Catching your own minnows

[DavidD]

How many of you catch your own crappie minnows? I see them in several place in hartwell. I considered buying a 1/4" mesh cast net and trying my luck.
Am i crazy?

[CrappieLips]

my brother inlaw has a catfish lake at his house. We catch them in minnow baskets. Transfer them into my 55 gal drum buried 3/4 way in the ground to keep the water cool with a areoator in it. I'll keep 4 or 5 pound at a time

[CrappiePappy]

How many of you catch your own crappie minnows? I see them in several place in hartwell. I considered buying a 1/4" mesh cast net and trying my luck.
Am i crazy?

I wouldn't call you "crazy" ... "thrifty" maybe, but not crazy :D

Seriously though .... what kind of "minows" are we talking about ? Shad "minnows" can be caught with a cast net, and 1/4" mesh is what you need for the little guys. Brook Silverside "minnows" don't school up enough, to really be viable for cast netting. Those are more easily caught by a dip net ... going along the bank, during the dark hours, with a light on the side of the boat (lantern, 12V, whatever), and scooping them up a few at a time.

What "minnows" are you planning on catching out of Hartwell ?? If it's some specie of Shad/Herring ... the cast net will work fine. If it's something like a "spot-tail minnow" or "shiner" or "bluntnose minnow" ... other methods may be needed. ............ cp

[crappiechappy]

In my opinion, it's too much work. I would rather buy a couple dozen at the store and spend the extra time fishing, but then again, I mainly use artificial bait and only ocassionally tip my jigs with minnows. If I was strictly using minnows, it might be different?

[DavidD]

Hmmmmmmm not being a minnow expert I'm not sure what kind they are hey look like the medium sized minnows i buy at the bait shop.there are 3 coves we drift thru every weekend that have several schools of these minnows in them every weekend.These schools are huge they swarm right up near the boat so i thought what the heck!
Growing up in the Fla keys we would catch our own bait every weekend pilchers and mullet so since the schools are present in these coves weekly i though why not? Thrifty? Heck yeah!!!!

[Cmac]

I'd have to say give it I would give it try & then at least you would now if it was worth messing with. I catch mine most of the time without much of a problem. I use french frys to get them up so I can see them. I just throw one or two out & wait afew minutes, if not many show up i will move on alittle bit & try again.
Since you already know where the schools are it probably wouldnt be much work for you to catch a couple of dozen real quick.

I am with you I dont know my minnows that well all I know is that they are minnows :D

[CrappiePappy]

Hmmmmmmm not being a minnow expert I'm not sure what kind they are hey look like the medium sized minnows i buy at the bait shop.there are 3 coves we drift thru every weekend that have several schools of these minnows in them every weekend.These schools are huge they swarm right up near the boat so i thought what the heck!
Growing up in the Fla keys we would catch our own bait every weekend pilchers and mullet so since the schools are present in these coves weekly i though why not? Thrifty? Heck yeah!!!!

If you don't already have a cast net ..... 1/4" mesh x 6ft diameter would be what I'd consider getting. The mesh is small enough for even some of the < 2 inch Shad/minnows that you may encounter. The 6ft spread is small enough to throw without much trouble, and large enough to hit a good percentage of the school. Have a clean 5gal bucket w/aerator, about 3/4 full of lake water, handy. The great thing about catching them with a cast net, is that you don't have to worry about some of them dying on you ... just dump them (water and all) and go get more.
Check out www.nylonnet.com and request a catalog ... then look for the size/type you want. The website does not show all available sizes & types.
I have a 2002 catalog, and the prices for a 1/4" mesh x 6ft diameter (3ft radius) net are:
Reg mono net - $31.45
nylon multifilament - $46.41
pro series clear mono - $58.58
pro select premium mono - $82.99 (smallest is 8ft diameter)

I've got two - a 3/8" mono mesh & 1/4" nylon mesh ... both are 6ft diameter. I think I paid around $50 +/- for each. They're both well over 10yrs old, and still in good shape.

To get you some idea of what minnow species you might be seeing, check out this PDF link to native Kentucky Fish: http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/pdf/kyfishid.pdf
(sorry, couldn't find a comparable SC fish ID link)

Do some backyard practice cast netting, before trying it on the water. Any troubles, give me a shout and I'll walk you thru how I cast mine (from a raised deck type boat). And don't be surprised if you have "fun", while throwing the cast net .... I do, flubbed casts and all :D ..... cp

[thudpucker]

I was given one of those Cast nets. It was tangled, and I took the time to fix it.
I had my fun learning. I caught some fish, and in the big lake in the City of Lake Charles Louisiana, I caugh a bunch of Shrimp.

The net was always bringing up 'stuff' and odd kinds of fish.
It was fun for awhile...I gave the net to the neighbor kid and put the experience behind me.
I'll buy the Minnows.

[Rowdy]

We grow ours ,Find a pond with no other fish in it, every thime you fish turn leftorver minnows in! Or buy a pound and turn them lose.The Bullhead nest 3 times a year,You cant fish them out!I dont know about up north they may freeze out. I have a 300 gal tote in the garage can keep 10 lbs or more till the water temp are 75 or so with areator .

Rowdy

[ykkapslabhunter]

I buy enough minnows to get me started, say 50-100 and then I have a 42" umbrella net that I use at night. Once it gets good and dark and you have lots of shad up around your lights just drop her down in the water, flip ya lights off and pull her up and dump and go drop her in again and keep going till you stop catchin them. Usually I can get in bout 3-4 scoops before they leave but I can usually catch 50-75 shad. Really just depends how many shad you have around ya lights. I just do that whenever I start getting low on bait. Doesn't seem to scare the crappie off either. But there has been a few times where not many shad show up and then you can get in a pickle if the fish are biting and you didn't buy many minnows.