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View Full Version : Jubilee! How to go shrimping without a boat



PolWatch
06-14-2015, 07:13 AM
How would you like to catch all the fresh seafood you wanted by walking on the beach? There have been reports of several jubilees this year. I don't live close enough to the eastern shore to participate but I wish I did. Friends call friends when they notice the beach covered in live crabs, shrimp and flounders. Everyone assembles with ice chests & rakes. The easiest way to catch fresh seafood I've ever heard of.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Jubilee-Mobile-Bay-Alabama-crabs-flounders.jpg/220px-Jubilee-Mobile-Bay-Alabama-crabs-flounders.jpg

Jubilee is the name used locally for a natural phenomenon that occurs sporadically on the shores of Mobile Bay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay), a large body of water on Alabama's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama) Gulf Coast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_of_the_United_States). During a jubilee many species of crab (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab) and shrimp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp), as well as flounder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flounder), eels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel), and other demersal fish (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demersal_fish) will leave deeper waters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demersal_zone) and swarm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm)—in large numbers and very high density (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density#Biological_population_densities )—in a specific, shallower coastal area (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagic_zone) of the bay.[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-LOESCH-2) A jubilee is a celebrated event in Mobile Bay, and it attracts large crowds, many drawn by the promise of abundant and easy-to-catch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gathering_seafood_by_hand) seafood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seafood).[3]
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-MAY-3)
Although similar events have been reported in other bodies of water, Mobile Bay is the only place where the regular appearance of this phenomenon has been documented.[ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-FAIRHOPE-4)
The Mobile Bay jubilee typically takes place at least annually, and sometimes several times per year; years without a jubilee have been recorded, but they are exceedingly rare. Many accounts of the jubilee exist, the oldest dating back to the 1860s.[3]
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-MAY-3)
The size, scope, and duration of the jubilee can vary greatly. Sometimes a 15-mile (24 km) stretch of coast representing most of the eastern shore can be affected,[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-FAIRHOPE-4) and at other times the extent can be limited to as little as 500 feet (150 m) of coastline.[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-LOESCH-2) Most jubilees happen in the pre-dawn hours.

The large volume of crustacean and fish that a jubilee can produce is hard to overstate; author Archie Carr comments, "At a good jubilee you can quickly fill a washtub with shrimp. You can gig (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigging) a hundred flounders and fill the back of your pickup truck (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_truck) a foot deep in crabs."[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-CARR-5) In addition to the sheer mass of the animals present, harvesting them is made considerably easier by the effect that the oxygen deprivation has on the animals. Their behavior has been described as "depressed and moribund",[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-MAY-3) or "unnatural";[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee#cite_note-CARR-5) crabs are observed "climbing tree stumps to escape the water" and flounder "slither up the banks.


more @: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Bay_jubilee

Peter1469
06-14-2015, 08:26 AM
Good eating!