Minnow Catching

[crappiehnt]

Has anyone tryed to catch there own minnows. I bought a minnow catcher from wally world and was wondering if i wasted my money. The primary lake i fish does not have a bait shop near by but I have a camp site on the lake and was going to try to catch some???

[BlueBuster]

I always catch my own minnows. I bought a cast net, egg sinkers, and some large styrofoam floats. I cut two sticks about five feet long and I strung the net between the two sticks with the floats at the top and the egg sinkers at the bottom. Then I got the small branch below my home and find a deep hole, putting the sein on the bottom and holding it tight I work from one end of the hole to the other when i get to the end I sweep the net closed and lift. I can usually catch thirty to forty dozen in fifteen minutes. This is a hard skill to master and I am far from matering it but I get the job done and save my money.

[Lowellhturner]

Have a friend whom seines a smallish stream nearby, uses metal screening, he gets minnows plus small crayfish, hellgimites (dragon fly nymphs) and boatman diving beatles, all of which he uses for bait. He also has put 20- 30 10 hole bricks into the creek, he uses a twig to push small crayfish out of the holes, ya ought to see some of the bluegills he catches on 1" crayfish- 1 last summer was 11" !!

[BlueBuster]

Yes those hellgimites are a hot commodity on smallmouth I think were I live in NC they are $15.00 a dozen. I have caught my share of big bluegill on minnows as well. I think the biggest I caught was about 11-12" long. I just really enjoy going and seining because one it saves money and the other it is more satisfying at the dinner table knowing all of my hard work paid off.

[kycreek]

What kind of minnow catcher are we talking about?

[wrs75]

we use the traps all the time. my dad has a couple ponds that he keeps one in all the time then puts them in a barrel made out of screen wire tied to dock. we also have set them in the creek in a deep hole. we just put a little dry dog food in them. i'm talking about the round kind with hole in each end.

[yankee doodler]

That's the only way I get my minners. I made my own trap out of 1/4" hardware cloth (you know the stuff). It's 24" long by 10" in diameter w/ a cone opening in one end. Pretty simple to make. I put a 1/4 cup of dry cheap dog food in it and toss it in my church's pond. Have more minners than I can use and toss most back taking enough for the day. Mostly they are fatheads, but some shiners in the mix too. I guess you could say they are divine bait. lol.

[whiskerwhipper]

I use a butterfly net and scoop around deep holes in a creek near my house to catch chubs, daces,crawdads, etc for bait. Problem is that its very hard to keep a creek minnow alive storage wise. Just as hard as shad. A fun method would be to use a 10ft BnM telescopic pole with 6lb mono tie to eyelet with a pole length of line. Tie on a size 14-16 hook on end and crimp on tiny fly fishing split shot above hook for weight with strike indicator as cork. Best baits are bits of worm, bread ball, or kernel of corn. Catch a bunch of bait with less work and twice the fun. Make sure there aren't any oversized rouge gamefish in the creek while fishing for bait. I lost many a minnow and size 16 hook to a big redbreast or green carp.

[curt]

They work till someone finds it. Every trap I've placed has been emptied or stolen and once someone took my nice trap and replaced it with a piece "O" junk. Minnow or Crab.

[BlueBuster]

I do quite well keeping my minnows alive for a week at a time. I use the same water from the creek in my styrofoam cooler (the ones they ships steaks in dry ice in) and a couple of aquarium stones. Give em a little cheap dog food for some food.