Salt Shrimp (a.k.a. Brined Shrimp) from Ant Mac
Another great article from Ant MacWhinnie! And great redfish bait too!
Here is another money saver. Not only does it save you money but you get a great product that you just can’t get in the store. It’s called salt shrimp. For those of you that don’t need to hear anymore than the recipe, it’s 1.3 pounds of salt per pound of shrimp or cutbait, then freeze. That’s it. It’s always a good idea to have a beer during this process, because it’s just always a good idea to have a beer. I used three pounds of shrimp (the $5/lb variety), but they were of good size, well bigger than you would get in those little frozen bait cups. Start with a good product and end up with a better product… Now, for ease of use, separate into roughly 1 pound portions. Then, amazingly enough, you put a whole bunch of salt in each bag. 1.3/1 is the ratio. Then, you put ‘em in the freezer for a good week or more for the good stuff to happen. Note that you it is good to have the block ice workin’ in there. Now, what happens with these shrimp is that they toughen up over time; just a week or two really improves the durability of the shrimp. When they’ve been in there for a few months they come out quite leathery, so when you fish with them they just WON’T come off the hook. This process works well for cut bait for tipping jigs as well. Just cut the right size strips and throw ‘em in there. One cool thing is that you can reuse the salt over and over. I’ve found these baits to be awesome for every species that wants live shrimp. Oh, and that’s another benefit. After a lot of my trips with live shrimp I usually have a few left over. I don’t throw those bad boys out… Into the salt they go.
So, get a beer, some salt and some left over shrimp and soon you’ll have an awesome and durable inexpensive bait. And don’t forget that cut bait trick… Tip those jigs with a salt strip and the flounder just love ‘em.
Tight lines.
Ant
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