This years bait trapping thread

[Dags Bait Maine]

Dylan, what kind of salt do you use? I've been having this problem in my tank.

I use water conditioner for wells. Its used to soften the water, its nothing more then sodium chloride. Most often it's found in a 20lb bag. Its in a lot of stores, and is a fraction of what you would pay for aquarium salts.

-Dylan

[cjg]

I still have some bait that I bought over a month ago, just in a 5gal bucket no pump. I keep it in my bulkhead to stay cool and dump out 3/4 of the water and add fresh about once a week if I remember. I think I have lost 3. A couple of them are ones I took off the hook and saved and they are fine. The most important thing is change the water and don't let it freeze or get to warm.

[Nor Easter]

Dylan is correct.

The water softener salts are cheapest but in a pinch you can use Kosher salt from the supermarket. It's plain salt, no additives but still less expensive than aquarium salt. Also another way to kill parasites and other issues with your fish is to put them in a tank with a bunch of pennies. The copper is toxic even to the fish so you need to take them out or remove the pennies and do a complete water change after 24hrs or so. This also will stress the fish some so expect the weakest ones to croak, leaving only the healthier ones behind.

[Nor Easter]

would it bother anything if I kept the smelts and shiners together?

I prefer to separate them and keep them in several coolers. I use mostly 48qt and no aeration or filtration. The water does not need to be deep but it needs to be cold. I also like to use Shiner Life, Start Rite or what I have right now is Feeder Goldfish Keeper. Any of these products promote a healthy slime coat on the fish and it also contains other minerals, possible salt also. You especially need this stuff if you are using city water as it removes chlorine.

No food, keep an eye on them daily, remove all dead and any weak ones or ones with 'fuzz' on them. I let my net dry thoroughly after handling the sick/dead ones. Shiners will keep for a lot longer than smelts unless you take the time to make a real professional way of keeping bait. Even then, smelts will die if you look at them wrong! 

[outdoorsman7617]

Thanks for all the info guys,helps me out a lot

[Snowfun]

would it bother anything if I kept the smelts and shiners together?

nope, I am down to one tank now and have smelts, shiners, dace and tommies all in the same tank.

[Sawyerjosh]

make sure not too warm- fish at 50-60 degrees will die quick when you drop em in 30 something water.  I keep mine in a bucket on the porch and when I can't hear the aerator any more, bring them in the mudroom over night to mostly thaw.  some of them have been in there about 6 weeks, I change most of the water once or twice a week

[GasBlaster]

time for bait ?

[thefshdentist]

time for bait ?

is in my opinion

[bassman2243]

Definitely time for bait! This is about the time I started last year, and my bait stayed good through March. You just have to take care of it. I went to my local hot spot Monday and pulled 26 dozen nice shiners and dace in a 3 hour soak. Pretty good start!

[NorthernFishFinder]

time for bait ?

Most definitely.  I like to start the second week of October and aim to be done by the end of the month.  Already have a few dozen...

[GasBlaster]

Bait?

[tonyjackson]

I'm having a heck of a time finding bait. I've got 2 traps in and check them daily (to no avail). I've had them in 3 ponds at different depths and still coming up blank. 
Does anyone know what I should be looking for in a pond? I'm not looking for any exact locations. I'd rather keep the thieves away as much as anything.  Just wondering if I need to go to larger ponds? Streams? Rivers? I've read that fire hydrant ponds can be good too. I guess I'm just at a loss for where to go next.

[GasBlaster]

How's the bait looking this year ?

[Ohiocatfish]

I love this thread! Bait for me has been less hit and more miss. Having a tuff time finding a honey hole in these parts

[Bout-Time]

Havent been to my honey hole for dace yet, but its coming soon!

[Coach]

I am off to a good start

[APJ]

Had a great haul last night  24 hr soak puled up 500 shiners.. 

[SirCranksalot]

Holey schmoley!!

What kind of area was it? Maybe some of us can learn what such a honey hole looks like.

[tonyjackson]

I've pulled in about 5-700 in the past week with one homemade cloverleaf trap.  I've got mine in a really small skanky looking pond in a somewhat swampy area. I've true trapping in bigger ponds without luck.
If there are no predators (other than the odd beaver or so) shiners can multiply like crazy. I've read that in warmer climates 300 fish can turn into over 10,000 in less than a year. Hopefully someone can verify that.

[APJ]

Had a great haul last night  24 hr soak puled up 500 shiners.. 

Right now just look or any tributaries to rivers or dead pools hat rivers fill, in the spring from high water.. They will be holding up there. A lot of times streams that flow directly into a large river will have a pool full of bait soon as it freezes there gone.

[9huskies]

Had a great haul last night  24 hr soak puled up 500 shiners.. 

Was that multiple traps, one clover trap or something else?

[APJ]

Was that multiple traps, one clover trap or something else?

5 reg minnow traps. Done now my buddy and I pulled 800 shiners each. this was a good year and quick..

[9huskies]

100 per trap is impressive. I was excited to find 35 dace in each trap with a 24 hour soak. My shiner ponds aren't as productive. I typically get 20-25 shiners per trap.

[Conley1993]

I'm picking up a chest freezer sometime this week and plan on rigging it up to hold my bait. Can't wait to start trapping shiners, last few years have been good to me down here in Southern Maine. At $5 dozen I love catching my own and giving it to everyone I fish with.

[icefisha22]

I've pulled in about 5-700 in the past week with one homemade cloverleaf trap.  I've got mine in a really small skanky looking pond in a somewhat swampy area. I've true trapping in bigger ponds without luck.
If there are no predators (other than the odd beaver or so) shiners can multiply like crazy. I've read that in warmer climates 300 fish can turn into over 10,000 in less than a year. Hopefully someone can verify that.

Reading up on it, shiners can lay roughly 5000 eggs,  say about half are females, this leaves you with nearly 750,000 eggs.  Of course not all of these hatch.  To get 10,000 shiners, the survival rate would only need to be 1.3%.  In an area with supposedly no predation, I could see that being feasible.  However, I don't have any idea what the survival rate for shiners is.

[Bout-Time]

Got 2 traps soaking over night, will see what whats in them in the morning.

[Bout-Time]

Pulled in about 150 dace from the two traps this morning, oh happy day!

[APJ]

Have Pulled 2000 shiners and have hand picked a 1000 and 100 wich was the big 8 inch golden shiners. Now getting my 100 suckers then I'm done..All others back in the water..

[Conley1993]

So I have a question for you guys. I picked up a chest freezer and have been reading older posts about what I need for an aerator/filter. I think I'm going with a small pond pump to a homemade waterfall system filtered out with either fiberglass insulation or pillow stuffing. How often do you tend to change out the insulation or stuffing? Also, I plan on keeping the freezer outside on my deck here in South Portland. Do you think I will have big issues with the water/filter freezing and would you recommend I throw a light source inside? I'm only using it for shiners so they should be a lot more durable then smelts.