when im bottom fishing for croaker i have great success with shrimp for the bait store, ones that i like the most are "heads shrimp" but the ones that come in the box work well too, i cut them in half n use one side on each hook, n usally when using these shrimp i catch one sometime b4 my bait hits the bottom or within 5 mins. Ive used shrimp for sams club n other shrimp like that but they dont work as well as these shrimp, n they stay on the hook better cause they have the shell n head still on them.
its only about 2 or 3 bucks for like a box or bag of 30 or 40