Luke (my son-in-law) and I had heard that ghost shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis) are excellent—often preferred—bait for a wide variety of saltwater fish, including sea perch, rockfish, and greenling. On our way to Westport, we stopped at Bass Pro Shops and bought a ghost shrimp (yabby) pump, then tried our luck later that day on the beach near the jetty.

By that evening, I realized why we hadn’t caught anything: ghost shrimp are typically found in mudflats, not on sandy beaches. A bit of research led me to Bottle Beach State Park, less than 10 miles from Westport, which has extensive mudflats. Even better, low tide the next morning was at 7:30 a.m.—perfect timing.

So Luke, Nora, and I got up early and headed out. From what I had read, the key is to look for small “volcano” mounds in the mud, which mark the presence of ghost shrimp burrows. We began scanning the flats, and before long Luke became quite adept at driving the pump into the mud and suctioning up ghost shrimp.

Not every mound yielded a shrimp—perhaps only 10–20% did—but Luke’s persistence paid off. By the end of the morning, he had collected about 40 ghost shrimp. They were 2–4 inches long, translucent with a slight orange tint, and surprisingly delicate. We learned that they don’t survive long out of their environment, so we kept them in a bucket of seawater to preserve them.

With bait in hand, we were ready to head to the Westport pier and see if our efforts would pay off with some fish.