Shrimp bait?

As a kid, I remember seeing a guy use what looked like balls of dough to attract shrimp for cast netting. I asked him what it was, and he said "shrimp meal". Then laughed.

So, was he messing with me? Or is it really shrimp meal? If not, what is it? Because it worked!!!!

Thanks in advance.

Re: Shrimp bait?

He was being straight with you. The shrimp meal is fairly easy to find here in Jax., Ace hardware, feed stores and some bait shops carry it. Sounds to me like what you saw was the meal mixed with clay to keep it on the bottom. The meal is also available in large and small pellet form you can just toss out and not need to mix. If you do mix it up with clay shape it into pancakes rather than balls, this will help prevent the cast net from pulling it up.

Re: Shrimp bait?

another item that works well is the oiliest nasty dog or cat food. take a church key punch some holes in the cans and throw them in.

Re: Shrimp bait?

BobSlim,

What kind of clay do I mix it with? Like modeling clay?

And TD, what kind of food do you recommend? Alpo dog? Friskies cat? And shrimp are attracted to wet pet food, huh? Interesting......

Re: Shrimp bait?

So, after reading more on other forums, someone recommended rabbit pellets. Says the sink the the bottom and work better than shrimp meal.

Anyone hear of this before?

Also, how long should I let this stuff sit before I toss? 5 minutes? Less? More? And how long should it last?

Re: Shrimp bait?

I've never heard of rabbit pellets being used, my first thoughts are rabbits are vegetarians and shrimp are carnivores. I do know the shrimp meal/pellets work. Clay may be a little difficult for you to find, if you have any friends in construction or landscaping they may know. Clay occurs naturally here in north florida, hard to find but available. Lots in Ga./Carolinas if you know anyone who travels up that way. Seems I've heard of mixing the meal with sand and flour, forming it (wet) letting it dry then baiting with it. If you locate the shrimp meal in your area the seller can probably help you too.
Another thought is an old chum mix that will work for shrimp- dry cat food and pogie(menhaden) oil. Add the oil to cat food, let sit for a few days, mash it up good then use it like the shrimp meal.
About soak time, well that's going to depend on your conditions, current and the shrimp. Here in the Saint Johns folks will bait an area and let the number of shrimp in the net tell you if you're throwing too much. The net doesn't spook them. But if you wait you get more shrimp with less effort.

Re: Shrimp bait?

From what I can remember from 20 years ago, he tossed the balls out, waited 5 minutes or so, and pulled in easily 2 gallons of shrimp in one toss, where I was only getting 10 or so, per toss. This is in a dead end of a brackish canal, 30 feet wide, on Matanzas Bay at Princess Place. Six inches at low tide, 2-3 feet at high tide. Stand on the boat ramp and toss out at 10 and 2 o'clock. Perfect setup.

So, now the question becomes, where do I get fishmeal? I figure I will mix it with rock salt, flour, and water to a paste, make flat patties, let them dry overnight, then toss them in. Maybe even go at night on a rising tide.

I'll keep everyone posted. Once it warms up, of course.....

Re: Shrimp bait?

I second the canned catfood, works great for pulling the shrimp in. Is it legal, though? When I lived in SC years ago there was a certain season we could use "bait" for shrimp, any other time was illegal.

Re: Shrimp bait?

So, what flavor of catfood?

Re: Shrimp bait?

i live in s carolina and we use fish meal and clay you can buy it at any feed and seed store what we do is put it in panty hoes tie it to string but check your local laws in sc we have a baiting season if you use cat and dog food do the same thing with the panty hoes