Well I bought a minnow trap to try and catch a few and I can't seem to catch anything in this trap? I have put bread in it and some AM600 and I still can't get anything in this trap. After 2 day I had nothing??

Am I missing something here? Is there something else I should try?

I don't get it. I have the trap just deep enough to be under water and I can't get a minnow one to go in it and yet there all around it???

RC

RC, don't know what the problem is. This is probably a silly suggestion and please don't think that I'm an idiot, but are you placing the trap so the inlets are parallel to the shore line. As crazy as that sounds, that might help...

And wasn't there some talk on here awhile back that there is a difference between colors of grey, black, etc

I have an old galvanized one that always gives me a better success than the new black one.

Yeah I have is parallel for sure. And it is galvanize kind of silver in color?

Maybe they just need to get used to it?? I don't know?

RC

Did you put your bait in a container in the center of the trap? If you didn't it will float up to the top of the trap and they can nibble on it from the outside of the trap without having to go inside.

dj thats exactly what I did. I guess I need to somehow secure down in the middle of the trap?

I'll try that thanks,
RC

Last year in the fall I might get a dozen or so minnows at a time. Lots of minnows around, just did not go in well. This year I have had the trap literally half full of minnows when I pull it out of the water after only about an hour. I don't know how they all got in there and still swim around.

I just put some floating feed and let it float up to top. I can see FHM cover the top of the trap where they are eating it on the outside. Have no idea what I did right this spring that I could not do right last fall. Plenty of minnows both times.

I just throw it out in about a foot of water. Have not even been worrying about which way it is oriented. Now I will say I put the trap on the other side of the pond a couple days ago and did not get too many in it. Just now thought of that. Brought it back over near my dock and it filled a third full in half an hour. Come to think of it, I had it on the other side of the pond last fall and never tried it where I am having good success now. Hmmmmmmm........... doesn't seem like that should make any difference as the minnows travel all the way around the pond as I see them when feeding.

Might try another location???? Don't know if it will help but worth a try.

If the trap is new and with shiny silver mesh, then use some spray paint to make the trap drab colored to look more like a old rock underwater. Black mixed with green and or brown. Then try trapping again. Report back here with results. The shiny wire mesh tends to 'scare' or make minnows avoid the trap.

I've never had consistent results with these minnow traps.

Do the bait thing, dull the shiny new trap like Bill said, make sure the openings are parallel to shore, and if still no minnows, move the trap around 'till you find 'em. Sort of like sitting in one spot all day long fishing. You'll usually catch more if you move around rather than sit in one spot.

I use a small fabric paint strainer bag for the pellets but drop a couple in loose. Then I toss some in the area of the trap.

Neither color nor direction have ever made a difference.

If I leave it in too long they escape.

Thanks everyone I will try some of this, this weekend. I have minnows all over the place where my trap is they just won't go in it.. I have a small concrete pad in about a foot of water and they love swiming on it. I put the trap right at the end of it, but so far to no avail. It is shiny silver. I was thinking about that when I bought it. Maybe the black one would have been better but it wasn't galvenize and I wanted the better material. I will cammo it up some and see what happens.

RC

Leave it out in the weather to get the shine off of it and you'll see a big difference in what it catches. Or spray it like Bill said.

I put peanut butter crackers in old panty hose.. Don't ask me why they love them. Goldfish "the crackers" funny as it is.

Here you go. Its still early with colder than normal water temps here.



I think there are about 3 doz in there.

Secret bait was meow mix dry cat feed.

Here they are in a 5 gal bucket. Some are over 3" long.

MSC - It is hard to recognize what those fish are that you trapped when the fish are viewed from above. How about a close up side view? .

Bill I believe they are banded killifish and mummichogs.





Thanks to you guys I am getting better at identifying minnows.

I catch all my minnows in tidal creeks and tidal areas. Not ponds or lakes. It really starts getting good around early May.

I do it the easy way. I find places where I can stop my truck, take one step and throw a trap out, fast and discreet. I also retrieve the traps fast and discreet. I don't want traps disappearing and I don't want other people knowing this is a hot minnow spot. And the best spot is... Roadside tidal ditches.

I rarely leave the trap in more than an hour or so. I believe minnows get back out after a while. And anyone with a very keen eye coming down the road, might spot my trap.

I just have good luck with the cat feed because its always here. Some people use bread or wheat bread or oatmeal or such. I would guess that fish pellets would work great. I also heard of people using white styrofoam packing peanuts in the trap as a visual attractant.

MSC, I've tried traps baited with AM600 pellets and with AM600 pellets and styrofoam peanuts. No difference in the amount of fish caught.

I only see mummichogs in the photos. But it is hard to say if all those in the pics from above are mummichogs. A couple may also be striped killifish as well. Look them up, they are neat fish but not nearly as hardy as mummichogs or even banded killifish.

Guys,

I stopped by to pick up a new minnow trap today at Farm and Fleet. My old disappeared during our move. They had two brands, both painted black. One had entry holes about 1 inch in diameter. The other was more like 1.5 to 2 inch. The 1 inch trap was also heavy wire and tighter mesh. Which would be best for trying to catch SFS, BNM, etc. in the creek as well as for assessing the small fish population in my pond?

Any thoughts?

Bill D.

Just saw esshup's hint to bait traps with styrofoam peanuts. That is brilliant! If it works, it isn't hard to keep a ready supply. I wonder if color peanut matters? Obviously there is white peanuts but sometimes I get pink green or blue as well. The peanuts are visual only to improve trap rates, but you would still need a 'food smell' of some type to get them closer?

