Freshwater Shrimp

[TV BOY]

Freshwater Shrimp,
I have seen these in a few bait places. I want to learn how you use them and what one expects to catch with them, besides diving ducks

[IFallsRon]

I'd use them the same as a crawdad for walleye or bass.

[fishtrap3]

panfish love them..I have a hard time keeping them on my hook...

[TV BOY]

Fishtrap3, is that because the fish love 'em or the little buggers are difficult to keep hooked?

[Dennis Steele]

Panfish love them.I have seen some lakes in the winter where the fish wouldn't eat anything but these shrimp.They are also called grass shrimp or scuds.No not the ineffective weapons of crazy dictators.
They are tough to get on the hook due to thier size.I use the finest wire hook I can find.If you can get them on the hook alive there is no panfish that can say no to one.

[Gadgetman]

how do you hook them and what size hook would you suggest?

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I fish, therefore I am.

[icehousebob]

Fresh water scrimp need alkaline water to live, that's why the Dakota lakes without outlets have them and Minnesota lakes don't. I was fishing one of the Dakota lakes a couple weeks ago[i forget the name] and I was drilling a line of holes about 10 yards apart. One had two scrimp on the ice when I pulled up the auger, the next had a couple dozen. The third had over 200 wiggling all over. There were perch there on the Vex, but you couldn't get them to bite, with all that food. It was like throwing an ear of corn to a hog that has a whole corncrib to feed on. When you do catch them, they are so fat, they look a bit grotesque. One guy weighed one in at the bait shop that day that weighed 2pounds, 6 ounces. I'm going to head out there for a few more days of perch chasing if I can just remember the name of that lake.

[MapSD]

icehousebob
When you rember the name of the lake send me an email. Thanks

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Mike
Mike's Maps

[fishtrap3]

The fish love em and they are hard for me to keep hooked anyway.. If anyone has a way of keeping them on the hook please post!!

[Dennis Steele]

I have used #8 light wire octopus hooks.I hook them slightly under the shell.If you can get the shrimp big enough (+ 1/2") they will stay alive on the hook for a short period of time.Its ususally one fish per shrimp becuase they are very delicate.
When they are availble in the bait shops in my area they were usually a little on the small side and very difficult to bait up.Probably why they are not a common bait.

I have found them in just about every creek ,pond and lake in my area.I find them under rocks and along the shores where grass grows in the water.They are usually a little bit larger where I catch them going form about a half and inch all the way up to near an inch.If you see a platic bag along a shore line and open it up, it will be crawling with them.Thats my favorite way to get them.I take the trash with too.

[iland99]

Back when I lived in Texas we'd use frozen saltwater shrimp for channel cats. Seemed to work pretty good too.