shrimp. This may sound easy but it's not. Some shrimping seasons you can get shrimp during the day but this year it has been better at night in the dark. Dean and Trip took Bob out to McClellanville where they met with their friend, Randy. Bob drove Randy's boat and Dean and Trip took their boat and they went out to Muddy Bay to shrimp. The first thing that they did was to set 10 poles in a straight line in the mud. They pushed the poles a few feet in the mud in order to set them. They were in about 5 feet of water. Next they set bait balls at each pole. A bait ball is composed of fish meal and clay that is mixed and roll into balls. Randy then said that he would show Bob how to pull the boat up so that he could throw the net. They pulled up to the first pole and Randy threw the net and there were shrimp already there. They were very fortunate and Bob's training was over. They then went to each pole and after 6 runs they had a cooler with 48 quarts full. That is the limit for a day. Bob then went into Trip and Dean's boat and shrimped with then into the night. They set glow lights on the poles so that you can see them in order to shrimp in the dark. Cleaning the shrimp requires pulling off the heads slow in order to remove the vein. Since you ice the shrimp when you catch them, the colder they are the easier it seems to remove the vein. You keep the shrimp iced at all times and you wash them in ice water a number of times. Dean and Trip then put them in containers, filling the containers with iced water and then immediately freezing them. We have eaten our share of fresh shrimp this season and do have some in the freezer for later.