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Pumping or digging sandshrimp

12K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  Crashin' Bait 
#1 ·
I've been thinking about starting to harvest my own sandshrimp bait when I go fishing at the coast. Does anyone have any recommendations about how to go about it? I have been able to find very little information on this topic. Do I try inside the bay or on the ocean beaches? Can I dig for them, or do I need to build a pump? Do they turnout in good shape? Could they last in the fridge for a day or two for a later steelhead trip? Maybe you can help me out...
~ColumbiaKid
 
#2 ·
Kid,

I'll bet there's lots of guys on the ifish community board that could help you out a bunch. These hunters over here are all wrapped up in elk and ducks and chukars and have probably forgotten all about fish bait.

Why don't you take this same post and put it up over there and watch what happens. They're good guys with LOTS of information.

Oh, knowing those guys, they're gonna want a fishin' story from you as kind of a Hello, so be prepared. And welcome aboard!

Skein
 
#4 ·
ColumbiaKid, its super easy, and very cost effective versus buying them if you are close to a good pumping area. Get a PVC pipe shrimp gun, about $15.00 from GI Joes and goe out on a sand flat in the bay and look for all the little holes, like clam holes. ( I get all mine out of Yaquina or Waldport Bay)I prefer to get mine when there is about 2-8" of water over the sand, it dispurses the sand and allows you to see any shrimp you have gotten easier than picking through sand clumps(gotta be fast though because they re-burry themselves or drift away), also is a little easier on their fragile bodies. I can usually hand pump about 12 -15 dozen keepers in an hour. :smile:

Here is a link to another post I made about getting them to last a little longer than they do in the styrofoam cups.
click here

Good Luck, its fun! :grin:
 
#8 ·
Clam guns work, but shrimp guns are a lot faster. The clam gun tends to dump a big sand 'plug' onto the beach that you have to pick through to find many of the shrimp, a gun tends to splatter/scatter the sand and its easier to see the shrimp. I just wish they were a little bit bigger in diameter, you cut a lot of shrimp in half, smash them, etc. with the smaller diameter gun.
 
#10 ·
I would use the shrimp gun over the clam gun. Ghost shrimp or sand shrimp are borrowing creatures. The most efficient way to extract them is to suck them out of thier borrows with the shrimp gun. As you pull back on the plunger, try not to plunge the tip of the shrimp gun tube into the sand too far. If you do it right you will create a vacuum throughout the borrow system and hopefully get your critter out. Check out this webpage on ghost shrimp . Pay close attention to how intricate the borrows are. Hope this answers some questions. :smile:

[ 11-27-2003, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Crashin' Bait ]
 
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