The other thing I have handy is dog food (no fish food) but that dissolves and tends to go away. I wonder if other small bits of styrofoam would work?

I've read that for crayfish one of the best baits is a can of tuna fish with the top kept on but small holes drilled in the top to allow the fish oils to slowly ooze out. I thought this was another great idea. I'm going to be sampling my pond for crayfish soon to see if I have any survival and who knows, maybe I can catch some minnows as well.

I've read leeches can be caught with a sealed metal coffee can with holes drilled in a way that the leeches can just squeeze through the hole but the deformed metal on the inside of the can (the burr of the metal) is left in place so they can't come back through. On my list of things to try

Bill Cody thought you would get better yield if the metal was bare, or painted a drab color on the trap. Those are harder to locate so I wondered out load with him if one could put a metal wire on the trap and throw it in a campfire, or maybe use a torch to burn off the plastic coating on the ones that are for sale by me. IF successful they would likely start rusting soon so would want to be primed and painted once they cool down. Not sure how effective that would be but could be tried.

IF Farm and Fleet have truly metal traps with no coating and black paint then you should be good. My trap has hot dip PVC or something coating it.

""They had two brands, both painted black. Which would be best for trying to catch SFS, BNM, etc. in the creek as well as for assessing the small fish population in my pond?""

Neither one, unless as Canyon says the black is just paint and not rubberized coating. Paint can be repainted camouflage or green with brown. Many minnows/shiners don't seem to like the rubber coated traps for some reason - catch rate is lower. Bare metal painted galvanized traps catch about twice as many minnows in my creek sets than the rubber coated ones. I got rid of my rubber coated traps and replaced them with Gee style minnow traps. I have about 10 older Gee traps plus homemade ones.

http://www.easternmarineoutlet.com/gees-galvanized-minnow-trap-g-40

http://www.memphisnet.net/product/3804/t...ivLnxoCh2Dw_wcB

Look for 6 pack free shipping offers on eBay. Here is a pretty good deal.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SIX-6-Gees-G40-G...=item25938802ee

I have been looking at the net type on e-bay. They are kinda square and have about 5 or 6 entry holes. Any feed back on these? cost is only about 10-12 bucks for one with free shipping.

The one with the smaller hole was rubber coated. The other was painted.

I will check out the links. Might as well get the best.

Out of curiosity, what about the hole size question? Is there an optimal size for what I want to use it for?

Heck I got better luck catching them with a long fishing net! I can't get my minnows to go in a minnow trap for nothing! I left it in the water last year for weeks and nothing. Fish all around. I even took and tied some fishing line in the middle of it with a hook and put a worm on it and I still did not get anything to go in. Craziest thing I ever seen.

RC

Bill C,

I checked out the links an ordered a couple of the Gee traps. Do I need to paint these up when they come or will they be good to go?

I always paint my new shiny traps a drab color. Try to paint the trap to look like a rock or log under water. Minnows shy away from shiny things underwater. Why they don't like the vinyl coated traps I don't know unless the coating makes the wire appear thicker. Vinyl probably has not affect when catching crayfish. Not saying the vinyl doesn't catch fish just fewer fish compared to plain wire mesh. You can run the test yourself for verification.

Before you attempt to burn off the plastic of the vinyl traps watch this video and consider buying the Gee's G-40 galvanized trap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V685AfLntb0

The Gee's has been around for over 100 years and is still manufactured in the states. The advantage over the black vinyl traps is the mesh is square and has a higher visibility factor. Let me know what you think.

I bought two of the Gee's 40 several weeks ago. Only limited use so far but I like them.

Interesting video....looks like a good minnow trap.
Impressive catch!

ps: no biggie..but why would anyone need to make part of an online
video about a minnow trap while driving a car in the rain?

I don't know if this will help but it is working great for me. I bought a long pole swimming pool cleaning net at a garage sale. When my feeder does off or even when I just hand throw some feed along the shore my fhm are all over the pond edge. I put 20-30 1/8 inch floating pellets in that dip net and place it near the bank. The minnows swarm the feed and I just pick up the net and have 2-3 dozen minnows in one scoop. Sounds crazy but it works every time.

Not crazy man. I've done the same thing with my skim net when I am curious what a particular school of minnows are. Works well.

I'm going to get me couple of those Gee's and try them. Had never seen that style before in any of the stores I go to.

One thing I will say about side by side tests. I've recently had two of the plastic coated traps side by side within 10-20 feet of each other in two different small ponds (4 traps total). I can have 30-50 minnows in one trap and the next trap might have 2-20. Next time I check it might be reversed. No explanation, just my experience. The minnows ain't talkin.

Same experience here...same trap, same size, same coating, same food, 5 feet apart. One time the left one will be twice as full as the right, then next time vice versa. No idea as to the cause.

We have the best luck with the trap in under a foot of water. A good old bagel lasts the longest in the trap for bait. Place the trap so the bait floats to the top of the trap but have the trap just under the water by 1/2".

I find if I place the trap deeper I pick up the emerald shiners and not the fat heads. The crayfish find the trap every day too any where from 3-5 every day even with just a bagel for bait.

Cheers Don.

I too have the best luck in shallow water. Then again every once in a while, when I'm not catching many, I will throw it out deeper. Most time, no go. But every once in a while, lots of FHM.

Go figure.