When you can get them the wild are the best.Most times its too much trouble due to time restraints.Also hard o keep them alive.Most times I do my part to stimulate profit in local bait shop.Somewhat easier to get in low water and summertime.
own. Or do you buy them at the local bait shop?
------------------------------------------------------------
Testimonials
Night fishing tips 101
Temperature Guide Crappie
Fishing lights
When you can get them the wild are the best.Most times its too much trouble due to time restraints.Also hard o keep them alive.Most times I do my part to stimulate profit in local bait shop.Somewhat easier to get in low water and summertime.
I don't mind stimulating the local economy in the least.
The state of Michigan mandates now, what we can use for live minnows.
After about mid April. About all we can get anymore are fatheads, 'mud minnows' on the west side of the state because of cost to deliver others.
I understand the reasoning behind it. The problem is, they are about useless for crappie or perch.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this, please.
My catch ratio on all fish I use minnows for drops 75% if not more.
Best in my book are, golden shiners and what we call blue backs.
Mike
I mostly trap my minnows out of a little creek behind the house. I just put the traps out one day and go fishing the next. If I forget to put the trap out, I go by the bait shop.
I Bought A Minnow Trap At Wally World And Tried It With Bread And Crackers At Different Times. In The 20+ Times I Set It Out I Caught A Total Of One (1) Minnow. It's Now On The Shelf In The Garage, And I Buy My Minnows. Maybe Someone Can Enlighten On The Process.
In Kentucky and West Tennessee I fish mostly on Reelfoot Lake. In the deep water, I use both fatheads and shiners. Here are the differences that I see:
1 Fatheads. I can use traps and catch plenty of fatheads for free. They work pretty well in the deep water on the south end of the lake. Their advantages are that they are free and that they live much better in the late summer and early fall when temps are high. The disadvantage is that they are small and don't work nearly as well as shiners in the shallow water.
2. Shiners. Shiners work better than anything that I have used. Their only disadvantages are that they cost more ($12/lb now) and they do not live as long on a hook. Warmer weather is a lot harder on them.
3. Rosy Reds. I will add my comments on Rosy Reds. I rarely use reds. They sometimes do better in the spring as water temps rise. I say this based upon personal experience, however, some Reelfoot anglers and guides use Reds exclusively. My experience makes them my third choice. They are usually small also. I like BIG shiners. This may not be scientific, but it looks like to me that a Rosy red is some color variation of a fathead. They look the same to me except for the color. They are very hardy.
We have raised some minnows in ponds. The fatheads seem to do very well. I have not had as much luck with the Reds. Shiners do well in some ponds, but I believe that they will grow to gigantic size in the ponds. I am in the process of stocking a pond with shiners to try to raise my own. Great Blue Herons are a problem with shallow ponds with wading depth. As you know, we can't blast them.
we use the wire minnow traps and they work very well. You can catch great catfish bait (baby bluegill) in local creeks.
rco
IMO it's best to buy them. They live as well if not better in my experience and don't require much maintenance. It's hard to consistently catch the size you want, and sometimes the numbers. They're too small for cast nets, you don't always want to get wet using a seine, and the minnow traps take a while to catch enough. Store bought minnows also take all of 5 minutes to get.
I always go to the mom and pop bait shops whenever possible instead of the bigger stores. Always good to support your local folks.
Just my .02.
Does anyone have any luck keeping minnows between trip? If so would like to hear of your experience.
I assume you mean in the bucket you buy them in? Sure, just keep them cool and change the water if it gets dirty and if any die get them out ASAP. An aerator will help them out greatly. Don't overcrowd the bucket and they should make it.
Lots of people make tanks to keep lots of minnows (pounds at a time) and these work great if you're interested in keeping a large number of them. Do a search here about minnows and you'll find tons of threads about the subject.