Shrimp for bait?

I live down here in Santa Cruz and I don't get out much.  When I do, particularly during the winter, I like to target nearshore fish who apparently bite on shrimp.

I've seen a bunch of postings about shrimp (grass shrimp?) that can be used as bait for sturgeon or perch.  Now I want to find some and use them.

My questions include:
1) Where do I buy the little buggers?  Not likely I'll have time to 1st catch shrimp, then go fishing.
2) What kind do I buy?  Immediate target:  surf perch.  Future target:  lots of stuff.
3) How do I store or transport them?  Can they be used frozen so I don't have to try to find 'em before going out?

Mmmm.  Shrimp.  Now I want a big plate of scampi.

My questions include:
1) Where do I buy the little buggers?  Not likely I'll have time to 1st catch shrimp, then go fishing.

Joel...the nearest Asian Market should have 'em live.

Big Red,
You can buy them frozen at bait shops, but frozen grass shrimp is very delicate and doesn’t stay on the hook that well.

Live grass shrimp is a little more hardier and will stay on slightly better, but they are expensive and hard to keep alive, even for a day.
You can buy live grass shrimp in Alviso, (Laines sp?).

Live grass shrimp is the “candy” for surf perch as well as stripers from the surf.

Stuart

Pieces of normal prawns from your neighborhood supermarket will work fine as well.  Even cooked cocktail shrimp works.

-Allen

Sadly, while Mexican-style markets abound here in Santa Cruz, our Asian markets pretty much suck/don't exist.

Okay, well it looks like fresh live grass shrimp are mostly out of my reach due to proximity.  However, I can certainly find whole heads-on frozen raw shrimp that will fit the bill.  Worst case, I can hit Ranch 99 in Milpitas and get a bunch of fresh dead whole raw shrimp and freeze 'em myself.

The way I end up perching, mostly, is that around noon the baby goes down for a nap and work tapers off while folks go to lunch (I work from home).  This affords me about an hour to swing down to the beach and fling some bait around.  I've been known to use fresh mussels cracked off the rocks at Capitola, squid bits, and chunks of raw shrimp frozen from my local anglo market.  Grubs are the best, of course, because they keep essentially forever.

I'm thinking about hitting Zudmowski or Natural Bridges today...  the weather has cleared up a bit and I'm hoping the perch will be poppin'