Live bait shrimp - $0.33 each
 

Live bait shrimp are not cheap!!!!! And how many of those live shrimp are dead or too sloppy to fish with by 10:00 AM.

We are paying $0.33 per shrimp... that's $20.00/quart... 50 bait shrimp/qt.

When 1/2 of the live bait dies or is no longer fishable by 10 AM, I really purchased only 1 pint (30 live shrimp) for my $20.00... the cost has changed from $20/qt. to $20/pt. from 5 AM to 10 AM (5 hours).

That's $0.67 for 1 live shrimp now.

The Dog Days of Summer are here again as predicted and the cost of live bait shrimp is higher this summer than last summer. But, live bait puts fish in the box this time of year, so much better than plastics.

I heard that some bait camps are now selling live bait shrimp for $0.38 per shrimp... doesn't matter whether 36 count shrimp or 80 count shrimp - the price is the same.

25 shrimp cost a smooth $10 including tax... save the dead shrimp for the hard heads, piggy perch, gaff-tops, skip jacks, crab bait and chum.

What do you guys think about the price of live bait shrimp?

3 things

1. what somerhing is worth is directly proportionate to what someone will pay for it (see duck leases)

2. This is murica where you can skip right by the bait store and not buy any

3. You have to do a little extra in the summer to keep bait alive

4. Wait till fall and fish with plastics. Saves on gas and bait.

If you have the time, just go toss the cast net. I was catching 3-5 shrimp a toss at my little roadside spot, and at the beach, I grabbed about 100 in less than ten minutes. There wasn't much size to them at all, but they were alive, and in the hands of the right fisherman, likely would've landed many trout. In my hands, they still found the gafftops, and one dink.

Most bait shops have poor warranties on live shrimp; I suggest you purchase a policy from LiveBaitInsurance.com. They have very reasonable rates and great service.
They also have a "Melting Ice" policy but you must register your Yeti cooler and only use ice frozen from the inside out to validate a claim.

I have been looking for that sight all morning and I haven't found it yet. I'll report back when I find it...

:rotfl:

I never bought em, and I never will even when they were 20-25 cents each

never had any problem catching limits on plastics when they were feeding on shrimp

now when they are feeding on fish I have bought cocahoes a few rare times and it has helped a lot at those times but I cant afford live bait and learned to successfully fish without it.

I find the only time live shrimp matters is if the guy next to you has it, then they will not hit plastics as much until 10 minutes after the live bait guy leaves, then you still catch plenty on plastics

live shrimp are for guys with disposable income and charter boats who need the edge so their customers can catch, even the fishing challenged ones lol.

it does make a difference but until they can put up a force field around them so I don't catch hard heads, sheep head, and baby croakers who eat all my shrimp, well I cant afford to feed live shrimp to trash fish

I think live bait on the west side of the state is a scam. You buy a quart of shrimp where half of em aren't even usable. Go to grand isle or Venice and they are all the same good size. I have an insulated bait well that constantly pumps fresh water in. I never have a problem with bait dying. If I did I would take a bag of ice and put it in the live well. I buy bait maybe twice a year though so it doesn't really matter to me

I've caught plenty of fish on plastic while other people in my boat were fishing with shrimp. I've actually out fished shrimp before fishing the same spot

I have fished the Port Suphur to Grand Isle area a lot; and you only need 2 baits to catch trout. LSU Queen Cacahoe, and Glow Chart Sand Eel

I believe the West Side benefits from live shrimp much more at certain times of the year.

Probably because you had your Salt Life shirt on and they didn't.

Sometimes you have to have live shrimp (rare) and you just have to bite the bullet and get them. I used to pull a 16' sprimp trawl for bait, much easier to just buy them now if needed. I don't b*tch about the price because it doesn't do any good.

My friend didn't want to go castnet for some yesterday. We paid 40 cent a shrimp yesterday at the Pt.

Not to be rude, but I think your math or your fishing is at fault. If you fished for 4 to 5 hours without losing a shrimp to the fish or just casting, then you need to find a new area to fish. Not a different bait. If you are losing shrimp to catching or casting, then the cost of the shrimp hasn't changed. That's just the cost of fishing.

I find it funny that most fishermen spend ~$200 on a reel, $100 to $200 on a rod, 20k to 40k on a boat, 30k to 50k on the truck to pull it, $100 on gas per trip, and so on, and then are POd at bait camp owners for charging exorbitant prices for shrimp. Of course bait camp owners are all millionaires because their profits are out the roof......lol!

Truth is, most bait camps barely stay in business. Those same shrimp that are dying in your livewell are also dying in their livewells. So they lose money on them also. And to top it off, just let them not have shrimp and people are mad because they can't get live bait. So no, I don't think it's a scam at all. It's a choice. Your choice.

Spot on in my book ... Well said !

Who counts shrimp ?? That must suck


That's why I use artificial only 99.9% of the time because live shrimp does not make a huge difference other than catching more gaftops , hardheads, lady fish, croaker , sheepshead and drum

Trout are reaction eaters so they will eat plastic everyday

True

Exactly.... in the grand scheme of things $20-$40 on shrimp is not that much money. I just don't like to fish with em cause I hate having to re bait my hook after every fish.

I know im going to get flamed for saying this but ....

live bait is for kids, rookies, or guys who don't know how or just never learned to properly fish with artificial baits, once you learn how to properly fish with artificial baits, you bait looks just as alive to the fish as the real thing so you dont need live bait.

Depends on what you're fishing for