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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Medford police say domestic violence intervention is preventing homicides, more » SOU grads' salaries lowest for state schools more » Our View: Protect pristine headwaters from nickel mining more » Medford police say domestic violence intervention is preventing homicides, more » SOU grads' salaries lowest for state schools more » Our View: Protect pristine headwaters from nickel mining more » OUTDOOR JOURNAL Cocktail Hour Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted May. 29, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Jun 1, 2015 at 3:19 PM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted May. 29, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Jun 1, 2015 at 3:19 PM » Social News SHADY COVE — It's still an hour before morning light bends around the old cottonwoods lining the Rogue River, signaling the official start of Tuesday's fishing for spring chinook salmon on the upper Rogue River. It's the perfect time for a cocktail. Why not? It's 5 o'clock at this salmon hole just below the upper Rogue's Takelma Park boat ramp. But the only nip now is in the air. Angler Jeff Barnard lets out the new chinook bait du jour, a concoction of cured salmon eggs topped with a live sand shrimp pulled to the bottom by a diver run out of a driftboat. Moments later, Barnard's rod doubles over, and the fight that still makes a grown man's hand quiver with excitement is on. This 12-pound hatchery chinook is the latest, but not the last, fresh catch chalked up to the "shrimp cocktail," an old-school fishing bait gaining new popularity among Rogue chinook anglers who are always looking for the slightest of edges while stalking these finicky spring denizens. The local availability of live sand shrimp in Medford and Grants Pass now means that complete anglers are adding them to their arsenal of baits and plugs, with the wiggly crustaceans often making the difference between fish in the box or the proverbial smell of skunk in the boat. Sand shrimp long have been a favorite bait among coastal anglers because everything fishy eats them, and they are readily available in sandy beaches and spits, where they are either sucked out of the sand by anglers with special shrimp guns or bought in local sporting goods shops. They've been on-again, off-again offerings at bait shops along inland rivers such as the Rogue, but they generally don't travel well and have such a short shelf life that most Rogue Valley stores for years haven't bothered to carry them. "They're so delicate — if you give them a dirty look, they keel over and die," says Tom Gascon from the Black Bird Shopping Center. But live sand shrimp began creeping back into favor in recent years among upper Rogue driftboat guides always looking to improve their odds at getting more of these notoriously temperamental salmon to bite. "The word really has gotten around about these," says Dave Bradbury, owner of Bradbury's Gun and Tackle shop in Grants Pass. Bradbury keeps a 110-gallon commercial saltwater tank in his store along Rogue River Highway. He scoops fresh sand shrimp out by the dozen each time an angler plunks down $5. Spring chinook anglers started lining up for sand shrimp last year, when Bradbury was selling about 40 dozen a week. Sales now regularly hit 60 dozen, "and I'm probably going to start ordering 100 dozen a week now" as the spring chinook season hits its crescendo in June. The Black Bird Shopping Center in Medford takes sand shrimp orders during the week, typically having about 12 dozen of them delivered each Friday in time for the weekend, Gascon says. Once bought, sand shrimp need to be babied, quite literally. It's best to show up with an ice chest and a Tupperware-like container with the inside lined with napkins or paper towels. The napkins soak up the crustaceans' toxic urine and are necessary to keep them alive. "It's like a diaper," Bradbury says. "You have to change that diaper every day." Sand shrimp work best when fished out of driftboats using divers as if you're fishing with plugs. Thread the sand shrimp pinchers-down onto the leader and cover the hook. For the cocktail, first add a gob of cured roe. An alternative popular on Oregon's North Coast is a two-hook mooching rig, with the bottom hook in the head and the top hook in the tail so the sand shrimp faces downstream. Barnard caught spring chinook fish at Takelma before 6 a.m. Tuesday using both offerings, with the smaller hatchery chinook eating the cocktail and a 25-pound wild fish munching the straight sand shrimp fished with the two-hook method. That almost triggered another cocktail hour of its own. "Two fish by six?" he said. "Should have brought whiskey." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted May. 29, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Jun 1, 2015 at 3:19 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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