I went on another shrimping trip a week after the one on the previous page. This time, I enjoyed considerably greater success.

I caught more shrimps, and larger ones (including this huge one about 6cm long), in a shorter space of time.

I tentatively attribute this success to a number of factors - read on...

Location

I'm not really sure how significant this is - but my second attempt took place at West Wittering - about a mile along the shore from last week - and close to the mouth of Chichester harbour - it may be that this is just a better place for the shrimps.

Timing

This time, I visited just after low tide (last time I arrived as the tide was high and fished in the falling waters).

I hypothesise that as the waters recede across the sands, the shrimps might be moving out to deeper waters to escape stranding on the beach, thus becoming concentrated into a zone just below the low tide level.

Technique

I don't mean to boast, but without a doubt, this is something that improves with practice - and a certain degree of finesse is required to get the net digging through the top layer of sand without skimming it superficially, or digging in and stalling.

Getting in some good, long trawls with the net undoubtedly improved the yield.

Depth Of Water

Last time, I concentrated on shrimping in the deepest water I could reasonably work in - waist to chest height. This time, I took a series of experimental runs parallel to the shore at different depths

By far the biggest catches, of the biggest-sized shrimps were taken in water about knee-depth - right near the shoreline.

This surprised me - particularly as this area was teeming with humans. There might be more than one reason for better catches in shallower water though:

Firstly, it might be that the shrimps genuinely do prefer the shallower, warmish edges of the water - maybe the breaking waves are oxygenating the water more, or maybe there's more to eat near the shore, or fewer natural predators or something like that.

But maybe it's also just because shrimping is easier there - with nearly all of my body out of the water, I was able to exert much more downward force on the net - and it could be that when working in deeper water, it's just hard to disturb the sand to a great enough depth to make the shrimps exit their burrows.

Conclusion (This Time)

When the catches are good like this, it starts to look more like a worthwhile food resource - I reckon it was about an even break this time between energy expended and food value netted - and this can probably improve with more practice.