minnow trap thieves

[jim curlee]

Put out three minnow traps yesterday on a couple of cricks near us, we live south of Cook.

Went back to check them this morning, and some lowlife scumbag had stolen one.

WTF is wrong with people, it was a homemade minnow trap, not worth a thing.

Unbelievable!

 

Jim

[SkunkedAgain]

That sucks.

I'm not justifying it, but all that I can think of is that someone thought you put the trap on their land or "their section" of the creek.

[JBMasterAngler]

Any chance it could have been moved by an animal?

[SkunkedAgain]

Otters are crafty animals

[mbeyer]

Speaking (writing) of minnows,,,,,wondering if virus will affect supply of live bait going into opener and beyond??

[jim curlee]

No animal. I had the nylon rope tied to a hole in the bottom of a 6' culvert.

I pushed the rope inside the culvert, and covered the rope with rocks.

The only animal that got away with it was a two legged one, the tracks on the road told the story.

I don't collect all of my own bait, but have been doin it since I was a kid, and I enjoy settin out a few minnow traps.

I'll be pullin-em out today, no sense waistin my time if I'm just going to get ripped off.

Sorry guy's just needed to vent.

Jim

[FishinCT]

1 hour ago, mbeyer said:

Speaking (writing) of minnows,,,,,wondering if virus will affect supply of live bait going into opener and beyond??

FWIW the bait supply here in SD has been plentiful. The walleyes on the other hand...

[tinker]

That is a shame . Seems like people have no respect for the other guy any more . I enjoy trapping minnows and so far haven't had any problems . Good luck.

[jim curlee]

One more observation.

I noticed that "skunked again" mentioned that maybe I was on somebodies land.

 

In Minnesota all the waters are owned by the citizens of Minnesota, if I can gain access to a body of water off of a public road, I don't need anybodies permission to use that body of water. In fact once I gain access, I could go anywhere on that body of water, as long as I don't step on bare ground.

Which brings up another point, "we" own the land to the high water mark, not just to the edge of the water. Used to be the DNR said you had to be able to float a 10" diameter log down a stream for it to be public. They never said how thick/long the log had to be. LOL

 

Out west it's different there the landowners, own the land under the water, so in order to fish most guy's use a drift boat and never step out of it.

Here we don't own the land under the water even though we pay the taxes on it.

 

My rope was attached to the culvert, so that makes me legal, and makes the other person a thief.

Yes I have tags on my traps, been a fur trapper for better than 50 years, so I do know my rights.

If you don't believe me call a game warden.

 

Jim

[SkunkedAgain]

I agree wholeheartly jim. I was more pointing out that some people extend their "ownership" out into the waters. We see that with people and their lakeshores, but it's not legal or right.