How to keep prawns and shrimp alive

Live prawns and shrimps flick and dart, and that movement is what triggers a take from bass, pollack, wrasse and a long list of warm-water species. Dead ones still work on scent, but they are a different bait used in a different way. Prawns are also fragile and short-lived out of good conditions, so keeping them alive is a genuine skill rather than a formality.

A smooth-sided container with plenty of water and something for them to hold onto — a little weed or a piece of mesh reduces the constant swimming that exhausts them. Crowding is the usual killer; prawns are cannibalistic when stressed and crowded, and a dense bucket produces losses quickly.

Cool seawater at close to the temperature they were collected from. Prawns tolerate cool water well and warm water badly, and warming reduces dissolved oxygen at the same time as it raises their demand for it — the same trap that kills sand eels.

Aeration is needed for anything beyond a short period. A battery aerator transforms how long a container of prawns stays healthy, and standing water in a sealed bucket does not last a session.

Clean seawater, kept cool and refreshed. Fresh water is fatal. Removing dead individuals promptly matters more here than with most baits, because a decomposing prawn fouls a small volume of water quickly.

A session rather than a stock, unless a proper aerated system is available. Prawns can be kept longer in circulating cool seawater, but a bucket on a boat is a few hours of usable bait.

Cool, aerated and uncrowded, out of the sun. As with sand eels the journey does most of the damage, and an insulated container with an aerator makes far more difference than any other measure.

Prawns and shrimps are collected from the wild and can carry parasites and disease. Moving them between coasts or between fresh and salt water risks moving those organisms with them, and the use of live crustaceans as bait is restricted in some jurisdictions. Do not release them anywhere other than where they were collected, and never empty bait water into any water body.

Crustaceans are increasingly regarded as capable of experiencing pain, and the proportionate measures are practical ones: collect only what is needed, avoid crowding that causes cannibalism, keep the water cool and aerated, and dispatch rather than hold animals in deteriorating conditions. Prolonged holding in a warm bucket is both poor welfare and poor bait management.

Return unused live prawns to the water they came from where practical and permitted. Otherwise put them in household waste, and never empty the container into a water body.

Collecting, transporting, keeping and using live bait are regulated differently almost everywhere, and some of these baits may not be used at all in some waters. Restrictions commonly cover where and how much may be collected, whether live bait may be moved between waters, whether a species may be used as bait at all, and whether a licence or permit is required. FishingHQ does not state what any rule is or where it applies — check with the authority responsible for the water and the shore you intend to use before collecting or using live bait.