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B-1 83 · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:09 am Post subject: An observation on "soft" shrimp

90% of the time, I buy my shrimp from one vendor. Lately, they have had mornings when they had no shrimp, so I bought them elsewhere. I have noticed that these other 2 places have shrimp that are livelier and don't immediately molt in the livewell and/or go soft. Is there a difference in how some bait shops handle their shrimp? I know I am consistant.

Am I off base here, or just going nuts?

chuck · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:26 am Post subject:

Yes experts please chime in.

I have had the same exact experiences.

A ? for this situation would keeping the water cooler help the shrimp not get all mushy?

Please chime in guys, I hate blowing 4.32 for mushy shrimp

Tyler · Site Admin Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 12865

http://www.corpusfishing.com/messageboard/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7031&highlight=molting
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B-1 83 · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:17 am Post subject:

That was my original post, Tyler. The jest of my question was whether the handling of shrimp at the different stands caused the differences of "molting rates" in the shrimp once I get them. I swear the bunch I got last Sunday all molted in my bucket at the same time!

Oil Field Trash II · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 1560

what I THINK (not know) is it has something to do with a couple things.

The first is the environment that the shrimp live in, either in deeper channels, or the shallower areas. I'm not sure how this affects the hardness of their shells, but It seems logical (to me anyway), if you correlate the variances in trout caught in the flats, surf, or deeper areas in baffin that environment will cause changes to the exterior of the critter.

The second thing I think happens, is some boats drag their baits longer, causing more stress to the bait than other boats that don't drag as long. I know for a fact when I have got croakers from certain places, they don't make it through the first night, and other bait stands, they will last all weekend, and the survivors will get to swim off after the trip is over. I would think the same stresses being pulled too long for shrimp would apply. I'm not sure how this affects the hardness of a shrimp's shell... but maybe it has something to do with their friskyness.

Out of curiousity, are you using water from the bait stand, that's about the same temperature? if you're pulling in hotter surface water, instead of the cooler water towards the channel, which is where bait stands pull their water from I believe, maybe the bait is being shocked by a rapid change in water temperature?

It's not uncommom for us to throw frozen ziplog bags of ice in the livewell to keep the water cool, and the shrimp more lively.