Catch Your Own Bait Minnows
Haven't tried one of these before? Heard they work well.
But if you can't find any of these let me give you a few pointers on catching your own. In these lean times they might just give you another day of fishing.
Catching Minnows:
Lazy people buy a minnow trap or seine at Wally World. Here's how to do it yourself. For the truly lazy angler just get you a gallon glass jar(like pickles come in) and put a hot dog cut in quarters inside. Submerge it in the nearest pond or creek. Come back in an hour,pick it up quickly and remove minnows. Repeat often.
1. Don't have the time or patience? Well then make a trap yourself. Get a piece of screen a couple of foot square. You can buy this(often called screen fabric) or get your own from a handy back window. This method can be fun! It also has the advantage of not needing a frame to use it to seine with. Just don't let Mom or the wife catch ya. Blame it on the neighbor's kids. To make your trap roll the screen into a cone with one end open wide and the other end shut. Use some old mono to sew the sides together from the sharp pointed cone's end to it's wide mouth. Now you should have a cone that look's like a dunce's hat. Don't know what that is? Lucky you! Now get some heavier line and make a handle by tying it across the open end to BOTH sides. Works better that way. Tie a couple of old spark plugs, big sinkers or whathaveyou to the cone end to weight it down. Now get a little rope and tie it to your handle. Now throw it out, let it sink to the bottom, and drag it in. Repeat as often as needed. You can also drag this slowly behind a boat.
2. Another trap can be made easily with a couple of 2 liter soda bottles.Use two plastic bottles and label them number 1 and 2. Leave the cap on bottle number 1 and cut off the bottom portion of the bottle about three fourths of the way down. Now cut off bottle number 2 about one forth of the way down the bottle and take the cap off of this one. Discard the bottom portions of both bottles.
Next, you need to put bottle number 2 (the short one) inside of bottle number 1 with the tops pointing in the same direction. Then you need to secure the bottoms together where you cut off the bottom portions.
You can punch holes around the edges of the bottles where they are cut off and use string to run through these holes to tie them together. Or you can hot glue them together. (superglue don't work well).They need to be secure so pull the string tight before tying off. You will need to leave two pieces of string on each side of the bottle long enough to use for tossing out the trap and pulling it back in again. Here's a picture of the finished product below.
But if you can't find any of these let me give you a few pointers on catching your own. In these lean times they might just give you another day of fishing.
Catching Minnows:
Lazy people buy a minnow trap or seine at Wally World. Here's how to do it yourself. For the truly lazy angler just get you a gallon glass jar(like pickles come in) and put a hot dog cut in quarters inside. Submerge it in the nearest pond or creek. Come back in an hour,pick it up quickly and remove minnows. Repeat often.
1. Don't have the time or patience? Well then make a trap yourself. Get a piece of screen a couple of foot square. You can buy this(often called screen fabric) or get your own from a handy back window. This method can be fun! It also has the advantage of not needing a frame to use it to seine with. Just don't let Mom or the wife catch ya. Blame it on the neighbor's kids. To make your trap roll the screen into a cone with one end open wide and the other end shut. Use some old mono to sew the sides together from the sharp pointed cone's end to it's wide mouth. Now you should have a cone that look's like a dunce's hat. Don't know what that is? Lucky you! Now get some heavier line and make a handle by tying it across the open end to BOTH sides. Works better that way. Tie a couple of old spark plugs, big sinkers or whathaveyou to the cone end to weight it down. Now get a little rope and tie it to your handle. Now throw it out, let it sink to the bottom, and drag it in. Repeat as often as needed. You can also drag this slowly behind a boat.
2. Another trap can be made easily with a couple of 2 liter soda bottles.Use two plastic bottles and label them number 1 and 2. Leave the cap on bottle number 1 and cut off the bottom portion of the bottle about three fourths of the way down. Now cut off bottle number 2 about one forth of the way down the bottle and take the cap off of this one. Discard the bottom portions of both bottles.
Next, you need to put bottle number 2 (the short one) inside of bottle number 1 with the tops pointing in the same direction. Then you need to secure the bottoms together where you cut off the bottom portions.
You can punch holes around the edges of the bottles where they are cut off and use string to run through these holes to tie them together. Or you can hot glue them together. (superglue don't work well).They need to be secure so pull the string tight before tying off. You will need to leave two pieces of string on each side of the bottle long enough to use for tossing out the trap and pulling it back in again. Here's a picture of the finished product below.
Keeping Minnows Alive:
You've caught your minnows and they're dying. What do you do? Well you can try CPR. Take your little finger and place on chest between the fins..do three light pumps..open mouth and blow lightly taking care to not over inflate..try for at least three times. If no response then consider him DOA and go on to next one. Just kidding. But here are a few tips for you to try and consider.
1. Have a place to store them. An old aquarium works best but you can do quite well with an ice chest sized for the amount of minnows you want to keep.
