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Post by richm on Jul 29, 2024 6:23:46 GMT -5
The one I caught on the June Gulf charter was in 100 feet of water.
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Post by Captj on Jul 29, 2024 13:20:09 GMT -5
Used to net bait in the dark and would get one in the net from time to time. Had to be VERY careful getting them out. Muttons love them.
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Post by johnnybandit on Jul 29, 2024 18:01:37 GMT -5
Enjoy the one you ate.... That is a Mantis Shrimp....
They are not hard to find... Look for them around rocks oyster bars and lime rock ledges in Florida.... They probably go deeper.. but all that I have found have been in 3 to ten feet of water.... And they will come up on tides and go to lights at night... In passes and inlets.... they eat mostly crabs.... and sometimes shrimp.... And Occasionally Mollusks and fish....
they taste better than shrimp.. And Spiny lobsters.... They taste a lot like slippers...
But you do not want to play with them.... If they punch' your hand... they will break bones... Well break is not exactly the right word. it can be much worse... And they can punch the walls of the livewell on your boat... and if you do not notice it... you will be sinking
They can crack aquariums too. There's two overall types. One kind has long stabbers like a praying mantis. The other has round bashers. The stabbers usually eat fish. The bashers eat mollusks. The bashers are usually the kind that get into aquariums. The bashers can split a hand open. Their clubs have hooks on them that can hook in and snatch backwards when then hit. I didn't know we had any of the big kinds in Florida waters. In the aquarium trade, the big species come from the South Pacific. Some people purposely keep the big ones as pets. The small ones are the pests that hide in tanks and clean out the beneficial mollusks. We have at least three kinds species in Florida that get to eating size. I do not remember their exact names... But one.. It has Caribbean in the name is a spearer... That is the species that BSWIV caught... And the are excellent eating..The other two species I know about are clubber punchers... The are a little smaller than the one that spears... But still get to good eating size.... And they are amazing to eat...
I was pretty sure they would be found off shore... But My family and I have always been more inshore people... My Granddaddy had a great technique... We would use a metal reusable Kabob skewer... About 12-14 inches long.. And would make the point really sharp..... And sort of a home made, smaller version of a lobster bully net... We would snorkle around natural or man made rocks in and around Tampa bay and Sarasota bay... And granddaddy had a knack for finding little areas where the lime rock and hard bottom came to the surface on grass flats with strong tidal flows and nice clear water... Those were the BEST spots..... Our goal was to tickle them out of their hiding spot and get them in the net... if that failed we would spear them in the head with the metal kabob skewer.. He also had some spots in the gulf off of Anna Maria that were in about 15 feet of water and not off the beach... That had some bottom features that would be loaded.... I also remember that the ones that are spearers can be found on sand bottom and will burrow... I tried catching those.. but they are really hit or miss....
We used to catch them in bucket fulls... And we always knew they were dangerous if you got nailed... But Granddaddy had my Dad and Uncle catching them as boys... But my Dad and Uncle were not super outdoorsy as adults... They would fish some and hunt some.... But they were not going to put in real work.... Then I came along... His only grandson.... And I loved anything and everything about the outdoors.... And I pretty much spent every minute with him that I could.... Because he knew stuff about critters and I needed to know that stuff... He had me catching them with him by the time I was 12.... He knew they could be dangerous but he had never been hurt... And I was small and quick and swam like a a dolphin... We never got hurt..... Then the summer between my Junior and Senior year in high school... three things happened in quick succession... I had a 15 foot skiff with a tiller motor that granddaddy and I had completely re done..... I had a huge livewell in the boat with both recirculating and raw water pumps with high speed pick ups... I had a cousin on the boat and we had a pile of those shrimp in the livewell... We were running to the dock and one of those puncher types nailed the bottom of the livewell so hard it cracked... And the livewell was leaking water into the bilge under the deck.... By the time I figured out what had happened... We were nearly sunk.... Like Three weeks later one of the spearer kind laid open my granddaddy's palm... from side to side.... A few weeks later.. one of the puncher kind broke my left pinky finger in three places..... We sort of lost our zeal about catching them after that... I and Granddaddy went after them some... But eventually stopped.... It was not as fun when you start getting stitches and broken bones...
