I am attempting to make a live well at my house for shrimp. The urge to fish strikes at all hours. I am not always able to cast successfully for shrimp and the bait shops close around 5pm.

Since I live less than a hundred yards from the lake, a trip lasting as little as an hour or more is commom. I would think that I could take some rocks, water and shrimp from the lake and keep them alive for a while.

I have an aquarium, an aerator and a limitless supply of saltwater.

Has anybody tried this? What were the results? Any ideas to be successful?

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I guess I put this in the wrong place. Im going to start it in open saltwater.

You didn't put the topic in the wrong place, just be patient and wait a day or two for replies - someone on here probably has some useful info for you, they just haven't read your post yet.

Z

This will probably not work well. The shrimp will all die within a day or two. They are very difficult to keep alive for long periods of time.

Why not hire a guide and learn to fish lures? IMHO they work better than live bait anyway.

Well except for croaker. Nothing works better than them.

Next time you fish with live shrimp, rig a Mansfield Mauler and as soon as you find fish, lay down your bait rig and start tossing the mauler. You will be a convert in a few minutes.

Why not just pump salt water out of the lake instead. Use whatever you want to hold the shrimp and mount a pump a short distance from the water. Attach a suction hose with one end in the lake with a float on it so it does not fill with trash. Have the discarge hose from the pump enter the top of your holding tank with a spray bar on one side of the tank. If it goes all the way around it typically develops to much tubulance and tires the shrimp and they die. Have an overflow hose with a screen that goes back to the lake. This way you deliver a constant supply of fresh water (The shrimps own discharges in a recirculation system will kill them in short order)that is the same temp as the lake. A recurculation system can warm or chill over night more than the lake and wammo toss a shrimp out of your tank into the lake and it is dead in seconds due to shock. With a pumped system the water temp will always be the same as the lake. Another thing to consider. Put a piece of old shrimp net in your tank suspended in the water. This will give the shrimp a place to rest. This works really good in a live well too. A lot of people dont realize shrimp need to rest and will last DAYS longer if they can hnng out and rest and not have to swim all the time. Your system can be as large or as small as you want, it can also be as expensive or as cheap as you want. Just dont overload it with to many shrimp, a little trial and error and you will have it figured out in no time. Be safe and have fun.

if you have waterfront property, you could screen off a good size area in the water and use it as a holding tank