History

In the mid 1980's, a group of shrimpers from Florida came to Yemassee. These men were using bait to catch shrimp, and kept their main ingredient a secret from the people in Yemassee. Now, baiting shrimp was not an unheard practice in Yemassee at Sloaman, were baiting shrimp at Riverbend. No on knew what they would pull up an empty net. The bait the Florida shrimpers would use caught a good many shrimp. A Yemassee man, James Polk, had a connection with the Florida Shrimpers, and he found out their secret ingredient. It was dog food. A few of the Yemassee men took the dog food idea and with the help of a stocking were armed to catch shrimp. When the men of Yemassee figured shrimping changed forever. If dog food caught quite a few shrimp, then how much could something higher in protein catch? They found fish meal. Menhaden Fish meal has sixty percent protein to the thirty percent found in dog food. The fish meal is then mixed with clay or mud, to anchor it, and formed into a patty to keep from rolling. These shrimpers were now catching thousands of pounds of shrimp a week. They were beginning to rival the amounts being caught by the Commercial Trawlers. Imagine being able to catch that much shrimp without any laws that limited what you could catch. Cane poles were used to mark the place where the bait had been thrown out. At one time, Harold Harman had three hundred poles lined down Wimbee Creek. These early shrimp baiters would carry shotguns in their boats to protect the part of the river they had baited. The coastal rivers of the Lowcountry in the mid 1980's was turning into the deserts of the Old West during the Gold rush of the 1880's. As with the Old West, there was chaos building and laws had to be made to protect the people and the rivers. The General Assembly was going to outlaw the baiting of shrimp all together. However, Jack Moore, Kevin P. Egan, Sr., Harold Harmon, Colin Moore, John B. "Ollie" O'Brian, Stanley Moore, Simon Jinks with the help of many other recreational shrimpers organized the South Carolina Recreational Shrimpers Association, now known as Recreational Shrimpers of South Carolina. This group went to Columbia to fight to keep shrimp baiting. This group has been working with the South Carolina Wildlife Department over the past decade to keep shrimp baiting available for the recreational for the recreational shrimper. The regulations on shrimp baiting have evolved from limits on catch per person to licensing people limits on catch per boat. These regulations have begun to mirror those Recreational Sport Fishing. In 1993, the members of the Yemassee Community asked then mayor Jack Moore if Yemassee could have a festival like the other communities in the area. With the Yemassee community being a key figure in the evolution of shrimp baiting and its members refining it to become what it is today, it was only fitting that Yemassee have a shrimp festival. Yemassee's Shrimp Festival is evolving each year just as its shrimp baiting has. With both endeavors, Yemassee's community has found new ways of refining good ideas. If there is one thing that Yemassee know about, its shrimp.