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Massachusetts => Ice Fishing Massachusetts => Topic started by: Papa Sly on Oct 08, 2019, 07:24 PM
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Hey guys, I have tried trapping for 3 years with no luck. Any suggestions on types of water to trap in, lakes, ponds, streams, current or no current etc. I have tried many different types of water as well as bread, cat food, dog food, crackers etc. This year I have a nice bait tank using a chest freezer, pond filter and pump, and a unit I plug the freezer into with a thermometer that goes in the water. You set the temp and the unit turns freezer on and off to keep it at required temp. I just cant seem to figure out the trapping technique.
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Pm sent
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I trap a small brook 20 yards downstream of a dam. I use silver traps they work better then the black ones from what I have found. I use hard rolls broken in 1/4 s only 1 or 2 pieces per trap and check the trap every day. It usually starts slow 2 to 10 shiners at first but by the end of a week i have pulled 6 dozen. It gets better the longer you trap. I haven’t bought bait in a few years. Use camo rope on your traps it helps hide them better.
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I haven’t bought bait in a few years. Use camo rope on your traps it helps hide them better.
The Last year that I bought bait, I was buying 3-4 dz per week (I was also working at the time). since I have been trapping and catching my own bait (now retired 2 yrs), I have been using jigs with spikes, waxies and plastics. Last year, I gave away several dz shiners and I, personally used 4 shiners! I primarily used plastics
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I did a thread a couple years ago I believe I named it shiner trapping tips. I covered a lot in there you can most likely find it in the search bar. ponds are by far my most productive.
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Do people leave their traps unattended for some amount of time? I have two close bodies of water which I believe may contain shiners but I'm wary of leaving my property somewhere. I had a Drew Bledsoe jersey stolen from me at Webster lake when I was a kid and I haven't trusted people since. Although maybe the perp did me a favor...
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Do people leave their traps unattended for some amount of time?
Mine trap stays wet, if it gets stolen than I am out 10 bucks or 2 dozen store bought shiners, my traps are more than paid for at this point, get your traps wet...
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Do people leave their traps unattended for some amount of time? I have two close bodies of water which I believe may contain shiners but I'm wary of leaving my property somewhere. I had a Drew Bledsoe jersey stolen from me at Webster lake when I was a kid and I haven't trusted people since. Although maybe the perp did me a favor...
my traps never come out year round. if I take them out someone else will move in. I'll block off the holes over the periods I dont need bait.
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Mine trap stays wet, if it gets stolen than I am out 10 bucks or 2 dozen store bought shiners, my traps are more than paid for at this point, get your traps wet...
agreed when I'm getting 8 dozen baits a pull at 10$ a dozen it's the cost of doing business if you get a 10$ trap stolen.
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I took my traps out after the freeze. will put them back in tomorrow. im not getting many this year maybe because the water got too cold and the bait went to the mud. put the traps in in may for crayfish and had plenty of shiners in the trap. so I know they are there. maybe i'll try to get them out deeper if the ice is melted enough.
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I dont think traps get messed with or mine have not been yet. I dont tie ropes to mine or if I do its blank tip up line you can hardly see, I also will use a long hockey stick to set my traps. If my traps 6 ft from shore in feet of water its hard to steal because you cant reach it and no ones getting wet, people might throw rocks and trash, poke with sticks... So far no issues for me except getting booted out of private ponds.
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Papa Sly, when you finally trap some remember to let them crap out for 24hrs in bucket before you add them to your tank. You'll be amazed how much they dirty the water after eating trap bait.
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Papa Sly, when you finally trap some remember to let them crap out for 24hrs in bucket before you add them to your tank. You'll be amazed how much they dirty the water after eating trap bait.
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I have 6 tanks going in my basement to assort them all. I have 3 to size them from small medium and large and one for my golden shiners. the other 2 I use for water to change water in the other 4 tanks and to put newly trapped shiners in to crap themselves out
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“let them crap out for 24hrs in bucket before you add them to your tank”
Great tip. I shall do that from now on. I am getting a lot of baby bullheads, salamanders, and tadpoles but only 2-3 shiners per day. Hope that changes soon.
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Here ya go courtesy of SalmonAndStriper Stalker: https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=356257 (https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=356257)
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Here ya go courtesy of SalmonAndStriper Stalker: https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=356257 (https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=356257)
it covers most of what I know. not that I'm an expert or anything but I do get my fair share of shiners.
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Good stuff! Thanks guys.
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shiner trapping is one thing, but if someone could teach how to jig pondies that be something! gotten them before but could never really figure it out. mostly I come up empty. wasted way too much time trying that's for sure.
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Papa Sly, when you finally trap some remember to let them crap out for 24hrs in bucket before you add them to your tank. You'll be amazed how much they dirty the water after eating trap bait.
