Question for Marilyn_C about shrimping

6 years ago

I know your Jody captains a shrimp boat (or two) so I'll ask you. Is there a 'shrimping season' for the gulf? I ask because we've vacationed at Port Aransas a few times. In our typical time frame (birthday vacations) in October, fresh shrimp was always available. We went once to meet a friend in January and couldn't find any fresh shrimp. The shops said that it was out of season. That puzzled me and I thought that you might be able to shed some light.

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marilyn_c

6 years ago

The Gulf beach opens February 1st and runs to May 1st and then is closed and opens July 15 and closes December 15th. I asked my husband...."You woke me up to ask me this???" and he said most of the dockside markets sell frozen IQF (which means individual quick frozen) and most of them are ....80%... imported. Pond raised from China. Even in dockside markets.

Bay shrimping is a little different. What they call the spring season opens May 15....there is a 600 lb limit. It ends July 15 and then there is a bait season, 200 lb limit, half kept alive until they reach the dock, and that runs until August 15 when the main season opens and there is no limit. That ends December 1st and it goes back to a 200 lb bait season (half alive) and that lasts until May 15.

My husband said there are few, if any shrimp boats in Port Aransas now. So that may be another reason why they didn't have any shrimp. Plus, the hurricane hit very close to Port Aransas and that really messed up shrimp season. My husband hasn't worked since before the hurricane. If any boats are there, they are probably bay shrimp boats anyway.

He said Freeport has few boats now too. They are mostly in Florida now. Those are the really big boats. Freeport tore down most of their docks.

The best time to buy shrimp is in the fall....or around September. That is when they are biggest and the dockside markets will have bay shrimp. There are basically two kinds of bay shrimp....white shrimp and brown shrimp. The white shrimp are the best table shrimp. They are caught in the fall and usually a little run in the spring, when the little white shrimp that live over winter grow up.

If you want fresh shrimp....and you come down this way....get hold of us. I don't know if he will have his boat in Seabrook or Eagle Point, which is towards San Leon, but everyone knows him, or get in touch with me and I can tell you where he is. He sold George Ann and has Capt Chris now.

Over all, bay shrimp are usually fresher because they come in every day or at least every other day. Jody comes in every day and in the season, works every day. Gulf boats stay out for up to 30 days, altho the big boats have freezers on board, and they also put preservatives on the shrimp. White bay shrimp are really the premium eating shrimp. Most of the shrimp caught in the Gulf are brownies. They have a stronger flavor and they spoil very easily.

These are white shrimp.

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Comments (17)

PKponder TX Z7B
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Our 'go to' boat is Polly Anna out of Port Aransas. We really need a beach trip right now, but not when spring break is in season.

Thanks for the explanation. I think that we usually get the white shrimp and cook them on a campfire. So delicious!
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Elmer J Fudd
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
"most of them are ....80%... imported. Pond raised from China. Even in dockside markets."

This is interesting. In my area, whether it's required or not, the origin of shrimp in a display is labeled - farmed or wild, and where from. The farmed shrimp I see in the stores (which I don't buy) is typically from Vietnam or Thailand.
PKponder TX Z7B thanked Elmer J Fudd
greenshoekitty
6 years ago
Are the things raised in ponds around Eunice shrimp or cradads?
marilyn_c
6 years ago
You're right, Elmer. They are from Vietnam usually. I don't know if any of the little markets label them as imported....I have never seen it. I know they are labeled when they are sold in bags in supermarkets but when they are thawed out and sold as fresh, I have never seen them labeled.

Greenshoekitty....those would be crawfish...crawdads...or more correctly, crayfish, except no one ever calls them that.
PKponder TX Z7B thanked marilyn_c
greenshoekitty
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Thank you Marilyn, I could not think of the right name for them as in my area ( western Washington) I learned to call them crawdads when I was young. We don’t have a lot of them tho.
User
6 years ago
We had boiled crawfish last weekend. First of the season for us. Love those mudbugs!
javiwa
6 years ago
Wow, marilyn_c, we'll definitely look for Capt Chris if we're ever in the Seabrook area! DH and I find Galveston too crowded/hectic (likely, we're just getting cranky in our old age), and our frequent weekend getaways are fishing in quiet Palacios (off the seawall...I get too motion sick to even sit in a kayak...on a still day!). We usually purchase bait from the locals (family run), and always bring table shrimp home in case the fish aren't biting.
marilyn_c
6 years ago
PKponder, I asked Jody if he knew the Polly Anna, and he does. He said it is a catamaran. I have never seen a catamaran shrimp boat. He said he met the guy who owns it when he and his brother were in Port Aransas a few years ago looking at boats for sale.
PKponder TX Z7B thanked marilyn_c
PKponder TX Z7B
Original Author
6 years ago
It's a beautiful boat and we go straight to the boat for our shrimp when we can. Polly Anna ended up crashed into a house during Harvey but is back in business now. We are not yearly vacationers, we vacation on a budget. We'll look into Seabrook. We didn't love Galveston although it's closer that PortA. Maybe it's time for a change.

We like the off season, October or January (because we find sea dollars). If we come to the closer beach, we'll definitely look you up. Did you hear that Talley Calvert pressed today?
marilyn_c
6 years ago
Explain that last sentence....Talley Calvert pressed today..............
marilyn_c
6 years ago
Never mind, PK. I went over to Texas Gardening and read. I don't think I remember her. I went to a lot of swaps in Houston but that was before the feral hogs destroyed my yard and my horses wiped out my waterlilies. The name is kind of familiar. I am sorry to read of her passing. I have lost quite a few friends lately. I guess that is a sure sign of getting old. I remember my mother out lived all of her friends, and I have already lost so many of mine.
PKponder TX Z7B
Original Author
6 years ago
Sorry, I work long shifts on the weekend. She worked at MD Anderson, a nurse practitioner I believe. She was manning the Poison Control hotline last I heard. She and I butted heads just a little over mosquito trucks spraying with no notification. She was right, mosquitoes do cause more harm than Malathion Spray.
marilyn_c
6 years ago
From the Houston area....I probably have met her. Did she live in Galveston by any chance?
PKponder TX Z7B thanked marilyn_c
marilyn_c
6 years ago
I just looked for her on FB....and I did know her. She is from Galveston. She wasn't all that old either. I am really sorry to know that she has passed.
PKponder TX Z7B thanked marilyn_c
PKponder TX Z7B
Original Author
6 years ago
Again, I'm late to the conversation due to long work hours. Yes, she was from Galveston.
tami_ohio
6 years ago
Marilyn, we just crossed Chocolate Bayou! We are camped at Safari mobile home and RV park in League City until Sunday. We had to have the hydraulic tank for the leveling jacks replaced yesterday at Holiday World RV. Do you have my cell number?

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