Attention Shrimpers - Iceberg/South end of Lopez! **Example given on timing

[lokidog]

Here is a word of advice from someone who has been shrimping that area for about six years, and has not lost a pot in four.....

1.  The incoming current is often stronger than what the charts and tables say it will be.
2.  If you lose your pots, go 1 to 1.5 miles east of Colville Island and look for them to the NW of the Lawson Reef red buoy marker in 120 to 140 feet of water.
3.  Put your CELL number on your buoys, not your home number.
4.  Drop your pots no earlier than 1 hour before the High Slack CURRENT, and leave them in no later than one hour after the Low Slack CURRENT, unless you are staying with them.
5.  Use the Current Tables, not the Tide Tables, the water will move up to an hoour and a half after the slack tide.
6.  Moving pots catch no shrimp.

Sunday I tried pulling 12 lost shrimp pots and saw others that I could not get.  Three traps broke off due to being caught in the rocks, the rest, including the buoys from those traps, have made it back, or are in transit, to their owners.

Good luck out there!

[Ripper]

Thanks for the tips Loki

[Gobble Doc]

Interesting.  Loki, any ling fishing yet for you?

[lokidog]

Interesting.  Loki, any ling fishing yet for you?

We got five keepers opening weekend, but since then have just come up short.  Lots of Prawns though.   

[h20hunter]

Any via the spear?

[lokidog]

Any via the spear?

I don't think spear season starts until the first of June.  I've got to get the scuba gear out soon though, I have three mooring buoys to fix.  I've been battling a sinus thing for a week or more so will also have to wait for that to clear.  Forgot I still owe you though.....   

[h20hunter]

Ah yes.....give it a test while you are playing with your bouys!

[pjb3]

thats where I lost all my gear my first time out, gave it up

[h2ofowlr]

My pot was 38lbs and it still drifted about 300 yards prior to it being pulled.

[Limhangerslayer]

We were out Thursday through Sunday limits if shrimp everyday and caught six keeper ling in about 7 hours of  total fishing.  Only saw one drifter and she got her put back.   Weather was perfect.

[lokidog]

We were out Thursday through Sunday limits if shrimp everyday and caught six keeper ling in about 7 hours of  total fishing.  Only saw one drifter and she got her put back.   Weather was perfect.

I spent six hours, or more, of my day rescuing pots instead of fishing on Sunday.  BTW, hope you didn't limit on shrimp Sunday....    

We saw at least sixteen over toward Lawson in the morning but were only able to pull four.  I went in the afternoon and there were none visible, until the current dropped to 2 knots, then they started popping up (even the large yellow inflatable buoys were under). I managed to pull ten more though several broke off in the rocks.  Several from the morning were not seen again.  So, needless to say, plenty of people had drifters....

And, all pot owners have been contacted, even the four that were using small mesh pots.   

[Limhangerslayer]

Where we were was open Sunday and yes we limited

[lokidog]

Here is an example, I use the current station on my GPS that is off the SE end of Lopez.  I am not sure what paper chart to use.   A program that is really good is deepzoom.com.

Anyways, I will use tomorrow’s (5/23) info for my example:

Low tide is at 3:29 am, high tide is at 7:20 am, low tide is at 2:15 pm.

Slack low current is at 6:21 am, slack high current is at 8:26, and the next slack low current is at 5:15 pm.  As you can see there is a 1 ˝ to 3 hour delay between the low tides and the slack current, this is why it is much more important to look at the current data than the tide height.

Tomorrow morning, if I can get up, I plan on dropping my pots by 6:00 am and pulling them about 7:00.  The maximum incoming current tomorrow morning is 0.2 knots so there is probably no issue with shrimping during the incoming tomorrow.  However, if the incoming tide was stronger, and I slept in a little, I would drop my pots at about 7:45, no more than an hour before the high slack current.

If I could only go in the afternoon, I would drop my pots at about 4:15 and start pulling by 5:15 or maybe 5:30. 

Hope this helps,

[lokidog]

Dropped at 6:05, pulled starting at 7:35, limits of large to jumbos for the boat.