I can't believe I never thought to do this. Thanks.
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shiner trapping is one thing, but if someone could teach how to jig pondies that be something! gotten them before but could never really figure it out. mostly I come up empty. wasted way too much time trying that's for sure.
location is key but the method is simple. chum hole with bread and a hali jig with a spike or waxworm. I set the jigstick on a bucket so its completely still to detect bites. I'm usually fishing in shallow water so I just lift up and lift them out the hole. no need to reel but that depends on where you are fishing and how deep it is.
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I started shiner trapping 2 weeks ago, first time doing it. Trap with bread or whatever dog food, cereal, chips, whatever I have to toss in the trap for bait. I use the old bait from yesterday as chum. I leave my traps in the water 24/7 check them 1-2 times a day. Ive tried a half dozen ponds, no streams, its a crap shoot, some ponds have shiners and some are barren or stubborn. I have manged to catch a few hundred pondies and fatheads, your welcome PapaSly.
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another tip is to be careful trapping. I have wiped out a pond before. nkw I sift thorough mine and let anything less than 2.5in go back to the pond. it's a hassle shifting through hundreds of shiners but it ensures shiners for years to come. I have also stocked small private ponds with great success.
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Last year I did not start trapping until well after my pond had frozen over. Every time I put the trap in, I would have 1-3 dozen shiners. I trapped one Bullhead all season.
This year is totally different. Salamanders, tadpoles and bullheads with a few small shiners. Pulled my trap yesterday morning and had about 20 cute baby Bullheads, a couple Salamanders and 1 Tadpole. I put fresh dog food in and threw it out. Six hours later I found about 36 shiners and no Bullhead, Salamanders or Tadpoles.
Thinking maybe trap only during the day and not use bread. Fun trying to figure it out. The best part is my trap is about 40 yards from my house.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/hJQxz0RN/7-DC4-F52-E-F9-C2-4492-AD86-806-CDD3-DAAA8.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/hJQxz0RN)
I forgot to add the pic of yesterday’s shiners caught in a six hour soak.
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Last year I did not start trapping until well after my pond had frozen over. Every time I put the trap in, I would have 1-3 dozen shiners. I trapped one Bullhead all season.
This year is totally different. Salamanders, tadpoles and bullheads with a few small shiners. Pulled my trap yesterday morning and had about 20 cute baby Bullheads, a couple Salamanders and 1 Tadpole. I put fresh dog food in and threw it out. Six hours later I found about 36 shiners and no Bullhead, Salamanders or Tadpoles.
Thinking maybe trap only during the day and not use bread. Fun trying to figure it out. The best part is my trap is about 40 yards from my house.
daytime definately prevents bullhead. I've observed those baby bullhead actually eating shiners in the trap. had a couple coughing up shiners before
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I'm so glad my new trapping area has no bullheads. they were a pain in the ass. just shiners and polywags now.
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Tried a small pond up the street from our new house I figured there were some in it when I saw the small circles on top of the water I’d see at my old shiner ponds. Decided I’d try traps again so I bought a new one tossed some semi stale bread in and came out with about 2 dozen mixedwith only a couple hour soak biggest was a decent heavy medium and a ton of small 2 inchers tossed at least another two dozen back because of their size. Going to take my small boat on it and find a deep hole to try jigging some bigger shiners up
(https://i.postimg.cc/tsLQKC37/B9-D2-C6-E6-2492-4-BF2-A837-221-DC533-A4-FC.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/tsLQKC37)
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I'll ask a dumb question. I have a trap and I live near a pond that supposedly has shiners in it. Can I just bait it, tie it to a string, and throw it in a few feet out? Come back and check it later?
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Sure, that is what I do on my pond that I live on. I throw the trap out about 15 feet and that puts it in about 1 1/2’ of water.
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any luck yet Jim?
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Thanks to the help on this website, I am starting to get it figured out. Also, once winter weather sets in and my pond freezes over, I bet I catch more and bigger shiners. Last winter it was easy to trap as many as I wanted.
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I'll ask a dumb question. I have a trap and I live near a pond that supposedly has shiners in it. Can I just bait it, tie it to a string, and throw it in a few feet out? Come back and check it later?
Yup, be careful with the string they tend to get tangled up, and be ready to pull traps before it freezes over or be ready to retrieve the trap through the ice.
Buddy in NH left trap in 2 weeks because it froze but never got strong enough to walk on, trap was stuck, when he finally pulled the trap he had a few dozen in it, go figure...
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First trapping session yesterday and got like 4 dozen smalls in less than an hour. Good start to the season!
