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Go to the source: Survive the Worst

I just came back from our annual family vacation at the beach. We spent a week relaxing in the sun at Myrtle Beach . While I am not much of a sport fisherman I do drop a line in the drink every once in a while in order to keep my skills fresh. I am a firm believer in the saying, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” With that said, I learned something new, from a complete stranger, that I never even had a clue about. My curiosity and the kindness of a stranger opened me up to yet another technique for keeping my family fed, when and if the need arises.

While walking along the beach we noticed little holes in the sand and every time a wave washed ashore, something under the sand was pushing out the water that entered its little hole. In our ignorance, we thought it was a sand crab. Later we stumbled upon a man who was using a homemade sand pump to extract those mystery critters.

Turns out they were Ghost Shrimp. Ghost Shrimp, or Yabby’s in Australia, have been used for years by fishermen as they are relatively easy to acquire. In addition they make some great bait. Check out the video below that explains how you can make your own Yabby Pump.

Once you have your pump made then you can hit the beach and start pumping yabbies for a simple, free source of bait. The video below explains the technique.