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Post by bswiv on Jul 29, 2024 18:27:18 GMT -5
They can crack aquariums too. There's two overall types. One kind has long stabbers like a praying mantis. The other has round bashers. The stabbers usually eat fish. The bashers eat mollusks. The bashers are usually the kind that get into aquariums. The bashers can split a hand open. Their clubs have hooks on them that can hook in and snatch backwards when then hit. I didn't know we had any of the big kinds in Florida waters. In the aquarium trade, the big species come from the South Pacific. Some people purposely keep the big ones as pets. The small ones are the pests that hide in tanks and clean out the beneficial mollusks. We have at least three kinds species in Florida that get to eating size. I do not remember their exact names... But one.. It has Caribbean in the name is a spearer... That is the species that BSWIV caught... And the are excellent eating..The other two species I know about are clubber punchers... The are a little smaller than the one that spears... But still get to good eating size.... And they are amazing to eat...
I was pretty sure they would be found off shore... But My family and I have always been more inshore people... My Granddaddy had a great technique... We would use a metal reusable Kabob skewer... About 12-14 inches long.. And would make the point really sharp..... And sort of a home made, smaller version of a lobster bully net... We would snorkle around natural or man made rocks in and around Tampa bay and Sarasota bay... And granddaddy had a knack for finding little areas where the lime rock and hard bottom came to the surface on grass flats with strong tidal flows and nice clear water... Those were the BEST spots..... Our goal was to tickle them out of their hiding spot and get them in the net... if that failed we would spear them in the head with the metal kabob skewer.. He also had some spots in the gulf off of Anna Maria that were in about 15 feet of water and not off the beach... That had some bottom features that would be loaded.... I also remember that the ones that are spearers can be found on sand bottom and will burrow... I tried catching those.. but they are really hit or miss....
We used to catch them in bucket fulls... And we always knew they were dangerous if you got nailed... But Granddaddy had my Dad and Uncle catching them as boys... But my Dad and Uncle were not super outdoorsy as adults... They would fish some and hunt some.... But they were not going to put in real work.... Then I came along... His only grandson.... And I loved anything and everything about the outdoors.... And I pretty much spent every minute with him that I could.... Because he knew stuff about critters and I needed to know that stuff... He had me catching them with him by the time I was 12.... He knew they could be dangerous but he had never been hurt... And I was small and quick and swam like a a dolphin... We never got hurt..... Then the summer between my Junior and Senior year in high school... three things happened in quick succession... I had a 15 foot skiff with a tiller motor that granddaddy and I had completely re done..... I had a huge livewell in the boat with both recirculating and raw water pumps with high speed pick ups... I had a cousin on the boat and we had a pile of those shrimp in the livewell... We were running to the dock and one of those puncher types nailed the bottom of the livewell so hard it cracked... And the livewell was leaking water into the bilge under the deck.... By the time I figured out what had happened... We were nearly sunk.... Like Three weeks later one of the spearer kind laid open my granddaddy's palm... from side to side.... A few weeks later.. one of the puncher kind broke my left pinky finger in three places..... We sort of lost our zeal about catching them after that... I and Granddaddy went after them some... But eventually stopped.... It was not as fun when you start getting stitches and broken bones...
Okay......now it's even more of a challenge.......basically because there has to be a "safe" way to deal with them. Don't like the idea of having to snorkel so will have to figure a way to do it at low tide....... |
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Post by osprey11 on Jul 29, 2024 18:30:17 GMT -5
I looked back at some old photos a diver friend sent me. Shrimp Mammy's and slipper lobster are different "creatures". He said the slipper lobster are better than spiny's to him. Same thing we found....slippers tasted better.......and the mammy........good enough to where I'm going to have to figure out how to catch them. My first thought is at low tide.........use small baits in their holes with the old plan of taking a bit of braided nylon rope and fraying it good so that the mammy gets tangled. Folks used to catch gar that way. Ghost shrimp pump. Spencer catches quite a few while checking holes for ghost shrimp. Also kept a slipper alive for a couple years in a 55 gallon aquarium. |
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Post by bswiv on Jul 29, 2024 18:33:51 GMT -5
Same thing we found....slippers tasted better.......and the mammy........good enough to where I'm going to have to figure out how to catch them. My first thought is at low tide.........use small baits in their holes with the old plan of taking a bit of braided nylon rope and fraying it good so that the mammy gets tangled. Folks used to catch gar that way. Ghost shrimp pump. Spencer catches quite a few while checking holes for ghost shrimp. Ted ( Chowder Ted's Ted ) said the same thing.......though......I've go to figure we'll get mostly small ones......still...worth a try...... |
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Post by johnnybandit on Jul 29, 2024 18:48:38 GMT -5
We have at least three kinds species in Florida that get to eating size. I do not remember their exact names... But one.. It has Caribbean in the name is a spearer... That is the species that BSWIV caught... And the are excellent eating..The other two species I know about are clubber punchers... The are a little smaller than the one that spears... But still get to good eating size.... And they are amazing to eat...
