It’s almost shrimp time! Couple of questions…

[scotsman]

It’s been years since we went shrimpin’ but I was just gifted a complete setup so here we go. Couple of questions: Bait? Cat food? And if so is there a preferred brand or variety? And how do you process the shrimp? Clean and freeze raw?  Cook and freeze? Just toss ‘em in the freezer? Your experienced advice is appreciated.

[storyteller]

There are many different ways that people  set up their bait.   Most will  work, we pull pots after an hour, freshen up your bait, dump the old and  put in new if  you dont have limits yet.   You can buy prawn pellets, in little or big buckets, grind  up the prawn pellets to make it easier to have  scent trail and something to keep them occupied, if you dont grind the pellets up , they are too big to eat for them.   Old blenders work well for the deed.  Some people swear by mackerel and puss  n boots, but we do just as well with just pellets and prawn oil.   Stick it in some kind of bait  container.   If you have a good sounder on your boat, you can see masses on bottom if  you are in the right  area but not always.   we run  400 ft of rope, big LD2 float and a large round one, they will float your pot off if the current is too strong.  Depending on where you go, sometimes, we are in 200 to 300 ft of water.  if you aren't getting any, move your  gear..      Good luck

[dc]

My dad, got into the shrimping thing in the 80’s.  He would use nothing but puss in boots fisherman’s platter.  I’m sure lots of stuff worked just as well, but Dad would drive a long ways to pick some up when he was out. 

[Gentrys]

Get on Amazon.  Buy a case of chub mackerel and superbail fish oil.  Amazon sells them both.
mix the cans of mackerel up with the fish oil.  Once you have pancake batter consistency, then you're ready to go.  Put it in bait containers and send the pots down in your favorite spots.  Pull up in 45 minutes to an hour.  Oh...and Make sure your pots are weighted heavy.  You don't want them moving around with the current.  Good luck!

[Stein]

John's in Everett has one of the better bait recipes.  I've probably tried 50 different versions to save money and now just do what works.

I pull the heads, lay them on a sheet pan and freeze.  Then, take them off the sheet pan and into gallon ziploc bags, you can fit about a limit in one bag.  They don't store as long as fish, better to eat them within 3-6 months tops.