Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jk47]

As the title suggests, just wondering what you guys do with your store-bought shrimp (cocktail or other..?). I have run myself fresh out of my cured roe from the fall and haven't fished shrimps that much for steelhead, but is it best to fish them raw and natural or shower them with some orange pro-cure? Thanks

[TheChumWhisperer]

Everybody has different methods, IMO it's all the same.  I prefer raw.  I dry them out for a while, sometimes overnight, on a piece of paper towel.  And use pieces at a time, rarely the entire shrimp.  But I have caught on cooked shrimp, pro cured shrimp, pro cured cooked shrimp, etc.  They all work.

[Apennock]

I like to use pro-cure to suit my bait to my color scheme but, as ChumWhisperer says, it all works. 

[Jk47]

Thanks guys, also - should I just buy the frozen cocktail rings or is there a juicier version of prawn that steelies prefer? Lol

[RainbowMan]

Last year I bought a pack of pre-cooked frozen prawns from the T&T Supermarket and cured them with the pink Putzke procure. The color seems to work well for steelies. There are a few Youtube videos if you're looking for variety.
Keep them in a jar in the fridge and as others said, put them out on a piece of paper towel the night before and they work very well. I had many hookups on those ones as well as the ones that I just brined (natural color- no procure)

[Rieber]

Who are you calling a Pro Cure Shrimp? 

Rodney uses  Pro Cure and he's kind of a sh----, well maybe he doesn't use Pro Cure.

Actually Rodney has quite a bit of information of curing shrimps. Just search.

I used to buy the shrimp rings and set 10 or so in a frozen shrimp in a container and put them in the fridge for next morning. I tried cured a few times and didn't find any advantage. I stopped using cured  shrimp - I just preferred the cooked shrimp and the plus is there is no messy fingers - maybe a little stinky. Plus if you get your fish early, you can eat your non-cured bait on the way out. 

[Jk47]

Lol thanks Rieber after I left this post this a.m. I bought a cooked shrimp ring and wound up landing a piglet of a wild doe - about 14lbs! Made my day!

[zap brannigan]

firecure and rock salt overnight, drain the liquid and fish them the next morning.

[Spawn Sack]

I like the following method as you can keep all this in the fridge and it lasts months. You don't need to thaw some shrimp before each outing.

Buy a cooked shrimp ring. Remove enough for a month or so of fishing. I only fish prawn here and there so for me a dozen or so is more than adequate.

On each shrimp, cut off about 1cm of the fat part near the head. I find they thread on/stay on/fish better if this upper part is removed. Leave the crunchy tail piece on (optional, but I like it).

Don't toss these little cut pieces away! I like to tip jigs with them. The big prawn pieces I thread onto a hook, typically 1/0.

Toss all of these prawn pieces into a small tupperware and add a fair bit of non-iodized coarse salt (pickling salt). The salt will harder up and "cure" the prawns and they will last quite a while. I take what I think I'll need for the day and put in a small baggie or whatever. If I don't use they go back in the salt container in the fridge. The salt container will get watery from all the moisture pulled out of the shrimp. You could drain it or whatever but I just leave it.

[spoiler]

I usually buy the shrimp rings and split them up into 4 sections. I put each section in a small ziplock bag with about a teaspoon of coarse pickling salt and throw them in the freezer. the night before fishing I take one bag and leave it on the concrete floor of my garage and I'm ready to go in the morning. if the water is colored I will add a pinch of double red hot procure to give them some colour. the pickling salt toughens the prawn meat and it will last longer. At the end of my fishing day I just throw the bag of remaining prawn tails back in the freezer.

[KarateKick]

Why does it need to be non-iodized coarse salt (pickling salt) and not table salt?

[jim]

sea salt doesn't have Iodine added to it, but table salt does. all things in the sea have Iodine in them, so cooks don't add any more Iodine to their foods.
A bit over the top for bait perhaps?
Pro-cure does make a separate cure for shrimps, and say it is not the same as the roe cure. At least they used to. I still have some from the bargain bin at Fred's.
I like them with the shell still on, if I catch my own.
Shrimp meat in a sytro pak is perhaps a little cheaper than the prawn rings.
boil them in very salty water for 4 minutes or so.
hook them thru the back, and the shell works to keep them on. (opposite of threading them on the hook.)