Best way to keep shrimp alive?

Hello from Surf City! The following appeared in the NC Waterman Message Boards. It's interesting, and I thought I would share.

Best way to keep shrimp alive?

What's the best way to keep shrimp alive? Seems like I've heard something about a cooler with ice, then newspaper and then shrimp on top? Any tips? Thanks and have a safe 4th.

Water and and a BIG BUBBLES!!!!!!!!

How long are you gonna keep them? If you've got 'em today and you're gonna use 'em today, a bucket of water and a good bubble maker are all you need. If you're gonna keep them longer...the same setup will work, but you're gonna need to change the water a few times a day and you will certainly want to keep the temperature in check. Don't leave 'em out in the sun! For that matter you can just keep them in the house...just be sure to change that water! Jay

Something that I've always done with live shrimp is to sink a piece of mesh or something rigid that they can hold on to. Especially important in a live well. This keeps them from getting swept around and thrown into the sides of the bucket or tank....one of the main reasons live shrimp die out when kept as bait.

I used to fish live shrimp quite a bit on the Texas coast. We would buy them just before going fishing for about $5 per quart. I used a Flow Troll bait bucket with an aerator that clipped to the bucket. We usually wade fished with the bait bucket tied to us so we removed the aerator and got the bucket in the water asap. Kept the shrimp alive quite well however, if you leave them in the heat very long they will die quickly even with aeration in a bait bucket until you get the bucket in the big water. More water and a lot of bubbles will likely be the key to keeping them alive.

If you have them in the live well with tons of circulation, then I might would worry about putting something in there for them to hold on to. If you are just using a bubbler with no water circulation it isn't needed. Jay

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