Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose is fishing shiners the same as fathead minnowa?

We have a wholesale bait company only 6 miles from my pond. When I owned a tackle store I used to sell shiners for bait and bought them from this company.That was 35 years ago. Are these shiners (and sometimes called golden shiners) the same as fathead minnows? They used to sell a very large shiner that we called trot line shiners. They looked like a shiner but got about as long as your hand. Please help. I will be stocking my new 2 acre pond this spring.

Nope. Golden Shiners are completely different than Fathead Minnows. I have no idea what trot line shiners are.

Trot line shiner is a term for a large shiner 6" or so used for large catfish bait


Pat W

The only way to know for sure what you are getting is to look at them. Around here, the "trot line shiners" sold in bait shops can be anything from common shiner to creek chub or even red horse suckers. As Pat points out, it is more a description of size than species. Bait shops here typically offer three sizes of bait fish; crappie minnows, bass minnows and trot line minnows or shiners. They could be anything. The crappie and bass minnows are usually FHM but I have seen carp and stickle back mixed in.

As I recall from my reading, shiners such as golden shiners are more pelagic. In other words they tend to inhabit open waters in schools. Minnows like the FHM tend to more inhabit the shore line, bottom and structure.

Anyone feel free to correct me if that is incorrect.

In our area I have never seen FHM at a bait shop, only true shiners. Even for bass they sell large shiners 6"+


Pat W

Hey Pat,

It's Friday night, I am bored as everybody is out "Black Friday" shopping, so I have to ask, in your area, what is a "true" shiner? When I was growing up in central Indiana that was a common shiner (Luxilus cornutus). What is a shiner in your neck of the woods?

Bill D
I'm up at the country fishin and huntin,no black fri for us. A true shiner to me is a shiny thing in the bait bucket that you have to have 2-3 to get one on the hook! Cause they wiggle so much. Actually I think they are of the common variety from somewhere in Arkansas. Boy that helped! Lol


Pat W

Do shiners and FHM provide good fishing? With a bobber maybe? Or on fly?

Fatih
Shiners and fathead miners are an excellent bait for the predator species. You can fish them under a cork if you want , but I fish them a little different. A small hook through the lips, cast out and retrieve very slow letting the minnow move freely until the fish gobble him up. It's more fun to have direct contact like that than to put a cork on and just wait.Sometimes I use a small pinch weight to make casting easier. If you're in a spot where there are a lot of hang ups you might have to use a bobber- but I prefer not to if possible but that's me.

Pat W

I grew up in Oklahoma and we would purchase Arkansas shiners at the bait shops. These fish were in the 2" size and were very shinny and sparkly silver sided. A great fishing bait. The bait available in E Texas are more of the minnow type with more green along the back. I would really like to find some of the Ark. type shiners. Threadfin shad (similar to Ark shiners) were just added to my pond but I might have to look into the ark. shiners.:)

In response, I guess it would be best to order true fathead minnows from a company this spring. Who do yall suggest that would deliver here to deep east Texas zip code 75968??

Flame, Couple things come to mind for you. First, what fish are you going to stock? This could be important as to whether or not you want shiners or FHM. Each have their place.

Second, no matter who you buy from, sort thru them before dumping into your pond. To many ponds have been completely disrupted of management plans because some hitchhikers were in the mix of FHM. Get a couple buckets and sit down and go thru them. Good ones in one bucket, questionable ones in another. Don't sit next to the pond because it's to tempting to get in a hurry and throw the wrong ones in the wrong spot (aka-pond)!

Key here is to learn how to recognize FHM. Not hard to do, there are lots of pics on the forum. Perhaps someone has a few handy to throw up here for you.

Thanks Pat. I think that all the species in a pond must be fishable. Even though LMB or BG is much more fun to catch, sooner or later you will get bored doing the same thing and look for something else. I love fishing for small fishes. With or without a bobber. Great fun...

Flame
Try Overtons between Centerville and Buffalo. Todd is very good at what they do and can lead you on the right direction on stocking. I'm geting ready to add 100lbs of fat heads to get my crappie through the winter. Bass were put in by unknown sourse and have eaten most all the forage( CNBG YOY) so my 300 crappie can't get enough grub.as was mentioned sort your stuff or have a reputable company like Overtons bring your fish. I was lucky to have them close by( 20miles). I bought fatheads from Ark pond stocker and did no know better at the time to sort through .


Pat W

Pat,

100 lbs of FHM. Wow! And I thought it took a long time to sort 10 lbs! Please let me know how long it takes to sort maybe 30000 of those little guys!

Bill D.

Bill
Not gonna sort. Overtons will deliver them and since the bass are already there it don't much matter any more... Just gonna make the best of this situation. Then catch all those fat bass and eat them! Anyway this should take the heat off CNBG production next spring... Hopefully



Pat W