What bait for a minnow trap?

[harryhh]

Got my minnow traps last night and put them in the water today. I used white bread as bait as I had read but, I didn't like how the bread stayed floating at the top of the trap. Seemed to me the fish would just go to the top of the trap and nibble at the bread instead of going inside to get it.

Shouldn't I be using a bait that stays at the bottom of the trap? What should I use?

Harry
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Buy a bag of cheap dry dog food and put a half cup of that in your minnow traps...maybe along with a smaller amount of bread. The dog food has scents that attract more minnows of different species.

Also, if you got a shiny metallic basket, try spray painting it a dark green. That works better. Fish think it is a ball of weeds.
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[harryhh]

Thanks [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/community/community.cgi?do=user_page;pg=user_profile_view.html;username=TubeDude"]TubeDude[/url],

TubeN2 also mentioned Bologna or pieces of chicken and such. Those things mixed in with the popular bread bait sound good. Somewhere I also read about putting onion in the trap.

Apparently, others aren't as concerned about the bread floating to the top of the trap as I am.

I think I will try dog biscuits without bread first. The biscuits might sink. I'm guessing that most dog food floats.

Any other suggestions for minnow trap bait, or opinions about the bait floating?

I purchased a Frabill trap that is coated in black. I also purchased a Gee trap that is bare metal. The Frabill entrance hole is finished with a black metal circle. The Gee trap hole is ragged edged bare sharp wires.

I've only used these traps once and this is not a good test but, the Gee bare metal trap had 5 little bluegill in it. The black Frabill with the finished black hole had nothing. It might have been too far down in the thick weeds though.

That does not mean that painting the trap green is not a good idea. If the fish were scared away from the Frabill trap, I think it would be that 'very obvious' black entrance hole for them to swim through.

On the internet I had seen someone using a Frabill trap. Later he was comparing the Frabill to the bare metal Gee trap. He claims to catch about 3 times as many minnows in the Gee trap.

When I received my 2 traps I was disappointed in the Gee trap. The Gee trap is made in the U.S. while the Frabill is made in China. The Frabrill is much lower priced but better made. Glad to see that the Gee trap apparently catches more minnows though.

TubeDude, I do think painting the shinny Gee trap green is a good idea. I think the reason the black Frabill didn't catch any minnows is that obvious black hole for them to swim through.

Thanks,
Harry
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]TubeN2 is my son. Most of what he says has merit. Most.

The cheap little nuggets of dry dog food really do work well. And I use wheat bread at home and save the leftover pieces in the freezer until I go minnowing. After thawing and crumbing the wheat bread works pretty well. Never had as much luck with plain white bread...except when I smoosh it up into little dough balls.

Garlic and onion can be good scents to apply to some lures. But I have never heard of anyone using them in minnow traps. But there are a lot of things I haven't heard so might be worth a try.

I think you are overthinking the color of the traps and the opening things. I know a lot of minnow catchers and they all have their own opinions about what colors work best, etc. But where you place the traps and which direction they are pointing is more important. It helps to align them in the direction the fish move as they go up and down the shoreline. And I doubt they reason out the perfectly round hole thing. If they want to go get the goodies inside they just want to find a way in. Oh yeah, it also seems to help if you have the traps settled fairly level on the bottom...not tilted a lot.
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[tubeN2]

The carnal offerings I mentioned were intended more for the Crawdads or Mudbugs.

As TubeDude, my Dad mentioned, bread is the better attention getter for the minnows. I too like the wheat bread as it holds up better without turning into a milky cloud in the water.

Wheat bread is the charmer. They do sell small bait baskets which can tie into the bottom of your basket or you can take a creative approach and make your own nylon mesh bread ball holders or even borrow some panty hose from a female friend.

You only need to make golf ball size bait bags and tie them to the trap with a zip tie or equivalent.

I make meaty bait bags in the big Salty for catching Crab and Lobster.

I also use some of the fish products that I catch, like Anchovy, Sardine or Mackeral to make bait bags for catching Catfish.

You will find a bait that will work better for you in different waters.[cool]
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[harryhh]

Thanks TubeDude,

I think I realize something I did wrong with the bread. I didn't smash it into balls. I just tore some apart and put it in the cage. I'm surprised the whole cage didn't float.

I've made a list of the suggestions for bait to put in the trap.

I have some old flour, old powdered cheese, old powered egg yolk. I could make some hard dough balls out of this to try for bait.
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[harryhh]

Thank you for all the information TubeN2.

Looks like wheat bread, and your dad likes dog food, are the main baits. I can experiment with that old flour, cheese and powdered egg yolk than I want to get rid of.

I have some nylon mesh potato bags from the grocery store that I can use to make a bait bag.

I could tie that to the 'bottom' of the cage and attach a cork float to the opposite side of the barrel to make a 'top' of the cage.

Thanks,
Harry
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