Need Info On Using Minnow Traps In Boat Slips

I have used minnow traps in small streams and lake edges in the past with some success however I am having no luck using them in my boat slips this year.

I use a combination of stale bread and dry dog food as bait for the minnows. One of my slips has a green underwater light in it and is about 20' deep. I know there are minnows there as I can watch them swimming around in the green light at night.

I have tried suspending the traps at the bottom of the slip and at the top of the slip. So far I have not caught a single minnow in either trap.

The other slip is in around 12' of water. It has porcupine fish attractors in it and generally has crappie there. I have tried the two minnow traps at the top and bottom of the water there. Same results, have not caught a single minnow in either trap.

Any suggestions as what I am doing wrong or what I could do better?

It appears as if no one has any suggestions. Guess I will need to stop being lazy and run to a creek or shore line the day before I think I can get the grandsons to the boat slip. Or quit being stingy and pay the marina $3.00 a dozen the day the grandsons come out. :)

ezgoing, I am using minnows myself. I don't live on any body of water, but reading what you said about having a light in one of your boat slips to attract the minnows, have you thought of using a cast net to get minnows instead of the minnow trap. I don't know how much room you have to work with, but it would be an alternative to me.

I recently got a minnow trap but have yet to use it. Thanks for helping me know what to put in it to lure the minnows in. As far as your predicament, I honestly have no idea what would help.

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:welcomeWelcome back to the site. This is the type minnow trap I use. But I mostly use a 4 and 5 foot 1/4" mesh cast nets as they will catch minnows anytime you can see them.

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/live...8-minnow-trap/

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Originally Posted by Jamesdean

ezgoing, I am using minnows myself. I don't live on any body of water, but reading what you said about having a light in one of your boat slips to attract the minnows, have you thought of using a cast net to get minnows instead of the minnow trap. I don't know how much room you have to work with, but it would be an alternative to me.

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I would need to move my boat out to have room to cast. If I could still cast. I did it for years to catch shrimp and minnows for bait for my wife but I'm too old and decrepit to use a cast net now, even the smaller ones.

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Originally Posted by BAFishBarn

I recently got a minnow trap but have yet to use it. Thanks for helping me know what to put in it to lure the minnows in. As far as your predicament, I honestly have no idea what would help.

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If you check on youtube you will find a ton of videos about what to use as bait in a minnow trap. But I have found that stale bread and dry dog food is the easiest to use if you don't have a current to suck it out of the trap. If there is a current I put in in a zip lock bag and bunch holes into the bag. Makes the bait last longer.

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Originally Posted by ezgoing

I would need to move my boat out to have room to cast. If I could still cast. I did it for years to catch shrimp and minnows for bait for my wife but I'm too old and decrepit to use a cast net now, even the smaller ones.

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Well, I'm sorry to hear that. There is another option you could sue. It would cost some, but cheaper in the long run...contact a minnow supplier, and buy them by the pound. You could get a plastic barrel, drill a bunch of small holes in it, and attach it to your dock about half submerged. Put you a pound or two minnows in there. You wouldn't need no kind of aeration as they would have the oxygen in the lake water. You wouldn't need to ever change water either..just an idea...what ever you do, I wish you luck...[emoji1]

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Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Well, I'm sorry to hear that. There is another option you could sue. It would cost some, but cheaper in the long run...contact a minnow supplier, and buy them by the pound. You could get a plastic barrel, drill a bunch of small holes in it, and attach it to your dock about half submerged. Put you a pound or two minnows in there. You wouldn't need no kind of aeration as they would have the oxygen in the lake water. You wouldn't need to ever change water either..just an idea...what ever you do, I wish you luck...[emoji1]

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I though of that when my wife was alive and fishing with minnow as we went through a lot of minnows then. But I could not find a supplier who would sell them to me. I was willing to buy five pounds at a time but all said no. All of them claimed it would teed off their buyers if they heard they were selling to individuals.

Now I only need a dozen or two at a time, when I can get my grandsons to come fishing. Guess I will just have to buy them from the marina until I can them hooked of fishing and need larger quanties. Then I will need to start setting traps along the lake shoreline or go to creeks beds to catch them. Problem is the older I get the lazier I become. :)

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Originally Posted by ezgoing

I though of that when my wife was alive and fishing with minnow as we went through a lot of minnows then. But I could not find a supplier who would sell them to me. I was willing to buy five pounds at a time but all said no. All of them claimed it would teed off their buyers if they heard they were selling to individuals.

Now I only need a dozen or two at a time, when I can get my grandsons to come fishing. Guess I will just have to buy them from the marina until I can them hooked of fishing and need larger quanties. Then I will need to start setting traps along the lake shoreline or go to creeks beds to catch them. Problem is the older I get the lazier I become. :)

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Well it was an idea anyway...I guess I'm lucky as I have a supplier a couple hours away that comes through my area that is willing to meet here in town on their way to other customers...lots cheaper than the 2.00-3.00 per dozen even running an airpump and areator...

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Thanks for the tip!

Maybe try varying depths. Shallow and deep. Put bacon in it because who doesn't love bacon?!

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Originally Posted by BAFishBarn

Thanks for the tip!

