Shrimping on the Saint John’s River
Philip and I both enjoy the water. One of the benefits of living in Florida is lots of different types of water activities. I had no idea that we could go shrimping to harvest shrimp right off the dock of the nearby Saint John River
A Weekend Getaway to go Shrimping
Philip and I made a weekend of it, getting a hotel on the river in nearby Palatka, Florida. After a quick dinner, we headed to the docks to check it out.
Shrimping is quite simple, you throw out the cast net and pull in your haul. Of course, casting the net takes practice. We chummed the water to attract the shrimp, but its not necessary when the shrimp are active.
Joy and Danny Murphy, Philip’s parents, joined us the second day. They brought the boat and we did some shrimping out on the river.
I made a big rookie mistake. Having secured the rope to my belt loop with a clip, I had been casting all day. Later that afternoon when we moved to the boat, I did my usual cast and watched the net and the rope sink into the deep. We tried to hook it, but honestly, as soon as the rope disappeared into the water, it was gone. I should have jumped for it, but when I went to do so they stopped me, you can get caught in the net under water. Honestly, we did better on the dock, after some boat trouble we decided we better head in before we got stranded.
We spent the rest of the weekend shrimping from the dock. It was less crowded than the evening before and we were able to spread out.
Quite a nice haul! Not all self sufficiency happens on the homestead, some of it is in using the resources around you to add variety.
25 pounds of shrimp!!!
About the Author: Barbra-Sue Kowalski grew up on a small hobby farm. She was always drawn to farm life, however, she was stuck in an urban life far from her roots. Barbra-Sue was a single mom for 13 years, raising her 3 children on her own. She met Philip in 2018 and they married in 2021. Between the two of them, they have 5 grown children and 4 grandchildren. These empty nesters are following their dreams! As they both turn 50, they are building their off-grid homestead to live the life that they dream about. Learn more about Philip and Barbra-Sue here. Contact them here. To leave a comment on this post, please scroll down.
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