Louisiana can boast about their shrimp, but they don't match up in any way, shape or form to the jumbo spot shrimp in our marine waters.

Check out my outdoor notebook column tomorrow in The Seattle Times sports section for what the expectations are this season in Puget Sound, Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

State Fish and Wildlife shrimp biologist Mark O'Toole provided me the lowdown on what shrimp enthusiasts can find when setting their pots.

Those who don't have a boat, which is about the only way to harvest these jumbo decapods, can hit up vendors who sell them along Highway 101. But, remember the Hood Canal Bridge is closed if you plan on traveling west.

Another option is the Hood Canal ShrimpFest in Brinnon on May 23-24.

One note of caution about the festival, and maybe they've improved since I was there a few years ago, but we had gone with the expectation of buying fresh spot shrimp only to find them selling frozen ones for the same price I could have gotten them for at the Pike Place Market.

To make matters more ugly, I went to one vendor who was selling shrimp cocktails and he reached into his cooler and pulled out a package of Costco-type frozen shrimp and topped it off with some cocktail sauce from Skipper's.

(Photo taken by Lissa James)