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Thought that I would stock up on some shinner minnows today, so off to Scofield to lay in dozens and dozens. RIGHT !! Only 18 of the little critters. My minnow catching skills were definatly lacking today. Nothing in the traps and onseys and twoseys in the cast net. So all of you minnow catchers, give me some help. One problem that I already identified was that my the mesh on my bait bags was two small so it did not milk very good. I need a bigger mesh, but I also think I need a different bait. I was using dry cat food. What do you all suggest !!!! The schools of shiners were all over, so it was not the lack of potential victims.
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[cool][#0000ff]Cat food repels shiners. You need to get the cheapest dry dog food and put a few pellets of that in with some broken up bits of bread. Save the leftover hot dog rolls or bread crusts you would normally toss. Keep them in the freezer until you are ready to go minnowin'.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Bait bags? Who uses bait bags? That's a salt water or crawdad catchin' thang. Just pour in a half cup of dog nuggets and a slice of broken up bread. The little particles escape into the water and draw in the minnows.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Last time I was there, I filled two fish traps so full I could not use all the minnows. But, I only use shiners when they are fresh. They do not freeze well. No matter how much salt you use on them, they still turn to mush after being frozen.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I use chubs almost exclusively. I freeze them in just enough water to eliminate bubbles and freezer burn. I have recently taken some out of the freezer and used them...two years old...and they were as good as fresh dead. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You need to meet me up here and let me take you to a chub hole. Two hours with two traps and a 1/4" mesh cast net will usually produce 800 to 1000 minnows...from 2" to 8". Split gas and minnows. Less than an hour from Salt Lake.[/#0000ff]
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TubeDude, I just found a place like that here in San Antonio TX for shad. I mean I throw my cast net once and I can fill 1-2 gallon ziplock bags with no room for water.
do you have any tips for freezing shad as well? I caught a bag full on friday 13th, froze them with no salt or water and reused them this past saturday. The did get pretty mushy once fully thawed, but I still caught a 5lbs cat on it anyways.
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[cool][#0000ff]Shad are an oily fleshed fish that don't freeze well. Well, they freeze okay, but tend to soften up a bit when thawed.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have tried salting, but it does not help all that much and I think the fish prefer as natural as possible. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I freeze most of my bait fish in dozen bags...12 to 15 per pag. I use the one quart size baggies. They are tough and you can easily get a good quantity of bait, plus a bit of water, and have plenty of bag left over for a good tie. I arrange the shad or minnows so they all lay as flat as possible in the bottom of the bag. Then, I trickle in a bit of cold water and squeeze out all the excess water and bubbles. Do not freeze a bunch of water in the bag and do not allow air to remain...to prevent freezer burn. Twist the bag closed at the bottom (next to the bait and water) and then fold the twist over and use a twist tie to secure it. Lay it flat in a cardboard container and freeze your packages in a good freezer so they freeze quickly.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When you are ready to use them, Partially thaw one bag at room temperature and then put it on ice. Put a couple more bags of frozen shad on the ice too. They will begin to thaw. If you hook partially thawed shad on your hook, they will cast well without flying off the hook and they will finish thawing quickly in the warm water. By the time you have used up the first package, the others will be soft enough to use without being too soft.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you want to harden them up a bit, cover them with sea salt or pickling salt overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning there will be a lot of liquid that the salt has leached out of the shad. Now you can vacuum seal or freeze them as outlined before. Sometimes the salty flavor helps their appeal and salting does toughen them a bit.[/#0000ff]
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To keep my bait partially frozen and usable, I use a couple of bags of ice & salt. in the cooler. My bait cooler is small enough that a quart ziplock half - 2/3rds full of crushed ice with a couple of tablespoons of rock salt , on the bottom. a couple of folded paper towels on top, the bagged frozen minnows, then another bag of ice & salt on top. They will stay cold enough not to completly thaw, but still be usable.
