Set 2 spawning devices for Satinfin shiners at my sons friend boat dock early this afternoon. We also set 2 minnow traps and used a cast net to try and catch the adults. Only 2 were caught in the cast net and none in the minnow traps baited with bread and dog food as of 9pm. The mesh size of the 6 foot cast net is 3/8 of an inch. This mesh size is too large for my objective. I will be trying 3/16 mesh if I’m able to locate one before we go back on Thursday or Friday evening. In my correspondence with Bill Cody he said “ If you are seeing school of them around the dock the spawning device should be full of eggs after 2-3 days and haul the egg filled device home to the pond for egg hatch in 5-7 days. Replace each egg filled device at the docks with another 1 or 2 devices and keep the cycle going all summer.” It appears that I will need to build more spawning devices in the near future. A couple of questions that I hope someone can answer. 1. Would the Satinfin shiner eggs/fry be better off in the forage pond with golden shiners, FHM, mountain redbelly dace, rosyside dace and creek chubs or in the stream that feeds the creek above the pond without golden shiners? I ask this because as I understand it the golden shiners are notorious egg eaters. 2. Does anyone know the preferred bait of Spotfin/Satinfin shiners in a minnow trap? 3. What is the recommended mesh size used for these 3 inch shiners and where do I find one? Thanks!
