Minnow Trapping
With the price of bait today it can really pay to catch your own minnows. Especially if you have a place you can store them. Catching minnows is not real hard. Be sure to check the laws for your state before you start. You can make your own trap or purchase one from a sporting goods store. Most of them are made from wire mesh. The most popular ones are round and have a funnel at each end. When the minnows go in for the bait, because of the funnels they cant find their way out. Dried bread works real well for bait in these traps. Find a creek you can legally trap in and walk the shore till you see some minnows. Try to pick out kind of a deep hole to lay the trap in. Let it go for a couple of hours or overnight before you check it. With any kind of luck you will be rewarded with a nice catch of minnows.If you plan on catching shiners you have to use a glass trap. Wire mesh traps are to rough. It will injure the shiners, they are more delicate.You can also purchase a square net. They are held to form with wire rods that form kind of an upside down umbrella. Also sometimes called an umbrella net. To use this you attach it to a long pole. Submerge the net into the water a couple feet below the surface. Sprinkle some wet oatmeal on top of the water over the net. It will sink and as it does the minnows will come in to feed on it. Then pull the net up. I have done this though the ice in the winter. It works great. Last but not least. If you don’t want to wait on a trap or stand over a net. Buy a seine. This is fast and effective. Make sure the one you buy is weighted on the bottom. Grab a buddy and go. Run the seine though shallow weed beds or deep holes in the creeks. Some times in the middle of the summer minnows even get hard to catch. Like most other fish -in the evening and at night they will come into shallow water. So if you’re not having any luck in the day. Try it in the evening or after dark.
For keeping your bait alive there are a number of things you can do. An old chest freezer filled with water makes a good storage pond. Use an aerator to add oxygen to the water. Because the freezer is insulated it will also help to keep the water cool. Which will help keep the minnows alive longer. I think about the best thing I have seen. If you have a creek running though your property or a friend or relative that does. Take a 50 gallon metal drum and have a square hole cut in the side of it. Attach hinges to the piece you cut out to make a doorway for getting your bait in and out. You might also want to place a lock bracket on the door so you can lock it. Use a drill and place small holes on the end of the drum so fresh water flows though. Make sure the holes are small enough so your minnows don’t get away on you. Pound two poles in the creek . One on each end of the drum to hold it upright and in place. If the creek you use is very active you can use this method to keep minnows live year around. This will also work by attaching the barrel to your fishing dock. Depending on the area you live in -this may not be a good option for the winter.
The equipment you need to do this is not all that expensive.
Tags: minnow traping, fishing, openwater fishing, fishing bait
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do minnows come out during the winter
Minnows who knew. Coarse Fishing Tackle
how do the minnows get to the small ponds without the carps? I’m confused?
Kind of refreshing I’m orignally from southwestern NY on the PA border and we used to set about 6 minnow traps in streams
and rivers preparing for smallmouth and pike fishing. We also salted them down as sold them in the spring. It seemed that we could never have enough salted minnows or live. Once word got out about the minnows it was all over.
Brought back fine memeories thanks: Matty
iv only got like 1 doven not doing good this year