How to go shrimp fishing in Hilton Head Island

The kids wanted to see sea life. A ‘sea cruise’ for me sounds kind of boring. What to do in Hilton Head when the family want to spend a couple hours on the water, perhaps see some sea life and maybe, just maybe catch a couple pounds of fresh shrimp? It was an unexpected answer for us that turned out to be one of the more memorable times during our vacation. The Tammy Jane operates its shrimping expeditions from May through mid-January each year and combined something for everyone in our group.

Our trip on the Tammy Jane didn’t start out that way. We started out the day with some in our group wanting to go on a dolphin watching cruise. Someone then remembered that the Tammy Jane takes the same route as the dolphin cruise in the Calibogue Sound that’s just off of Harbour Town. It’s a two-hour tour that juts out into the sound, goes parallel to Daufuskie Island, drops its net and slowly trawls the bottom.

Even before our boat dropped its net it was obvious that something was going to happen. By watching the other smaller fishing vessels on the water I noticed that there was an ebb and flow as to how the birds were attracted to them. When the ships raised their nets the birds would swarm around the rear of each boat. While we couldn’t see if they were catching anything, it was obvious that the local avian population knew what was up.

After 30 minutes on the water our captain lowered the nets. His first mate was doing their duties and explaining everything to us in as much detail as we could handle. I was really impressed because our 7-year old, at the time, was peppering her with all manner of question. Yes, we’d probably catch some fish. No, we probably wouldn’t catch a big shark. No, they had never pulled up any pirate treasure. It was obvious that the captain and his first mate had tons of experience in answering children’s questions while at the same time running a safe ship.

While we were slowly dragging the net on the bottom there were bigger ships going out farther into the Callibogue Sound. Those ships were either exclusively looking for dolphins, private charters or going to Savannah. Our purpose was shrimping and before the nets were pulled up the sea life sightings began in earnest. Shortly after the nets were dropped the dolphins started poking their fins out of the water.

We knew it was a dolphin fin because out children immediately asked. The first mate said that dolphins have an arch in their back and that their fins are more rounded. They even produced laminated pictures of fins and a diagram, just to drive home the point that our boat wasn’t surrounded by sharks.

The more the dolphins were swimming around our nets the friendlier they became. A couple ones would curve up so that we could see part of their torso while a couple really friendly ones that were farther away were jumping out of the water.

But we weren’t here to see dolphins; we were there to see if our boat could catch a couple pounds of fresh shrimp. When they raised the nets they were teeming with activity. The first mate assured us that there were some shrimp in there, but not everything in the net was going to stay on the boat. Sure enough the nets had captured baby sharks, a couple really small octopi and smaller fish who just want to get back don under.

The net is dumped on a large table on the back of the boat. To our surprise the catch can be sorted to an extent by the people on the trip. Our kids (and I) didn’t pass up the opportunity to sort shrimp or touch thing that they’ve only heard about. They touched the octopi and baby sharks (thankfully they didn’t start singing the song)-THAT is how entertaining the boat trip was!

The shrimp was sorted into another bin on the table. Once the initial sorting was done the shrimp was divided up into those folks on the boat that wanted some. You do have the option of partially cleaning the shrimp. This included popping off their heads and squeezing out any of the black gunk. I thought that this would be disgusting, but it’s actually very simple and both of our boys, who had never done this before helped out.

At the end of the cruise we had about four pounds of fresh shrimp to eat for dinner. We also had a great afternoon on a boat. The kids learned a little about the low country and what exactly those boats are doing out there. They also learned the difference between a shark and a dolphin fin.

Preparing the shrimp at home was simple. Back on the boat the first mate had showed us that if you pinch the head just right then the insides will follow suit. This minimizes the amount of time you’ll spend deveining them at home. Due to her assistance we were able to cook almost immediately and the taste difference was remarkable.

In the shrimping off-season, February through May, the Tammy Jane offers crab fishing trips. Based on our time on this trip we’ll certainly try the crab trip in hopes that it delivers as much fun and food as the first one.