Grass shrimp are small, nearly transparent shrimp that fill the marshes, eelgrass and creeks of our estuaries in enormous numbers. They are a staple forage for striped bass (especially schoolies working the back bays) and white perch, and when fish are keyed on them, the fishing gets technical.
What they are
Grass shrimp are little translucent crustaceans, an inch or two at most, that live and hide in the vegetation and structure of shallow estuaries. They get flushed out on the tide and swept along current, which is when the fish feed on them.
How anglers use them
This is a match-the-hatch forage. When bass are sipping grass shrimp, often at night around lights, docks and current edges in the marsh, they want a small shrimp imitation: a grass shrimp fly drifted naturally, or a tiny soft plastic. Small and subtle beats big and flashy.
Tip Grass shrimp drift with the current rather than dart, so fish your imitation on a dead drift or the slowest swing, letting it tumble naturally in the flow. A shrimp fly fighting the current looks wrong to a fish that is sipping the real thing.