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tested my minnow trap


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#1 Guest_FirstChAoS_*

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 12:51 AM

I tested my minnow trap the other day, placed it at a brook (south branch i think) where i seen alot of minnows but could never catch them. I baited it with a mix of dried krill and catfood.

After work I checked it, I had a brown bullhead. I found it amusing catfood caught a catfish.

However I made a mistake I tried hard to avoid, I kept a fish that would outgrow a tank. The little (4 or 5 inch) bullhead is an inhabitant of a ten gallon I set up that I plan to move my agressive little dollar sunfish to. I know keeping it is a mistake, but i finally gave in to the urge to keep a fish that would outgrow my tanks.

#2 Guest_jdphish_*

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 08:10 AM

I tested my minnow trap the other day, placed it at a brook (south branch i think) where i seen alot of minnows but could never catch them. I baited it with a mix of dried krill and catfood.

After work I checked it, I had a brown bullhead. I found it amusing catfood caught a catfish.

However I made a mistake I tried hard to avoid, I kept a fish that would outgrow a tank. The little (4 or 5 inch) bullhead is an inhabitant of a ten gallon I set up that I plan to move my agressive little dollar sunfish to. I know keeping it is a mistake, but i finally gave in to the urge to keep a fish that would outgrow my tanks.


FC, I am totally opposite, everything I ever had outgrows the tank. The little channel cats are the worst. Neat little buggers when they are an inch or two and then before you know it, they are ready for the skillet.

#3 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 08:16 AM

Ah, but how good they are in the skillet.

#4 Guest_jdphish_*

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 08:33 AM

Ah, but how good they are in the skillet.


Yes indeed!

Hey,gzeiger, seems in my browsing I recall reading about you collecting some elvers. I would love to have some. I might be coming to SC soon. I will message you the details.

#5 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 01 August 2009 - 08:37 AM

Sure, let me know when you'll be down here. Eels are frequently elusive, but this summer has been good for catching them. I've caught a couple over the last few weeks in places I never knew they existed.

#6 Guest_FirstChAoS_*

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Posted 04 August 2009 - 11:24 PM

I tried my minnow trap with bread as bait today and got a white sucker. I doubt it'd do well in my tank (heard they are tough to feed in tanlks) but I will try it.

#7 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 05 August 2009 - 09:41 AM

I kept a small white sucker for a short bit. He did great for a couple weeks, then he died. I really enjoyed watching him, mild mannered and would bounce from rock to rock sucking for food. I hope he does great for you, and dont give up on your trap. I've had traps out for hours and catch a ton of fish and sometimes have them out for days and catch nothing.

#8 Guest_FirstChAoS_*

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Posted 05 August 2009 - 10:03 AM

I kept a small white sucker for a short bit. He did great for a couple weeks, then he died. I really enjoyed watching him, mild mannered and would bounce from rock to rock sucking for food. I hope he does great for you, and dont give up on your trap. I've had traps out for hours and catch a ton of fish and sometimes have them out for days and catch nothing.


So far this guy has been schooling with the shiners and not really bottom feeding. I hope he'd clean the little white organisms off the tank walls.

I have not given up on my trap but I will say the area I am trapping frustrates me to no end.

Their are alot of minnows their, especially around a fallen tree (though the numbers seemed to have dropped a bit since the water level is receding from the recent break in the rain). but it is a mud bottom so i cannot kick net, the depth drops off fast, the minnows are warry and use obstructions to avoid dip netting, casting a fishing line only gets me fallfish, and a minnow trap so far has only got a sucker and a bullhead.

I am hoping that theis is more to these minnows than a giant school of fallfish. I used to love fallfish as they grew large and were easy to get on hook and line, now they are starting to annoy me because they are way too common when i look for other minnows. I hope to find some common shiners.

#9 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 05 August 2009 - 10:21 AM

I would move your trap to follow the fish. Go further down stream and find the deepest pool that you can find. Minnows/shiners will usually gather in deep pools during the summer to escape the heat.

#10 Guest_Burbot_*

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Posted 05 August 2009 - 12:42 PM

i just tested out my new trap from walmart the other day for a night and a day. I had five carp and 3 crayfish, which were all dead. It was really weird, and wish I knew what caused that. I have had luck lately with a small sucker in my tank. I sink some fish flakes to the bottom and he eats them from there. Keep trying your trap in different areas, like what was said. You never know.

#11 Guest_smilingfrog_*

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Posted 06 August 2009 - 03:24 AM

i just tested out my new trap from walmart the other day for a night and a day. I had five carp and 3 crayfish, which were all dead. It was really weird, and wish I knew what caused that.


What kind of water did you set it in; stream, lake, small pond, ditch? I ask because I volunteer with an organization that does monitoring of wetlands during the summer. We set out bottle traps to catch invertebrates and many times will find that everything has died in them. What happens is that they are in a low oxygen environment to begin with, and when trapped the organisms cannot reach the surface where there is a little more oxygen. (We will often see tadpoles swimming at the surface gulping air.) In our case it probably doesn't help that they are confined in a trap that is essentially sealed except for the entrance, but if you were in a swampy area where the water isn't moving and there is a lot of decaying detritus, low O2 could be the culprit. Also, in heavily vegetated areas oxygen levels can drop during the night when plants are sucking it up instead of pumping it out.

#12 Guest_joshuapope2001_*

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Posted 06 August 2009 - 07:13 AM

I have had good luck with feeding suckers Danichi Koi Pellets....you may want to give that a try

#13 Guest_Burbot_*

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Posted 11 August 2009 - 10:25 PM

What kind of water did you set it in; stream, lake, small pond, ditch?

slow moving canal, I guess the 02 could have bee depleted, but there are lots of other fish still living in the same area...



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