Bait traps

[PenguinIII]

Hi guys, I know that some of you trap your own bait for ice fishing, I am considering trapping chubs or shiners and I was wondering what attractant or bait you find works best in the traps. When I was a kid we used to use just bread but I am asking what might work better?

[Open-Handed Fish Slap]

I have good luck with a handful or two of dog food, holds up better than bread and works just as well in my opinion.  Not sure if brand or flavor matters, I use what I have on hand which is always blue buffalo in no particular flavor.  Good Luck.

[Jschumacher]

Frank I have heard cat food works well also. I have always used bread but am going to try something different. My brother in law works at a large golf coarse with many ponds. We are going to drop in my trap this week. I'll let you know what we find.

[Pike Guy Matt]

Bread 

[Yachtzy]

Gold mine for a honey hole..... Now that I've moved and no longer near the area... I'm happy to release this info.  NOTE: Check the law to see if it's even legal to take anything out of this area. I never took anything but walked around the area a lot and noticed the large amount of bait in the water.

At the end of Rte 2 is Alewife T Station, as you may know..... Behind that there is a road called Cambridge Park Drive in Cambridge....  There is an asphalt path at the end, about 10ft before the cut de sac, on the right.  This leads to a newly renovated wetlands area that the City of Cambridge and the state spent millions to develop for flood control and habitat restoration. 

Walk down the path, about 100ft, take a right to stay on the bike trail.... walk about 200-300ft and you will see a small retention pond on the left (not the pond you see when you enter the wetland area), with a culvert leading into it... I believe the cement is stamped with the name of the culvert and 340acres.

During late summer and early fall, there were a crap load of bait.  I mean a crap load.... Also a lot of frogs.

I'm not sure the legal issues with taking bait from a nature reserve but I'm sure no now, I mean no one would notice a bait trap in the water there, provided the rope is hidden well in the surrounding grass.  Knowing that the water levels in MA have been low this year, the fish are most likely trapped there.  The bounty should be great...

IF all else fails you can also visit Rodney @ Arlington Bait and Tackle on Mass Ave. It's about 5mins up the road w/out traffic.  He always has great bait and it a great guy to talk too...

Good luck.

I'm pretty sure that's Alweife Brook next to the Alweife train station. It's loaded with herring, but they're still not legal in MA yet.

Arlington Bait is right down the street from there also. I drive past two other bait shops to get there, they never let me down.

[grabsjoker]

i used to live right around the alewife T station and that water derkinhawaii mentioned is nasty as anything. dont touch it, dont fish it. the bacterial load is massive from excess sewage draining into those ponds (after a heavy rain storm you can see poop floating around in it). seriously, i was walking by there not too long ago and saw someone sampling the water. they were from the state and said that the bacterial load in all the water in that area was very very high. she said you'd not want to even get it on your fishing line. stay away. (too bad because there are some huge bass in the pond just behind the T station near the onramp for route 2).

and yes, get your bait from Rod in Arlington, he's great.

[otzi]

I used to fish a little at that small pond next to the station and in the river too. Pond was called Leukemia Bay by the locals. Carp in the river and small bass in the pond. For bait traps I just use whatever bread is going stale. I've not had good luck with dog or cat food.

[capt.shay]

Left over Pizza crust works great.  Seriously.  I found this by accident.  We didn't have any bread in the house so I fished in to the rubbish for some left over crust.  Works just like bread because it is but stays together much longer.

[PenguinIII]

Thanks for all the help guys. I will let you know which works better. Jeff we will have to compare notes on Golf course ponds.

[BaitBucket]

I used to trap and store my own bait, but just proved to be more work than I had time for. Then again I had 500 or so.  Dog/Cat food always worked well.

[TheManDJV]

I never had luck using bait traps, last year I ordered a seine net off amazon and rigged up some pvc pipe...takes getting used to and recommended for shallow ponds, we used waders, and in one pass scored almost 100 shiners ... also baby sunfish work on tip ups but seem to die faster than shiners

[FishingWorcester4life]

Left over Pizza crust works great.  Seriously.  I found this by accident.  We didn't have any bread in the house so I fished in to the rubbish for some left over crust.  Works just like bread because it is but stays together much longer.

X2 and chips,popcorn,bagel. Dog food does work great but its so strong scented it can attract a lot of horn pout that either damage the shiners in the trap or keep them away alltogether. Pizzacrust is my 1st choice, the lady works at papa ginos so I got a whole bag in the freezer