This may be a stupid question, but has anyone ever used Goldfish? They are colorful and about the size of a minnow.
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This may be a stupid question, but has anyone ever used Goldfish? They are colorful and about the size of a minnow.
No, I haven't. Two things come to mind when I think about it. First is the cost. They gotta be more expensive and minnows are already too high I think. Second, it may be illegal to fish with them. I don't know that for fact, but there may be some prohibition to introducing them into some waters since they aren't native to many lakes, rivers, and streams. Just my two centavos.
Back when I was just a kid and just starting to fish for crappie that was all they sold at the bait stores around Cypress Bay on KY lake. We used Gold fish minnow all the time back in the last 1950's and early 1960's. They were good bait and we caught a lot of nice crappie with them.
Todays Rosy Red would be a better choice as I bet that gold fish are more expensive these days than they were back in the old days. But then I really don't know what the cost of gold fish is these days. I have not bought any of those gold fish recently.
I can get Rosey Reds in the spring time from the Evansville Worm Ranch Bait Shop which is located out on Old Boonville Hyw on the NE side of Evansville, IN.
The Worm Ranch get's their Rosy Reds and other minnows from Arkansas.
But I do know that Crappie can be caught with small gold fish.
These days they may not want gold fish introduce into the lakes. I am thinking that gold fish are a form of young carp. I could be wrong about this though as that is just something I was told a long time ago and it may just be a rumor and not scientific fact.
It seems like I've heard they were illegal to use too. But that was a long ime ago. :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Moose1am
Some states it is illegal. But where they are legal, they are a very good bait. Best bet on price is usually at a local Wally World. The oranger, and fancier their tails - the better. Just ask for feeder Goldfish if you want to try them. Prices range from 12 to 25 cents each depending on where you are at.
Moose is right on about Rosey Reds though. More economical by far!
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Goldfish are carp! As for price, around here, they are asking $1.00 each at the local marina. Needless to say, they do not sell too many of them.
They are great for a big channel or flathead, but, they are not that great for crappie.
Yessir, I've used gold fish for flathead cats.
I have seen them for sale ata couple of bait shops around here in the Carolinas but they are a bit pricey - about $5 a dozen for the small ones
There are a couple of guys on Lake Nimrod who have access to a hatchery where they get small goldfish in the 2 inch range. In my opinion they are the best crappie fishermen on our lake. They consistantly produce nice stringers of slabs. Their prefered method is to slow troll several long poles tipping their jigs with the goldfish.
They say all it cost them to get several pounds is a few bags of fillets. They do very well in the fall and winter months and have excellent results when they go over to Lake Dardanelle and Holla Bend NWR.
On Lake Nimrod a 2 1/2 pounder is considered one of the lake's bigger slabs but these guys consistantly produced fish of this size and told me that in February they caught 2 over 3 lbs.
Sounds like they might be on to something with these small goldfish! ;)
I've used goldfish, and I've caught crappie, bass, and catfish on them. They're good bait.
Back when I did it I was breaking the law, but I was a teenager then and I wouldn't do it now on those same lakes. I was in Southern California where all the lakes are man-made and not connected by rivers. They try to keep only "gamefish" in those lakes through stocking, and they're able to do it because there aren't any natural "rough fish" coming in. No gar, carp, suckers, buffalo, drum - none of that.
So all live bait is illegal, except for nightcrawlers. Fish & Game doesn't want "junk fish" to get started in the lakes from escaped minnows, and goldfish are baby carp. Since live bait is illegal, nobody around there sells minnows or minnow traps - so the only way to cheat is to buy goldfish from a pet store. Getting caught at that means getting a big fine in CA.
So yeah, I tried it. I suspect many of us did some things at 16 we probably shouldn't have. I did find out goldfish are effective on crappie.
Much more recently, a couple of years ago, I read an article about yellow/orange being a good color for crappie jigs. I already knew that, and it's one of my favorite colors. The article said that baby carp (goldfish) are all yellow/orange in color and change color as they grow, and that baby carp are a favorite crappie food. Might be - it makes sense to me.