Trapping Minnows

[Wakemup52]

Hey all, I have been doing a little research and watching some YouTube videos on minnow trapping. I wondered if any of you trap your own minnows and if so, what method do you use?? It seems a lot of people use the cylinder traps with bread or dog food as bait and I wondered if that's something that also worked on Vermilion.

I know minnows are pretty cheap, I just like the idea of being resourceful more than anything! Appreciate any help or advice you guys can offer!

Edited April 26, 2016 by Jrod0582

[timk]

i have had luck with bread and  or  dry dog food  for  my trap  but i have never tried to trap in a lake  only streams

 

[leech~~]

If your dropping off a dock with a lot of heavy waves, I would go with dog food as the bread just falls apart right out of the trap.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Usually the only thing that you will catch in a minnow trap in Vermilion is Rusty Crayfish,small perch, or very small panfish. All are poor or illegal to use as bait.

The screen type traps work pretty well. Use bread, dog food, and white Styrofoam  packing peanuts as bait.

Beaver ponds and creeks produce the best bait. In this area that will be mostly creek chubs, river shiners, rainbows, suckers, and fathead chubs.

Cliff

[bowhuntingboy1]

Hi,in uninfested lakes,a gees minnow trap will catch many minnows with both baits.But I have a question myself,what water temp do the miinnows move in?

 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I can't help you on the water temps. Never checked!

Cliff

[Fish Head]

I can guarantee if you hang a minnow trap off our dock it will be filled with rusty crayfish.

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, Fish Head said:

I can guarantee if you hang a minnow trap off our dock it will be filled with rusty crayfish.

Well, if your lake has them. Never got one cray in mine ever off the dock. It would be kind of fun though to try a big Rusty boil sometime.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Vermilion is full of the nasty little beggars!

Cliff

[Wakemup52]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It's clear I need to be looking for a stream or river to make it trapping worth while. I appreciate the help.

[FishinCT]

4 hours ago, leech~~ said:

Well, if your lake has them. Never got one cray in mine ever off the dock. It would be kind of fun though to try a big Rusty boil sometime.

Done it numerous times. Plenty of large ones if you sort through them. Lot of work but they sure are tasty. Any restaurants on the lake ever do this? Feel like there would be some interest in that

[Cliff Wagenbach]

CT,

I do not think that the restaurants can sell them legally because they would not have been inspected.

They are tasty! 

Cliff

[JP Z]

We do a boil or two every summer on my parents lake..........sadly this lake is in Brainerd.  Those buggers take over like no ones business.

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, JP Z said:

We do a boil or two every summer on my parents lake..........sadly this lake is in Brainerd.  Those buggers take over like no ones business.

Which lake? We're on Edwards all summer.

Edited April 27, 2016 by leech~~

[JP Z]

Clearwater, towards Deerwood.

[FowlSki]

I believe it is illegal to trap in streams that have trout.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

I used to trap minnows in a pond near my house.  An hour and I'd have a couple dozen and if I left it over night I'd have hundreds or even thousands.  Mix of fat heads and rainbows.  The square traps yielded more than the cone style ones for some reason. Bread worked better than dog food.  Using a thicker type bread like a hotdog bun stayed together better than regular loaf bread.

We'd also seign shiners when they'd run on the shores of lakes in early summer.  Shiners wouldn't go in the traps when they were running.  Their attention was focused on making shiner love, not eating.

[delcecchi]

On 4/26/2016 at 5:26 PM, Cliff Wagenbach said:

Vermilion is full of the nasty little beggars!

Cliff

Haven't made it to me yet.  But I am ready with trap, salt, and propane burner.   Last I heard they were in Niles Bay and moving west. 

[FishinCT]

Figured that was the case Cliff. Too bad, giant crawfish jambalaya a few times a summer would be pretty fun!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

FowlSki,

You are correct on all accounts!

I did catch a lot of shiners if the trap was in a spot that forced them to try to pass through it.

Have to make sure that your DNR number is on the trap also!

Traps have to be checked at least once every 24 hours too.

Cliff

[SkunkedAgain]

This thread has given me a renewed desire to toss a minnow trap in my beaver swamp. May they be plump and plentiful. Thanks for the inspiration.

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, SkunkedAgain said:

This thread has given me a renewed desire to toss a minnow trap in my beaver swamp. May they be plump and plentiful. Thanks for the inspiration.

While your at it throw in a Gunny sack with a rock and piece of old meat in it or coffee can with pen size holes and catch a few leeches for fishing as well.

[SkunkedAgain]

Or I could stand knee deep in the muck while I pull out the minnow trap, and just pick the leeches off my legs!

[MN BassFisher]

14 hours ago, SkunkedAgain said:

This thread has given me a renewed desire to toss a minnow trap in my beaver swamp. May they be plump and plentiful. Thanks for the inspiration.

I was thinking the same thing. I was opening up my cabin in Western Wisconsin last weekend and cleaned out the bunkhouse. I noticed my minnow trap which I haven't used in 4 years. I was unsuccessful at my previous attempts. When I'm up there for the week I thought it would be fun to be resourceful but realized I don't know where to target them. I soaked some traps on the East End of Vermilion last summer and was amazed at how quickly they were loaded up with Rustys. We had our first boil - lots of work but fun nonetheless!

 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I threw out a minnow trap in a small creek a couple of days ago and caught around 6 dozen very nice creek chubs!

Will be great bait for the opener!

Cliff

[SkunkedAgain]

Nice haul Cliff.

I walked back into the woods on Friday morning and tossed out a trap in the big beaver pond with a slice of bread and a rock for weight. On Saturday morning I moved it to a new spot. On Sunday morning I pulled it again with still no minnows but two snails. It was shallow though. I might try tossing it in the deeper end by the dam.

I may not have caught minnows but I did walk out each time with a bunch of wood ticks. Unfortunately, they all experienced similar deaths by flame.

Edited May 9, 2016 by SkunkedAgain

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Skunked,

I have also found a lot of ticks this spring!

Cliff

[DuluthGuy]

Skunked - try deeper pool - also, sometimes shaded areas hold more minnows.

Remember  - opening on down stream side.

[delcecchi]

For what it is worth, treating clothes that you wear in the woods with permethrin is said to be effective against ticks.  Permethrin is cheap in the farm department at FFor online. 

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the extra tips

[OhioVike]

The best beaver dam for minnows we have access to was blown up last fall. Much less water and more concentrated minnows. Using dog food the trap was packed full in 3 hours.  I wasn't expecting that.  Now just to keep them alive for 4 days.