I was pretty sure they would be found off shore... But My family and I have always been more inshore people... My Granddaddy had a great technique... We would use a metal reusable Kabob skewer... About 12-14 inches long.. And would make the point really sharp..... And sort of a home made, smaller version of a lobster bully net... We would snorkle around natural or man made rocks in and around Tampa bay and Sarasota bay... And granddaddy had a knack for finding little areas where the lime rock and hard bottom came to the surface on grass flats with strong tidal flows and nice clear water... Those were the BEST spots..... Our goal was to tickle them out of their hiding spot and get them in the net... if that failed we would spear them in the head with the metal kabob skewer.. He also had some spots in the gulf off of Anna Maria that were in about 15 feet of water and not off the beach... That had some bottom features that would be loaded.... I also remember that the ones that are spearers can be found on sand bottom and will burrow... I tried catching those.. but they are really hit or miss....
We used to catch them in bucket fulls... And we always knew they were dangerous if you got nailed... But Granddaddy had my Dad and Uncle catching them as boys... But my Dad and Uncle were not super outdoorsy as adults... They would fish some and hunt some.... But they were not going to put in real work.... Then I came along... His only grandson.... And I loved anything and everything about the outdoors.... And I pretty much spent every minute with him that I could.... Because he knew stuff about critters and I needed to know that stuff... He had me catching them with him by the time I was 12.... He knew they could be dangerous but he had never been hurt... And I was small and quick and swam like a a dolphin... We never got hurt..... Then the summer between my Junior and Senior year in high school... three things happened in quick succession... I had a 15 foot skiff with a tiller motor that granddaddy and I had completely re done..... I had a huge livewell in the boat with both recirculating and raw water pumps with high speed pick ups... I had a cousin on the boat and we had a pile of those shrimp in the livewell... We were running to the dock and one of those puncher types nailed the bottom of the livewell so hard it cracked... And the livewell was leaking water into the bilge under the deck.... By the time I figured out what had happened... We were nearly sunk.... Like Three weeks later one of the spearer kind laid open my granddaddy's palm... from side to side.... A few weeks later.. one of the puncher kind broke my left pinky finger in three places..... We sort of lost our zeal about catching them after that... I and Granddaddy went after them some... But eventually stopped.... It was not as fun when you start getting stitches and broken bones...
Okay......now it's even more of a challenge.......basically because there has to be a "safe" way to deal with them. Don't like the idea of having to snorkel so will have to figure a way to do it at low tide.......
The places we found them snorkling... We pretty much always hit at low tide... Then in three to five foot and up to 15 feet of water.... When I got old enough to go alone... I did not care what tide it was... But I was young and quick... And I do not remember catching one in less than at least two feet... probably three.... In any case.. you need your eyes down there...
As far as a safe way to deal with them.... Young and very quick hands.....
Other than that.... Do they make a .22 magnum bang stick?
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Post by tampaspicer on Jul 30, 2024 11:56:54 GMT -5
I watched a video the other day of mantis shrimp and a pistol shrimp facing off. The mantis was much larger but the pistol shrimp was holding on pretty good. The pistol shrimp made a heck of a popping sound with his pincsers. Pistol shrimp also ride in on live rock. They’re fun to discover. You’ll hear them popping at night. Its a scavenger hunt to find them to confirm whether its the popping of a pistol shrimp or the banging of a mantis shrimp. I kept a pistol shrimp for many years. I saw a documentary last year about this. Pretty neat. interestingengineering.com/innovation/first-light-nuclear-fusion-pistol-shrimp |
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