Fishing Forum

What variety of minnows are you guys using for your catfishing duties, are they of the frozen variety or other ?? are you catching them yourself or are you purchasing them from your local bait emporium ??

[cool][#0000ff]I use chub minnows exclusively. I have tried a lot of ways (salt, etc.) to make shiners durable after freezing, but gave up. My personal opinion is that most Utah fish like chubs better anyway. As members of the cyprinidae family (carp & minnows) they give off a universally attractive scent. About the only time I use shiners is when I can catch them and use them fresh (dead). Then, they hold up well.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I catch my own chubs, with a combination of minnow traps and 1/4" mesh cast net. Most trips I can bag over 500 chubs in an hour or so. I separate them by sizes and then freeze them in a little water in bags of a "long dozen"...13 - 15 per bag. More for smaller ones. By freezing them in just enough water to cover them, there is no drying or freezer burn. They are close to fresh dead even after a year or more in my freezer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Terrible on pizza though. But, so are anchovies.[/#0000ff]
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Are the locations of where you catch them secret or for public consumption ???

[cool][#0000ff]There are several brackish springfed ponds out in the west desert that hold different species of fish. Some of them have nothing but chubs. But they are not inexhaustible. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I knew about these spots since "ancient times", but really only started harvesting from them after returning to Utah in 2004. One of my favorite spots has been trashed over the past three years. In the attached picture you can see thousands of chubs. It used to be like that all over that pond. There was plenty of vegetation and lots of invertebrate life to sustain a large population of chubs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Each time I have gone out since, it has gone downhill. I am still able to get all the chubs I need, but I have to work harder. Somebody dumped in some carp, and they have cleaned out the vegetation. It is a barren bottom now. And there are only scattered groups of chubs...not the immense schools there once were.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In times past, I saw no evidence that anybody else was using the pond for anything. Now, on weekends or evenings, there can be several other vehicles...either swimming, shooting up the place or catching chubs. They leave trash and fishing line all over the place.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]How did this happen? Somebody I told about the pond told someone else who told ten more people...and then someone posted complete instructions on how to find it on a public website. When I went out a week later, there were several people with minnow traps soaking...and tearing up the vegetation every time they pulled in.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have known you longer than I have known about the best sources for bait. I value our friendship and I would trust you with almost anything...almost. I would be happy to accompany you to a minnow hole and I would even throw the cast net to help gather some bait. PM me and we can work something out.[/#0000ff]
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Well one of these days when you are going to make a chub run, give me a call. I have tried at Strawberry/Soldier Creek, but they are to spread out up there.

[cool][#0000ff]Scofield still had a bunch, as of last year. Not sure what the current low water situation will do to the minnow horde.[/#0000ff]
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