Shrimping Is For Night Owls

Sorting shrimp is no problem for "Mom"

Today is my 48th birthday and I thought I would write a list of 48 little known facts about me. But then I thought there really aren't 48 interesting things about me which would make it an exercise in frustration leading to depression due to this realization.

So instead I took my trusty camera and took photos. Upon taking photos I ran across "Mom" who probably has a much more interesting life than me. She's "Mom" as in "Mom's Bait Shop." Her real name is Mo.

"Mom's" is one of many bait shops in a row along the harbor.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Mom was busy sorting shrimp brought in just a few hours earlier. Shrimp for eating and shrimp for bait. A few little blue crabs were also caught and put in a blue bowl. Her family goes out each night and returns about 3 a.m. with the catch, she said.

As she sorted the shrimp I asked her how she sorts them. "By size," she said in her Asian accent. "See, this one is for eating. This one bait." 

I hated to tell her they all looked about the same to me.

The little crabs make a tasty treat for some fish.

She plunged her gloved hand into a big cooler of ice water filled with shrimp and made quick work of sorting or throwing out the rejects. Mom said it takes her only about an hour to sort an entire cooler of shrimp.

Mom said she's been doing this "forever" which makes it second nature to her.

Docked beside "Mom's."

As the weather has gotten warmer and the red tide subsided, fishing has improved impressively. My husband and son went out the other night to fish from a pier and caught about 35 fish ranging from red fish to striped trout. A few nights ago my husband brought home an 18-inch trout which we ate the following night.

I didn't get the opportunity to ask Mom what fish bite on shrimp the most. We were interrupted by a customer. The nerve of that guy!

Wondering if I should buy my husband and son some shrimp from Mom for their fishing excursion tonight.


The Wondering Texan