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say your looking for big goldens and chum some holes with bread. how long would/should it take to attract them if they are there? Is it possible to have ponds without jig sized goldens?
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say your looking for big goldens and chum some holes with bread. how long would/should it take to attract them if they are there? Is it possible to have ponds without jig sized goldens?
they are in every pond but in most cases not in catchable numbers. look for small water bodies loaded with them. if looking for them on bigger water bodies look for shallow weed flats. 10 min is a good time to wait
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The boy and I had a ridiculous haul right before the storm, did a 7 hour soak on the trap. Between that and the end of last week I've got over 200 ready to go for the season. Just about maxed out the 25 gallon cooler I think.
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just changed out all the water on my tanks. I cant fit another shiner if I tried fully maxed out. this little 10 gallon filter is really starting to surprise me. its keeping the water really clear and I have at least 80 gallons and 50 dozen in that tank. think I'm going to pick up a couple more.
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JIG JIG JIG forget trapping, you would be surprised the size range of shiners that will hit a small hali jig. Jigging bait is some of the most fun I have all winter. I jig them open water too, from shore with a slip bobber. Easy to find them this way if water is flat
If the state allowed a larger opening then 1" I would have traps out too.
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So I've tried for a while now and have done very good trapping over the summer in rivers that arnt close but I was wondering what you guys that are successful in trapping look for in a pond/stream. I've tried every body of water in gardner and havnt gotten any over the last month with my trap out all day. I've caught big goldens on rod and reel but thats about it. I think I need to search for some new waters
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JIG JIG JIG forget trapping, you would be surprised the size range of shiners that will hit a small hali jig. Jigging bait is some of the most fun I have all winter. I jig them open water too, from shore with a slip bobber. Easy to find them this way if water is flat
If the state allowed a larger opening then 1" I would have traps out too.
I've used holes big enough to the point I was actually catching turtles and it doesnt make a difference. jigging and cast netting is the only way to get true big ones. talking 10 to 12in and beyond
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So I've tried for a while now and have done very good trapping over the summer in rivers that arnt close but I was wondering what you guys that are successful in trapping look for in a pond/stream. I've tried every body of water in gardner and havnt gotten any over the last month with my trap out all day. I've caught big goldens on rod and reel but thats about it. I think I need to search for some new waters
Small ponds. Places where when I'm fishing during soft water and can see bait running around in the shallows. The place I have success happens to be a private pond that gets stocked with trout at relatively regular intervals and if you chuck out bread or dogfood see bait clouds coming from nowhere to feed. Location in the pond at this time for me is dropoffs near steep banks, shallow weed cover, and sunlight.
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I've used holes big enough to the point I was actually catching turtles and it doesnt make a difference. jigging and cast netting is the only way to get true big ones. talking 10 to 12in and beyond
Those are big shiners! For bait that big I usually go with dink perch and pumpkinseeds that I'm able to jig up.
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Those are big shiners! For bait that big I usually go with dink perch and pumpkinseeds that I'm able to jig up.
those work great as well but quite a few times pike fishing my only success of the day has come on a big golden. I dont know what it is about them but they are literally gold.
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those work great as well but quite a few times pike fishing my only success of the day has come on a big golden. I dont know what it is about them but they are literally gold.
I think they know there aren't spines on goldens. I tend to cut them off the perch that I use but I rarely get a flag on a perch bait.
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Anyone ever put out traps in a large river? Lets say the size of the Merrimack. There's a few spots where I found shiners stacked up in the spring. Not sure if they are still there in the Fall/Winter.
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Anyone ever put out traps in a large river? Lets say the size of the Merrimack. There's a few spots where I found shiners stacked up in the spring. Not sure if they are still there in the Fall/Winter.
One way to find out, go trap it.
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Anyone ever put out traps in a large river? Lets say the size of the Merrimack. There's a few spots where I found shiners stacked up in the spring. Not sure if they are still there in the Fall/Winter.
The only place I can ever trap/catch goldens Is the ct river
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Probably a dumb question but do I need a special license for bait trapping shinners? Will my fishing license cover it?
smitty :tipup:
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Your good as long as you are not selling
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I think they know there aren't spines on goldens. I tend to cut them off the perch that I use but I rarely get a flag on a perch bait.
There are studies that have been done that suggest pike prefer soft rayed baits. (No spines).
I don't use goldens often anymore. Too much hassle when other dead baits out perform.
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I don't use goldens often anymore. Too much hassle when other dead baits out perform.
They still sell goldens in CT?
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They still sell goldens in CT?
Yup.
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But good luck finding big ones and if you do they are probably going to be over $2 a fish. I've been running big fallfish for a few years. They are easier to come by for me. I still haven't found The Golden Shiner Hole, lol. ::) ??? :-\