| Article Index |
|---|
| Catch Shrimp for Bait! |
| Deep Water Around Docks, Boat Ramps, and Sea Walls |
| Skinny Water of Sandy Shorelines |
| Shallow Water of the Grass Flats |
| Hints, Tips, and Tricks |
There are many ways to catch shrimp, and all of them have their advantages. Here I will discuss my most successful tactics for catching Shrimp to use as bait. Hopefully, you will be able to use my techniques, and limit the amount of shrimp you have to buy to the bare minimum.
How many times have you gotten up at the crack of dawn, waken up the entire house, loaded up all of your tackle, all the time with visions of gamefish dancing through your head. You plan every aspect of your day, down to what time you will be fishing each spot, so that you can get every last drop of fishing out of your weekend. You do all of this, jump into the car and head down to the local baitshop, only to find out that they don't have any shrimp!! This has happened to all of us, and it can ruin what you planned on being a great day of fishing!
Well no more! Start catching your own shrimp, and you will also save a lot of money.
Let me start by explaining the basic routine in the day of the life of a shrimp. During the day, most shrimp are in deep water with sandy bottom, safely buried in the sand. There are some stragglers who try and hide in the grass on the flats, but these are the exception, not the rule. At sunrise hordes of Pinfish, Grunts, & Puffers, (not to mention all of the gamefish) all invade the flats in search of food. During this time of the day there is almost no place to hide for a swimming morsel such as a shrimp. With thousands of prying eyes on the flats, nearly every nook and cranny is inspected, and inspected again in a constant search for food. This is why they spend the daylight hours buried in the sand, in hopes of going undetected.
As the sun goes down, the shrimp start creeping closer and closer to the flats, until a few hours after sundown when they are literally COVERED with the little critters. Night is by far the best time of day to catch shrimp, especially when you need a lot in a hurry.