Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Catching fatheads

We have a small pond here at work. At put some fatheads in it about 1yr ago.And they are the only fish in the pond. They have done very well. I now would like to catch some and take home to my pond. I tried a minow trap and they swarm around it but will not go in it. I am thinking now about using a cast net. What is the easiest way to catch a bunch to take home? Thanks, John

I dont have any experience with fatheads, but if you plan to cast net them I would think you would need a cast net with smaller than normal holes...then again I have actually never seen an adult fathead.

What size/kind of minnow trap did you use?

Did you use bait in the trap? I use a section of pantyhose and put fish food in it and suspend in the middle of the trap. You can also take a can of dog food, stab some holes in it with a screwdriver, put it in the trap and fatheads will come into it.
If that doesn't work, use a lift net where you feed the fish. That will definitely work.

If you have enough minnows to see them around the trap and you put a whole slice of dried bread or break it into big pieces in the trap you should be able to get the minnnows in the trap. I have never had a problem with getting fatheads to go into a wire mesh trap with cones on the end. Set trap in 12"-2ft of water parallel to shore and let it fish for 4-8 hrs. Let us know if this or what worked.

I have been using one of those round minnow traps with the funnel opening at each end. I have use bread balled up into a ball and they just swarm around the trap. This pond is loaded with fatheads. But, they just will not go into the trap. All I caught was some big tadpoles. I will try some aquamax in some pantyhose when I go back to work. And report the results.

John try dried or fresh bread pieces not balled up. Try breaking bread into numerous 1" pieces and make sure some are at both trap ends. Does your trap have the black rubber coating on the wire mesh?. I find that these traps do not catch fish as well as bare wire traps, although some FH should still go into the rubber coated wire traps.

I could not find my minnow trap yesterday when I went to work. So I took my cast net and it worked great. I caught a bucket full in little of no time. But, I do not think they are fatheads. I think they are shiners. I do not know how they got in the pond. But, either way they should make for good forage. This pond is loaded. I was catching 15-20 with each cast. And I did not even make a dent in them. Here is a couple of pics

They definitely look Shiner-ish to me. Should be good forage.

Cody or another expert may be able to identify the species.

I am not good with identity of native shiners out of my region, unless I can get them under a dissection microscope. Too many different shiner species in other regions of the US such as Florida. HOWEVER, since you happened to get a good close photo, AND it is a pond spawner AND due to the deeply decurved lateral line my opinion is golden shiner.

Have you been catching any fatheads along with those shiners? If not I wonder where they all went. Maybe you have some predators in that pond.

That first one looks an awful lot like your typical golden shiner to me. The second pic looks slightly different but it could just be the angle.

Those of you that haven't seen one there is a trap called a B trap that is made with hardware cloth and is fairly easy to build and use. But for fathead minnows or shiners in the bait industry here in MN they use wing or leeds to guide the minnows into the trap.
Fatheads and Shiners will typically follow the shoreline around the pond. The leed is attached to the throat of the trap and staked out into the pond at a right angle to the shoreline. The leed stops the minnows and directs them toward the throat of the trap.
Depending on the Game and Fish Laws in your state you could also build a box trap 2' wide by 2' deep by 4' long close off one end and on the other build a V of hardware cloth vertically with an opening of about 1" in the center. You can use wood for the frame and staples to fasten the hardware cloth to the frame if you need to but you will have to weight it down as wood floats.
If this sounds complicated send me a request by email and I wil draw up plans and send them back.
Bait isn't necessary with the leed and you need only dipnet the minnows out as you need them. BUT check your local laws for size restrictions first.
Barry

Barry, I know the trap you are talking about, and will offer to others reading that it works well.

I believe both are golden shiners. When small, less than say 2" they often don't get a golden tint to their fins as in the fish in the second picture. I am saying golden shiners. Not many species of shiner out their that can naturally reproduce in a lake or pond, so the options are limited.

The Golden Shiners are aggressive and will likely feed heavily on the Fathead fry and most of the invertebrate population in a pond as well. They will eventually through attrition eliminate the Fatheads entirely from the pond. I have seen this many times here in MN. They may also eliminate many of the necessary zooplankton that your gamefish fry need to grow, and the gamfish fry as well.
I would be carefull if you put these in your pond so they don't upset the balance and end up as the only small fish you have.
The one bright spot (or not) is that they also eat their own fry too. So if you don't want or have trouble controling the natural reproduction in you pond the Goldies may slow or stop that and provide larger forage for your larger fish.
Barry

It is amazing to watch a zipping school of golden shiners dashing through spawning beds of sunfish, stealing the eggs and fry to eat.