I was wondering, does Fresh, still kickin' sandshrimp work better than frozen dead shrimp with some chuertruse coloring?. I would think the fresh ones but My dad says otherwise.Thanks,

When I'm using it as my primary offering, I always use fresh. For added scent only, you can use prawns, sandshrimp, etc. Given the choice, I'd take fresh every time.

I used those cured ones that come in a little plastic tub once. They were supposed to be colored "chartruese," but looked more like an ugly dull yellow. As I remember Monte and Forks were out of sandshrimp and it was late March, so my partner and I were out of eggs for the season. Anyway, we landed 10 nates that day on the Duc tipping our rags with the cured sandshrimp. I haven't used it since, so I only have that one experience to relate. But it was a good one!

The cured ones don't last as long as fresh do. Maybe it was just the container I had, but at best, they would stay on the hook in usable fashon for about 4 casts. Fresh ones last a lot longer.

always use the fresh stuff, Fish want something that smells appealing not rotten.

Fresh is the key if ya ask me.
Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

I live over on the East side of the mountains (tri-nuke cities)and all we get is frozen shrimp/prawns or dead chartruese tails in a styrafoam tub or plate. I had the pleasure of coming over for X-Mas and fished the Upper Skagit. We went into the local Texaco station at Rockport and purchase some "Live" shrimp. Did'nt have much luck but was impressed with the "live" shrimp. I double looped the shrimp and did'nt lose a one. We even stopped by the station again and picked up another tub for the kids to look at. Needless to say the kids were amazed at seeing "live" shrimp.
I gotta believe that "Live" is a better bait than dead or frozen.
I just wish we could get some "Live" shrimp over here. I think the market would call for it. Any thoughts?

Fresh shrimp without a doubt. As previously stated in the posts above, they are more appealing to the fish and stay on the hook far better than old dead shrimp and those nasty old cured ones. If I can't find fresh shrimp, then I'll use eggs or just plain corky and yarn before I use those cured ones. If you must have cured shrimp, then color them LIVE with ProGlow bait coloring or some food coloring. The coloring usually kills them in fairly short order but they will still be fresh enough to use shortly thereafter.

The cured chartreuse or dead yellow-colored shrimp possesses no true flourescent color qualaties and I don't think they're goning to be as visible underwater as one might think. The best color of sandshrimp is the females which have an orangish or reddish color running down the center of the body. MMMMMM, medium female sandshrimpies and they taste good too!

Justin
CEO, Sauk River Steelhead Ranch

What are some good sources of live (really living) sand shrimp in this area. Are they harvested commercially? Thanks for any information you can provide.