Maybe try varying depths. Shallow and deep. Put bacon in it because who doesn't love bacon?!

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Bacon is the best bait for catching crawdads.

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Originally Posted by Yaker

Bacon is the best bait for catching crawdads.

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Seriously? I've never seen a crawdads trap either

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Originally Posted by BAFishBarn

Seriously? I've never seen a crawdads trap either

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There are Lots of different minnow and crawdad traps.The most common minnow trap is the round mouthed two piece tube style trap.A crawdad trap is square or rectangle shaped with a wide sloped ramp designed to make it easier for them crawl into the opening.
For crawdads I tie a couple pieces of raw bacon inside the trap and place it on a sand bottom of a creek, If your in a good spot the bigger dads will fill the trap,and if by chance you don’t catch any,you can always eat the bait.

May need some “fencing” to help guide them into that trap in open water that I am assuming your boat slip is in. I’m not talking about hardware cloth or dog fencing. I’m just talking about SOMETHING to make a wall that is big on one end and tapers into your trap. You have to MAKE them go in. Is your boat slip a floating dock? If so may try the trap tight against one of the floats and let that float guide the minnows to the mouth of your trap. Or you could try next to the bank and the the edge of your bank be your “guide or fencing”. I am saying this because I trap predators a lot and I have to fence them down into my sets. But I do notice minnows and almost every creature scales “walls” per say to get from point A to point B.

Like me a mouse trap for instance. U put them against walls. The mice travel along walls and will find your trap easily. Where as if u stuck it into the middle of an open room if u did catch one you would be lucky but chances of catching 2 are slim. I hope I helped.

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Originally Posted by LowePro

May need some “fencing” to help guide them into that trap in open water that I am assuming your boat slip is in. I’m not talking about hardware cloth or dog fencing. I’m just talking about SOMETHING to make a wall that is big on one end and tapers into your trap. You have to MAKE them go in. Is your boat slip a floating dock? If so may try the trap tight against one of the floats and let that float guide the minnows to the mouth of your trap. Or you could try next to the bank and the the edge of your bank be your “guide or fencing”. I am saying this because I trap predators a lot and I have to fence them down into my sets. But I do notice minnows and almost every creature scales “walls” per say to get from point A to point B.

Like me a mouse trap for instance. U put them against walls. The mice travel along walls and will find your trap easily. Where as if u stuck it into the middle of an open room if u did catch one you would be lucky but chances of catching 2 are slim. I hope I helped.

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Thanks for your reply.

The marina is in a cove, with a rock wall across the back of it for a wind and water break for the docks. It is on a floating marina, with floats under all the walkways and the center aisle to keep it afloat.

I always had better luck placing the trap in shallow water, used to just set it in water just deep enough for a little bit of the top to be sticking out.

Only time I caught any minnows in a slip was by placing it at the same level as the bottom of the dock floats. The minnows around boat docks hide under the floats, using them for cover, so you want the trap opening to be right at that level.

As for bait, oil is the key, whether it be oily dry dog food, peanut butter, bacon, or french fries. French fries really work well but they don't last very long as they disintegrate fairly quick after being submerged a few hours, I think the minnows are attracted more to the oil that's absorbed into the french fries that they were cooked in. Anytime I'm on vacation and snorkeling, I always load my pockets with french fries before getting in the water, it's amazing how far away those fish come to swarm me for those french fries.

Instead of asking wholesalers to sell minnows by pound. Find a bait shop that is willing to sell by pound. When I operated a bait shop . I had a lot of pond owners that bought off me by the pound. Also lot of guys that ran bait tanks at home purchased minnows that way. Helped me two ways

Sold them for profit plus wholesaler gave me discount because we bought so many.

I suggested the bait supplier as no shops in my area sells them that way, by the pound. They only sell by the dozen...

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Originally Posted by hays47

Instead of asking wholesalers to sell minnows by pound. Find a bait shop that is willing to sell by pound. When I operated a bait shop . I had a lot of pond owners that bought off me by the pound. Also lot of guys that ran bait tanks at home purchased minnows that way. Helped me two ways

Sold them for profit plus wholesaler gave me discount because we bought so many.

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I had not thought of trying bait shops. In the past there were two bait shops on the way to the lakes I fished that sold by the pound but both of them went to selling them by the dozen several years back. I asked one why and he stated the cost of minnows had risen to the point where he could not sell them by the pound. Didn't make much sense to me but I didn't argue with him, just started waiting till I got to the marina to buy minnows for my wife. Price was the same so why make an extra stop.

Don't need so many now as I mainly jig fish. But it would have been nice to have them on hand for my grandsons and nieces whenever they wanted to fish.

Plus it would be fun to catch my own again.

I trap minnows all the time out of local creeks. My trap always rests on bottom and I do very well. Last year we went camping at a local lake and I set my trap off the docks. I didn't catch a single minnow. The next day I set it and I watch it for about 30 minutes. All the bread and dog food floated to the top and the trap and the minnows were able to pick at the bait through the holes in the top without ever going in. I wrapped my bait in cheese cloth and hung it with wire so it was directly in the middle. A couple hours later I had a few dozen.

Since you have dock slips, I would recommend an umbrella dip net. Throw in some bread piece and pull it up when minnows swim in, instant gratification