Our 2022 Puget Sound Spot Shrimp Experience

For the past few weeks, I’ve been amped for the Puget Sound Spot Shrimp Opener. Those millions of delicious jumbo prawns have had an entire year, un-harassed by the barrage of dropping pots, and ripe for the picking.

As any die-hard Shrimper will, I spent the early part of the spring scheming and over-thinking how to make my bait better, my rigging more streamlined, and our on-the-boat program more dialed. This year’s invites included my friends Jerome, Neils and my brother Matt. Wednesday would be all of their first shrimping experience. I was very motivated to make it one to remember!

I decided to rig a new buoy setup with a large inflatable A-1 buoy and a standard trailer foam yellow buoy off a 4′ line to make identifying which direction we should approach. A-1 Buoys were labeled A, B, C, D so we could easily tell which one to pull. I mixed up my proven bait with pellets, canned mackerel and wet cat food. I decided to concoct a second batch of bait from blendered canned mackerel and cat food for a hot wet mess that would leach out quickly to create a big scent trail.

We launched at Shilshole and ran up to Edmonds, it a very choppy Puget Sound. The winds did not look super favorable for an easy shrimping day, but we made the most of it.

Pots deployed in one of my favorite spots right at the 8am opener. We decided to zip into shallower water to hang out, do a little flounder fishing for something to do, and waited about 90 minutes before we headed back to the pots to pull. Eagerly awaiting that first pull and hopefully a sight of Puget Sound gold!

The first couple pots yielded us our 4 person limit, and it was an easy breezy day from there on out. We ended up dumping a couple extra limits. Counted out our catch as we went, and made it back to the boat launch by 10:30am. We had very thoughtful and focus boat operators all around us. It was a low stress day, and I was really happy to see everyone out there working well in a crowded area, even with the not-so-perfect weather conditions. Hopefully they will give us a little extra opportunity in the next few weeks, but even if that is not to be, it was an amazing day on Puget Sound!