minnow trap

[gooch]

I have one of the standard inverted cone wire mesh minnow traps. I tried hanging it in my boat slip and putting hot dogs, bread, chips, dog food, ect in it and all I get is a stinking mess and no minnows. Can anyone tell me how they work and what to bait them with. I am cheap and would like to catch some of my own bait for crappie fishing if I can.
Thats one plus about catfishing you can always catch or make your own bait and do it cheap.

[Crappie Chatt]

Put in shallow water next to the bank. Done this in Minn. and every morning :D had bait for the day. <*)}}}><

[VietVet68]

I have one of the standard inverted cone wire mesh minnow traps. I tried hanging it in my boat slip and putting hot dogs, bread, chips, dog food, ect in it and all I get is a stinking mess and no minnows. Can anyone tell me how they work and what to bait them with. I am cheap and would like to catch some of my own bait for crappie fishing if I can.
Thats one plus about catfishing you can always catch or make your own bait and do it cheap.

Make a few small marble size balls from oatmeal and water,then squeeze the water out the best you can. they just need to hold together in the trap till most of them flakes off and scatters around the bottom(inside) of the trap. Don't worry about the oatmeal on the outside as it will just help draw a crowd in the vicinity. The big thing is, set the trap where you see minnows.

[crappieseeker]

This reminds me of a situation about 13 years ago when I met my dads boss's son. Him and his friend wanted to go fishing and asked me what they needed to bait their minnow trap with. I got tickled at first and then asked them why they were gonna bait it. They said to attract the minnows inside you dummy. I told them you didnt have to bait the trap if you had a small stream that had minnows swimming in it. They thought I was crazy. I said take me to the stream and I will show you. We placed the trap in the stream and came back in about 45 minutes and had enough minnows to fish for a week. I wasnt the dummy after all.

[crappster]

Wow...I would have called you a dummy too....lol. How does that work? Are we talking about those same cylinder traps, with the small hole in each end? I tried a couple of those down at the stream where I catch all my shiners with a castnet. I bait them in with canned dog food. Well I put the food in the traps and put them out where the shiners were. An hour later, and I didn't have a single one. Couldn't figure out why.

[suey]

i have heard bubble gum is a good attractor.... and the minnows wont eat it... but it attracts them

[blufloyd]

Kind of like deer hunting scent won't work if there are no quarry. If you spot quarry why stink up the place. Find a small stream then find a 'funnel' area place trap there.
Minnows should naturally get caught.
Ps I have one of these traps that has never seen the water since I owned it.
Fish plastics, catch fish with out the stinking bucket.
I guess its all about the scent.

[DENNIS BOWERS]

Shallow water,broke up crackers or oatmeal-have to clean out the trap once in awhile but i usually catch minnows. Good Fishin To Ya!!DEnnis

[crappieseeker]

Yes crappster, the one with the small hole in the end. Like blufloyd said, if you find the minnows, look for their main path of swimming back and forth in the shallow area. He called it a funnel area, makes sense to me, anyway it works. It should occur naturally like he said.

[Pooch]

I didn't see a bait bag mentioned. I put the bait (chunk dog food) in a mesh bait bag that is tied so that it hangs in the middle of the trap. Some times it takes a few days for the bait to get right and draw fish. I usually catch tiny shad with mine. I use the same method in my catfish traps, using stinky cheese bait. (This is legal and accepted in Louisiana.)---Pooch