Thread: Minnows - Catch your own?

Originally Posted by kellerqx

Does anyone catch there own minnows? We use to growing up, but I haven't in decades.
I read somewhere it was best to use bait from the water source your fishing, not sure that it makes a big difference for crappie.
Of course some additional planning/equipment required, I remember the effort was low and yield was high.

Anyways….what do you do? Buy or catch?

I've seen people catch there own shad on the lake and do well. If your talking about catching minnows from your neighborhood creek just make sure you don't dump any live ones out in the river. But I think the crappie will eat them. I'm not sure how well they'll transport and live with the weather warming

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I usually buy them, but I do keep a net in the boat. If I see signs of bait, I'll toss the net, and I much prefer using the bait I net. I have no real data on whether crappie prefer local minnows or store bought. They bite 'em both pretty good.

Mighty why not dump live ones in river?

It is against state law to dump live minnows in a body of water. Most folks don't know this but you can find it in the Alabama fishing regulations. They don't want any non native species introduced into our waters. I am not trying to be a smart *** just letting folks know what the regulations say.

Roger is 100% correct, not only that if you move fish from on body of water to a another you're braking a law

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Did not know that.


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Good thing the good ole boys back in early 80's that were making the run from Huntsville to Weiss when it was at its peak for crappie didn't either know about that rule or not care, or maybe it wasn't a rule back then, decided to start dropping off some of the black crappie they kept from Weiss into the Big G because they hated the long trip from Huntsville and back and hoped in a few years they would populate the Big G !!other wise it would be pretty much dead since the old white crappie disappeared thru the 70,s for one reason or another, With them gone the Weiss black crappie have more than thrived for sure!!! As to minnows if you could catch enough of the Glass minnows that get around your lights at night that are under the bridges you wouldn't need any other kind of minnow or jig. Crappie will fight over them. They seem to be more around in the fall and thru the winter and I only see them at night usually right next to the bank. They are real long and thin not any kind of shad . They few I have caught using a small dip net have been worth it but look out for stripe and green trout as they think they are candy too