Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Minnow Trap

To answer some questions:
1. The funnels have wire in the small ends to keep them round and there is wire stretched between the two to keep them pulled toward the center.
2. I get the minnows out be simply lifting the trap and dumping them out one of the corners into a bucket.
3. There is no top. The picture was taken before I added some swim noodles around the top edge to keep the trap floating. Actually the air in the PVC pipe kept it floating but the noodles were required to keep it upright when placed in deep water. I usually put the trap in shallow enough water so that the top edges don't submerge.
4. The trap is 2 feet by 2 feet by 4 feet so I can set it in water almost 2 feet deep without totally submerging.
5. The trap is made from netting that I bought from Aquatic Ecosystems, look in their online catalog under netting and you'll find it.
6. The frame is made from 1 inch PVC pipe. This type of 3 way PVC corners are not available in hardware stores since they aren't used for plumbing. You can get them at Aquatic Ecosystems but I found heavier duty ones online from a source that sells them for making PVC furniture. The pipe is just plumbing pipe.
6. I don't use any bait, never found it necessary. No bait door since the top is open.
7. My wife did all the sewing on her sewing machine using a stretch stitch and nylon thread. The funnels were easy to make. Cut a rectangle of netting the right size, fold it in half, sew a diagonal across the rectangle from one corner to the center of the other side and trim off the excess portions of rectangle. A little math tells you how large the rectangle must be do get the diameter you want on the large and small end. Mine are 10 inches diameter on large end, 4 inches on small end.
8. Yes this trap has rather large entrances for minnows so it will catch larger fish. The entrances could be made smaller to limit size but I use this in my forage pond where there is nothing but minnows.
9. The netting is attaced to the top using a few nylon cable ties and then wrapped with some heavy nylon line that I had around the shop to pull the netting up tight to the tubing.
10. I think the net cost less than $50 but I bought the materials several years ago and don't remember for sure.

The first time the trap was out it caught about 8 pounds of minnows in 36 hours. I emptied it yesterday after almost exactly 24 hours and it had about 4 pounds of minnows.