2. Minnows need oxygenated water! This means aeration is required somehow. If you are using a cooler I have 2 suggestions. The easiest is to buy a cheap aquarium aerator at Wally World and plunk it in the bottom. A better one is to use a 12V bilge pump. Cut the plug off of an old power supply for a cordless phone or the neighbor kids RC car or toy. Just make sure it says 12V with at least 650ma or higher output. Use this to power your bilge pump or use a spare battery if you got one handy. Take a piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe sized to fit almost the length of your cooler. Cap one end. Drill holes about a half inch apart down the length of the pipe. Now use a piece of garden hose(the neighbor's if possible) and a couple of hose clamps to connect the pump and the pipe together. Fasten the pipe to one side of your cooler at the top with the holes pointing toward the bottom of the cooler. I used plastic pipe hangers to mount mine. Now place the bilge pump on the bottom and fill with water. Turn on your pump. If you've done everything right the water should start spraying into the cooler from the pipe. NOTE!! Minnows need good water. Either use the water from a pond or stream or treat your water with a preparing solution you can get from any place that sells aquarium supplies. Failing this let your aerator run at least 24 hours before putting any fish in. This will stabilize the water and allow the chlorine to dissipate out.
3. You need to keep the minnows cool! This means storing your cooler in a cool,dark place like the garage, basement or storage shed out of direct sunlight. Keep your cooler covered with something that will pass air such as a window screen or sheet. This will also keep cats, birds and whathaveyou from helping themselves to the buffet. I usually drop in a few(!) ice cubes every day when it's hot. Seems to work well. The best water tempaturature range seems to be 72-75 degrees. You can get fancy and buy a thermometer but it's really not needed. This is bait, remember.
4. FEED YOUR FISH! The object is to keep them alive so you don't gotta go get more. I've found that oatmeal works well as does toast crumbs.(brown not black) I also dipped out a couple of handfuls of water weeds from the lake and dropped this in as well. Not much. Just a little bit. Provides cover and food as well as helps keep the water conditioned.
5. Last but not least, keep an eye on your minnows and their water. If they start dying or the water gets cloudy, change it! Following these few rules will keep your minnows alive indefinitely. Get your cooler right and you can even get them to start multiplying and providing you with even more bait! And they breed quickly BTW. The vegetation helps greatly to give the young fry cover to survive and grow. Have fun!
You've caught your minnows and they're dying. What do you do? Well you can try CPR. Take your little finger and place on chest between the fins..do three light pumps..open mouth and blow lightly taking care to not over inflate..try for at least three times. If no response then consider him DOA and go on to next one. Just kidding. But here are a few tips for you to try and consider.
1. Have a place to store them. An old aquarium works best but you can do quite well with an ice chest sized for the amount of minnows you want to keep.
2. Minnows need oxygenated water! This means aeration is required somehow. If you are using a cooler I have 2 suggestions. The easiest is to buy a cheap aquarium aerator at Wally World and plunk it in the bottom. A better one is to use a 12V bilge pump. Cut the plug off of an old power supply for a cordless phone or the neighbor kids RC car or toy. Just make sure it says 12V with at least 650ma or higher output. Use this to power your bilge pump or use a spare battery if you got one handy. Take a piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe sized to fit almost the length of your cooler. Cap one end. Drill holes about a half inch apart down the length of the pipe. Now use a piece of garden hose(the neighbor's if possible) and a couple of hose clamps to connect the pump and the pipe together. Fasten the pipe to one side of your cooler at the top with the holes pointing toward the bottom of the cooler. I used plastic pipe hangers to mount mine. Now place the bilge pump on the bottom and fill with water. Turn on your pump. If you've done everything right the water should start spraying into the cooler from the pipe. NOTE!! Minnows need good water. Either use the water from a pond or stream or treat your water with a preparing solution you can get from any place that sells aquarium supplies. Failing this let your aerator run at least 24 hours before putting any fish in. This will stabilize the water and allow the chlorine to dissipate out.
3. You need to keep the minnows cool! This means storing your cooler in a cool,dark place like the garage, basement or storage shed out of direct sunlight. Keep your cooler covered with something that will pass air such as a window screen or sheet. This will also keep cats, birds and whathaveyou from helping themselves to the buffet. I usually drop in a few(!) ice cubes every day when it's hot. Seems to work well. The best water tempaturature range seems to be 72-75 degrees. You can get fancy and buy a thermometer but it's really not needed. This is bait, remember.
4. FEED YOUR FISH! The object is to keep them alive so you don't gotta go get more. I've found that oatmeal works well as does toast crumbs.(brown not black) I also dipped out a couple of handfuls of water weeds from the lake and dropped this in as well. Not much. Just a little bit. Provides cover and food as well as helps keep the water conditioned.
5. Last but not least, keep an eye on your minnows and their water. If they start dying or the water gets cloudy, change it! Following these few rules will keep your minnows alive indefinitely. Get your cooler right and you can even get them to start multiplying and providing you with even more bait! And they breed quickly BTW. The vegetation helps greatly to give the young fry cover to survive and grow. Have fun!