The term "cut shrimp"

Ok what does the term Cut shrimp or cut bait mean?  Do you take the shrimp and "cut "it like Mooch cuts the man dogsprior to grillin?   Is it simply cutting the bait into smaller parts? slicing it lengthwise what?  I see the term a lot in fish sniffer, and maybe I know it  and have been doing it with realizing?

Z will likey have some input on this, as I've heard "cut bait" is more popular up in Washington.

I don't have much experience with it, but AsaBSpade and I caught salmon at Shelter Cove last year and he used an innovative technique that I'd never seen.  He cut the head off of his anchovy at "45 and 45."  That is, he cut down through it at a 45 degree angle, right to left, as well as a 45 degree angle front to back.   He hooked it up (two hooks) and the cuts made it twirl in the water like a Rotary Salmon Killer or how a dodger works.  Interesting and effective.  I'm not at all sure about the details that I just gave, and I'm even more unclear about how it might apply to shrimp, but, for what it's worth, that's what I know about it.

Eric

Im pretty sure abking has the idea... more or less it is any bait that is less than the whole... a filet, a steak, half... whatever...

yes, cut bait is any bait that is not used whole.

cut bait use is more common on the east coast, less so here as I understand from reading.

John

Cool  thanks for the info guys.

Just my 2 pennies here but, I use that term a lot with my girlfriend. I tell her that when she's had enough of me, it's time to cut bait.  Maybe not what you're looking for but, that's that only time I've used that term. Otherwise, AbKing and John are on to it. I've used that 45degree cut on a chovy method before while salmon fishing in Monterey. We called it somethingelse though.

Freddie

45 degree, as in "butterflied"...used to cut herring like that for salmon...last time I remember ever catching a salmon (many years ago) on butterflied herring resulted in a 40 pounder. Almost got pulled out of the boat when a sealion grabbed the fish briefly. Wore the wrong kind of shoes that day.

Chunking up bait like chovie/squid/herring/shad/squid/macks/shrimp/chicken is fairly common when bank or shore fishing for stuff like stripers, cats, rockies, perch, rays, sharks etc....its plain old cut bait (in this case is was probably market shrimp cut into chunks).  Not the most sophisticated way of fishing but its low cost and works well for species that are not overly picky or are smaller specimens. The east coast is a different story, they don't really have the saltwater live bait fishery like we do here so they commonly chunk live baits up to draw fish in, I believe its also becoming more common here also down south but they mix it up chunk and live. 
45ing the head off a chovie/herring for trolling is cut plug, I've seen some throw a backward fillet, tail first, up a larger herring then sew it back up on a cable baiter for salmon.  On the delta we used to do something similar we called butterflying, fillet a threadfin from the gill to 1/4 inch from the end of the tail, insert a hook near the tail through the backbone then back again in the middle part of the body, then half hitch around the fillet and tail.  When in the current the bait would spiral around releasing a scent trail.....killer on stripers.

Freddie is also correct, I've had a few take that route and have also had to cut bait on a couple of the crazy ones.   I've never seen mooch handle man dogs......and I hope I never do.