Thanks for the vote of confidence but I really haven't figured out shrimp yet, not like I'd like to. Sand eels, crabs, bunker, etc have been much easier to decipher. Shrimp are tough, and here's why I think it so...
The stripers of size I've observed are usually over 10 years old and are more than likely Monomoy residents, which I define as fish that have developed a habit of returning to the same flats year after year. I know for a fact that this occurs based on having caught the same fish in separate years once on either side of North Monomoy. It's generally accepted that this is true. Anyway, my point is that they are really knowledgeable about what is going on in their summer vacation grounds, kinda like the way we know which ice cream shops and miniature golf courses are the best year after year
They know how to pick the lines so they don't have to work to get what they want, just like the residents know all the backroads and avoid route 28 like the plague due to all the tourist traffic.
They know on what side of a flat to be at what tide so that the shrimp are "blown" down to them helplessly, trying to get hold on the bottom but unable to crawl or maintain a retreat, thus are filter fodder for large openings like the maw of a cow bass the size of your leg. At such times I have found it difficult to blend my shrimp into the horde of helpless half-inchers and be noticed by a fish that is largely not trying to notice any one item.
It's analogous to the difficulty anglers have when fish are targeting clouds of tiny bunker in August. The fish are not looking for individuals, then it's hard to catch a fish with an individual. Again the mighty walnut strikes.
When the shrimp population is at it's high in the summer months, and after the spring glut is over, fish have been observed to go into a subdued state where they experience the lowest rate of growth in terms of added weight of the year. You could loosely relate the stripers growth to the tides whereby the spring 'tide' shows a high rate of growth after spawning and migration, followed by a summer 'low', then the highest growth rate occurring through the fall migration to the spawning grounds in the fall.
My opinion on the dog days / shrimp and other small forage activity is that stripers react to temperatures, dissolved oxygen, and physical needs on the flats and eat less vigorously. Simply put, they just don't have the urge.
If you compare / contrast to the bayside a mere 6-8 miles away, the tides are double in volume and the fish remain quite aggressive throughout the summer months. Very fat fish are common around Billingsgate even in August. They have their own challenges during mid-summer, most of all dealing with the deeper water they frequent, but small finfish are definitely on the menu and thus they are easier to hook with more common fly patterns.
100 yards away on the backside the fish are also very aggressive in the surfline, but the bait population often drifts out 300yds to miles offshore forming huge shoals and the fish go with them. The boat fishery off Chatham is superb most years and with finfish patterns once again. It's damn good fishing but not very challenging unless the bait are being pushed vertically by deep fish. You can tell because sporadic busts occur for a moment at a time, then stop. Otherwise it's an easy fishery.
But in the most intriguing fishery out there IMHO, the flats, the dog days are extremely challenging and for me the most satisfying and enjoyable time to walk them. There is nothing that can compare to the satisfaction of fooling the smartest, biggest, and most wary fish in the most beautiful, crystal clear white sanded environment where the species exists.