Try Catching You Own Space Coast Shrimp Scampi!
By John Neila

When you cross a bridge in Florida's Space Coast, it's not an unusual to see fishermen hanging from the walkways trying to catch dinner or just having a fun time.

What has also become more and more usual in this area of the world, are the groups of people gathering on the ICW of the Indian River Lagoon bridges preparing for the night's shrimping activities.  

The first time I noticed, what has now become a popular sport in this area, was when I drove to my first space shuttle launch a few years ago.  

The launch was a relatively rare night launch, and in order to get a good view, I was told to get on the bridge early to beat the rush.  I grabbed my video recorder, my fishing rod, a pocket full of lures and decided to position myself on the Max Brewer Memorial Parkway bridge on the Indian River.

I remember that the weather was pretty chilly, and it was late fall.  In addition to the spectators who had come to watch the shuttle launch, and a few other fishermen; there were at least 30 other people with buckets and armed with extremely long handled shrimp nets, that were tied to the railings, lining both sides of the bridge.

These were "sport shrimpers" getting ready for a night of shrimping and a lot of camaraderie.  To them the shuttle launch was a diversion.

From October to late April, when the shrimp are supposed to be running the best, hundreds of people visit the ICW bridges around the Space Coast in East Central Florida to participate in sport shrimping.

All you need is a Florida saltwater fishing license, a long handled dip net (with extensions and flotation), and some sort of lighting configuration to light up the water column so you can dip out the shrimp.  The small Honda type portable generators with an underwater lighting array of two to eight lights are preferred by the regulars.  Don't forget the bucket!  A 5 gal. plastic bucket is required if you are successful in your efforts.  The limit per person is one 5 gal. bucket of shrimp with heads on per day or, if in a vessel, one bucket per vessel.

Let me assure you, if the shrimp are running, a bucket limit is no problem at all.  That's a lot of scampi!

If you become an addict to sport shrimping, you may want to customize your nets, and lighting arrays.  Start paying attention to the Farmer's Almanac, tide charts, and lunar cycle.  The hard core regulars say that the shrimping is best just before and right after a full moon.  Although I don't know this to be a fact, I do know that there are more shrimpers on the bridges during these periods.

There is no tide activity to speak of in the Indian River Lagoon and the shrimp in general are much larger than in other areas of the state.  Six to twelve inch long shrimp are commonly caught but in fewer numbers.

If you get tired of watching the depressing news on the tube and have nothing to do during the next lunar cycle, you might want to consider visiting Titusville, Fl. and catch your own shrimp scampi dinner.

Get more up to date information on Sport Shrimping and Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing at http://johns-centralflorida-fishing.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-do-you-need-to-go-sport-shrimping.html

Wildlife photography of the lagoon estuaries and Space Coast area is also featured on this site.

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