What to do?

I am in a pickle here and I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions. Out here in the area of California I am in finding minnows is like trying to fine a glass of ice water down in well you get the point. I know for a fact if I could get hold of some I would knock the crappie dead. Thought about going to a pet store and getting some guppies or whatever. But at the same time I don't want to introduce something that isn't normally found in water system here. What should I do? Should I just stick to using wax worms and jigs or what? Any help would be appreciated.

Could you get a minnow trap and bait it with a piece of bread and set it for and hour or so in a local creek or lake. This usually works for me and your using local forage that the crappie are used to.

Check your local laws. In louisiana you can use a cast net to catch baitfish. Works great for us. 2 or 3 casts and we usually have enough minnows for a few hours of fishing.

Most of the creeks are so small that they don't hold anything, and in this lovely (not) state you cannot use a cast net.

I would try the minnow trap with 1/2 a slice of bread in it. Set minnow trap fish with jigs for about an hour -- check trap and start fishing with minnows. Are there no bait shops out there in cali? Not trying to be a smart *$$, I have never been there and don't know. Good luck

There are bait shops here but the don't carry minnows. Usually just nightcrawlers, meal worms, and crawfish.

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Originally Posted by crappiencali

I am in a pickle here and I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions. Out here in the area of California I am in finding minnows is like trying to fine a glass of ice water down in well you get the point. I know for a fact if I could get hold of some I would knock the crappie dead. Thought about going to a pet store and getting some guppies or whatever. But at the same time I don't want to introduce something that isn't normally found in water system here. What should I do? Should I just stick to using wax worms and jigs or what? Any help would be appreciated.

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Better check the California regulations close. Some areas real specific on using live bait.

Dave
Where in CAli are you located. The regs can change from lake to lake in Cali. One of the lake I fish Is Lopez, and the valley folks bring there own bait (minnows) with them. I don't know if it legal, will have to research it.

i fish with whatever it takes to catch'em(legally). ain't never been to cali. is the water super clear? if not you can catch them on jigs! if it is super clear you can catch'em on really small jigs. but we still have them "should'a brought minnows" days everywhere.

The baitshop in Petaluma carries minnows. Several shops around Clearlake carry minnows.

Once you find a source, you should probably consider buying in bulk, get yourself a tank and aeroator, they are hardy and will last forever if you keep the water clean and feed them.

Dave
I went out to Lopez this morning, Still small on the size and Deep. Any way I talked to the ranger and the manager if the Village Store at the marina. You, we can use minnows at Lopez :)

But where in the world can we buy them slipper little guys. Is there a place near the lake in town?

Forget the minnows. Use crappie jigs or roadrunners. Learn to use jigs properly and you can outfish live minnows almost all the time.

I normally use jigs but there are those days that they want live bait. But the way things are looking I'll be living back in Missouri before I get to get some minnows. LOL

At arkabutla lake in mississippi they sale goldfish/guppy for bait and works well during spawn

I have the black cone shape trap. Was wondering how can or if you can catch them tying the trap to your boat while you were fishing? Note this has not been useful to date doing this and we have 0 minnows.

I’ve always gone to the local pet shop and bought crickets they seem to love them


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Gulp minnows sure are life-like.

Anderson minnow farm ships minnows

rosie reds at the petsmart if you have to have a minnow , but to be sure I am pretty sure a jig will work as well .....
does for me , just saying

Kccrappies is getting yall this is from 06. Nice first post

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Originally Posted by 220cst

Kccrappies is getting yall this is from 06. Nice first post

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Yeah, that happens on occasion. It's likely from a Google Search that leads them to the discussion thread posted on this site, and they join. Perhaps they're not familiar with how to post their question or comment, so they simply stay on the thread that brought them here and tag their comments onto that thread.

I've seen it happen before, even though the site has gone thru several "changes" and "updates" since inception. Even my post count is incorrect, because some of the recent updates did not account for my posts from prior years. No biggie to me. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of posts that were also left behind. Many can be seen if you happen to search for the right tag word and check for links to this site on the search page. Not sure about posts prior to 2004, but I've been on here since 2000, so I know they're out there somewhere.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Yeah, that happens on occasion. It's likely from a Google Search that leads them to the discussion thread posted on this site, and they join. Perhaps they're not familiar with how to post their question or comment, so they simply stay on the thread that brought them here and tag their comments onto that thread.

I've seen it happen before, even though the site has gone thru several "changes" and "updates" since inception. Even my post count is incorrect, because some of the recent updates did not account for my posts from prior years. No biggie to me. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of posts that were also left behind. Many can be seen if you happen to search for the right tag word and check for links to this site on the search page. Not sure about posts prior to 2004, but I've been on here since 2000, so I know they're out there somewhere.

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Thanks for the reply yall really have a great site.

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