hey guys, what's up? this spring me and the AnglinAngel spent over $100.00 on frozen minnows fishin for those toothy critters at utah lake. i would prefer not to have to do this again next year, so i went out and picked up one of those minnow traps at sportsmans. we headed up to the berry a few days ago to check it out. i located tons of minnows swimming under the boat docks at the main marina and thought i had hit the mother load. i baited my trap with tightly packed oatmeal balls and bread balls. lowered the trap down and let it sit for about 20 minnutes before i had to check it. what do you know, 2 minnows. i dropped it back down and let it sit for about 45 minnutes. pulled it up to see about 12 minnows. getting better. i dropped it back down a third time and let it sit for 2 hrs. when i aproached the trap to retrieve it, i could see tons of minnows around the trap. pulling this up was to be the "finalle" of the trip and guess how many were in there this time? ZERO!! not one. what a dissapointment. we came home with just over a dozen minnows that all in all cost us about $30. does anyone have any minnow trapping tips? (baits, locations, tactics) i live in salt lake and would love to find a closer place to find and trap minnows.
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[#505000]Here here to the casting net!! [cool] I wouldn't waste the money on traps. They sell a 3' casting net at Sportsmans for $13 and a 5' for $30. [/#505000]
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[#505000]On my last trip to Scofield I got to try both versions and you're better off going for the smaller cheaper one. Once you've tossed them a few times they are a piece of cake to operate, and you can clean house with them. Rvanman2000 and I played with them while trout fishing and split 134 minnows between us for using at Utah Lake. [/#505000]
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[#505000]It's not uncommon to get dozens of minnows in a single cast. I think I did the math and on my one trip to Scofield we caught $60 worth of minnows if we had bought them frozen. So really the net paid for itself. [/#505000]
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[#505000]The big difference between the 3' and 5' versions are the price. The 3' is plenty big to bag numerous minnows, it's easier toss, and if you get hung up on a rock you're only out $13 versus $30. [/#505000]
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Anyone know anywhere close to the front to catch these minnows? I don't make it to Strawberry or Schofield often.
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[cool]No, but aquaman has a secret spot (kinda close to the wasatch) that he gets tons of suckers from. If you send him a pm before he heads to Alaska, he'll probably let ya know where it is.
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I bought a nice cast net last time I was at the beach. I haven't used it since. Every time I thought to use it out here I thought it might be illegal or something. I just never thought to ask. What are the regulations? What types of minnows are allowed? What if you accidently catch a fish (I'm pretty sure that's illegal)? At what size do minnows start being considered fish? I believe my net is 6 feet wide and I can throw it effectively about 25 feet.
Don't give up on the minnow traps. I use both cast nets and minnow traps quite alot, and I still prefere my minnow traps.
I'll give you my exact bait compound for redsided shinners.
One hot dog bun quartered up. For each quarter of bread two trout marshmellows and some watery power bait. Put two or three of these balls into the trap with two pieces of white bread, also balled up. Throw the trap 15-20 feet off shore. If the minnows are there, they will get into it.
I did that yesterday with three traps at scofield and came away with nearly 300 minnows. One pull I came away with 75 of the little buggers. I'm set for the entire summer now, and I didn't even have to get all wet with a cast net.
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[cool]Hey Mc Lennon, how was the fishing yesterday at Scofield? Any big ones this time at your secret spot?
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It sucked worse than I could ever imagine. Check my post.
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i was up at E-lake yesterday with my traps i got 2 of them right now and i am get 2 more soon.. with my 2 traps i got over 1/4 of a 5 gal bucket.. about 27 bags of minnows.. in 2 hrs of fishing.. oh yeah me and my boys cought about 30 cutt's there as well.. and i gave a big bag of minnow to some guy's that was fish next to us..
point is the traps will work good in some places and not so good in others..
if you have time and leve the trap in longer the more minnow you can get some times.. you have to wach the traps.. if you see alot of them around your trap but not in them then your bait is braking up and floting out of the trap..
try this take a hotdog bun squirt some powerbait sent in the bun wad the bun up into as tight as you can in a ball.. put it in the trap and put the trap out.. make sure the trap is on the bottom of the lake.. dont just hang it over the side of the boat or dock..
in the summer i take mine down to the river here and put it in over night and get alot that way as well.. the great thing with the traps is you can put them in and go do other things rather than try and fish little fish out of a net and the traps dont take all the scales off the minnows like the nets can..
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I still have memories of diving into brakish water filled with jellyfish to get my castnet unhooked.... I'm just glad we don't have jellyfish in Utah. I shouldn't speak too soon though, maybe the bucket biologists will try to plant some in the Great Salt Lake.
Hey TD,
They done snuck up on you. In this years proclamation they have listed as limits for these nets.
Seines: 10 ft max lenght or width.
Cast nets: 10 ft diameter or 5 foot radius.
I have a 20 foot seine that I have to cut in two before I can use it - then I'll have two 10 footers. I also have a 4 foot cast net - that apparently is not in need of remodeling yet.
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My old favorite was always saltine crackers and a slice of bread (the heel in particular). Living in AZ we got to use live shiners for bait, I had a couple secret spots where I'd trap dozens per trip.
Also, try cutting the foot off an old pair of ladies nylons. Fill with bait, tie off. Using fishing line, suspend it directly in the middle of the trap. This prevents the critters from eating all the bait from the sides of the trap. Place a couple crackers loosly in the trap to get the feeding started, though.
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Hey TD, what do you know about the "umbrella" nets that you lift up from the bottom? I've been trying to catch some live shad down here but they always seem to be too deep for the cast net. I have a long dip net, but those buggers are way too fast or me to be able catch them....at least when they are deep...too much drag on the net to be able to move it quickly.
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