# Good source of minnows?



## Seeker

I really want to give minnow fishing a good try this year. Do most of you that use minnows catch them yourself or do you have another source for them. What kind of minnows are best for fishing. What size of minnows do you use. Any help would be appreciated.


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## LOAH

Minnows are great! You won't be sorry once you hook a big fish with one.

I live in Orem, so I end up going to the gas station at 400 N and Orem Blvd (about 150 W...1 light West of State). They have some frozen redside shiners and chubs in zipper baggies in the big brown paper sack by the counter in the ice cream freezer.

If I want bigger minnows (for Strawberry or somewhere else I would expect to catch large fish :twisted: ), I go to Sportsman's Warehouse. Cabela's has them too.

In Heber, the gas station at the junction of HWY 40 and HWY 189 has good redsides frozen in trays. Smith's also has some.

I like redsides better than chubs, but the redsides turn into mush a little faster than the chubs. The chubs will hold a hook for a longer time, but the flash of the shiners seems to work better for me.

If you want to trap them, Electric Lake is full of them. Just drop a hot dog bun smeared with some bait mate or attractant into the trap and toss it out somewhere by the boat ramp or one of the corners of the dam and check it every 20 minutes or so. You should end up with a good amount of minnows.

Scofield has a ton of minnows by the dam, last I checked. The berry used to produce well, but I haven't seen many in the last year or two. Maybe by the marina under the docks, if that's even legal. ??

I'll see if I can dig up an old post with illustrations on how to rig them. There are other ways, for sure and hopefully others will be able to explain them to you as well.


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## Greenguy88

I like to use red side shiners from the minnow man! Sportsmans used to stock em but I havent seen em in there as of late... I also know a gas station in heber has em if your headed to the Berry. Im sure theres other places. I also have heard of people that trap them, I think LOAH does...? The size I use is usually a minnow a couple inches in length, but they come in all sorts of sizes in the packs. Think of it this way, a bigger fish will usually eat a bigger minnow!


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## Greenguy88

Looks like loah beat me to the punch !


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## LOAH

I dug and I found. Click this:

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1637&p=16278&hilit=minnows#p16278


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## bucksandducks

I tried using artificial minnows on a river and it didnt work my weight kept getting hung up in the rocks. What is the best way to rig for rivers/creeks?


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## Greenguy88

I have never thought of using a minnow on a river... I dunno how you would rig for that. My guess would to just use LOAHS rig and gently toss it out into the current, but you might need weight to get it into deeper holes. I know there are some on here who have really good success with artificial minnows on rivers.


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## LOAH

My minnow rig doesn't work well on rivers, but my wife managed to catch a good brown under the Charleston Bridge that way.

RR77's soft plastic minnow set up works a little better for moving water, I'd think.


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## Seeker

Thanks for the good information. I think it is a strength of this board that so many are willing to share their knowledge with others. Thanks again.


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## wyoming2utah

bucksandducks said:


> I tried using artificial minnows on a river and it didnt work my weight kept getting hung up in the rocks. What is the best way to rig for rivers/creeks?


My family uses minnows on rivers quite often...we don't have some fancy rig, but our method is effective: simply tie on your hook size of choice and then attach a single split shot about one foot above the hook. We fish rivers with fly rods, so you can always feel where your minnow/split shot are in relation to the bottom. The key is a good dead drift in the current...


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## HighNDry

That aint fly fishing. I knew a bunch of Southern Utah Hilljacks that used to fish that way. They stumbled onto this technique by recasting out the small fish they caught.


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## wyoming2utah

HighNDry said:


> That aint fly fishing.


Nope...it is called baitfishing! Very effective...especially when the trout swallows the minnow. Learned from my father and grandfather...northern Utah Hilljacks!


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## HighNDry

:lol: :mrgreen: Right on! Wyoming2Utah do you feel the live minnows are more effective than dead ones?


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## wyoming2utah

I've never used a live one.


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## rugerdogdog

I catch all of my own minnows. You just have too buy a minnow trap, I know Sportsmens has them, also the Ace Hardware in my neck of the woods, and add canned dog food. You have to buy specifically the pastey type dog food though. No meat chunks. It's harder to find than you might think. Usually the best bet is to buy the very cheapest can you can find. One tip, open the can and get the food to slide out in one piece, that way you can slice off a chunk about 3/4" thick in a perfect circle. This just helps keep the bait intacted if you are going to cast and recast your trap.
Then just throw it in almost any lake in the state, they all have shiners. You'll also catch crawdads, salamanders, shrews, you name it.
I do have to contradict LOAH on one thing though. I never leave a trap less than 1 hour.
And leave it far from your other activities. Kids playing, dogs in the water, even just walking close to the trap will scare minnows away from it.
Also, Strawberry is probably by far the best place in the state to load up on shiners. You all have probably seen the swarms in there. I can't recall what time of year, late summer I think, There are millions of them right up at shore. Best "big fish bait" there is.
I know LOAH is recognized as The Minnow Man around here, and I respect that, but my experience is base on several years of running a bait business with my dad back in the 80s. 
Anybody remember buying Triple Ts Bait at Anglers Inn???
**** I miss those days.
Also I rig a little different so as to allow as stiff a cast as you want, if anybodys interested.


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## LOAH

Now that's what I'm talking about. This is a guy who really knows how to trap minnows. I'd listen to him over me for sure.

As far as I'm concerned, "The Minnow Man" is the guys who distributes packaged minnows to a few bait sections around the general area. I merely endorse using the minnows as bait. Like I said earlier, I typically only use my rig because that's all I really know. I've read other peoples' descriptions of how they do it, but just can't quite get the visual and my attempts at reproducing those techniques have proven useless and I end up ruining the best bait around.

I should've expounded a bit with my reasons for checking the trap every 20 minutes (at E. Lake specifically):

Checking the trap every 20 minutes will let you know if you've found the minnows. If there aren't any minnows swimming in your trap after 20 minutes, maybe there aren't many minnows in that area and relocating would be a good idea. If you're in the schools, pulling up every 20 minutes or so allows your trap more room for new baitfish to swim in.

I'll have to try it your way, rugerdogdog. It sounds like a much better method than mine and your bait sounds great. Way better than a hot dog bun and attractant.

However, I still like the way my rig works because of the natural settling that occurs with no weight and a tiny hook.

I'd like to get some illustration or some step by step photos of some other rigging methods though. It would be nice to have a better way to use minnows on slot waters when I can't see the target fish.

Thanks for your input, rugerdogdog. I'm excited to use your minnow trapping advice.

I honestly have a hard time pulling up a lot of minnows unless I'm right along the dam at Scofield, or at Electric Lake. One of our hike-in Wasatch front lakes treated me really well with 2 different types of shiners and some suckers too. The shiners always seem to work better though.


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## bucksandducks

Well rugerdog what is your technique?


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## BrookTroutKid

HighNDry said:


> That aint fly fishing. I knew a bunch of *Southern Utah Hilljacks* that used to fish that way. They stumbled onto this technique by recasting out the small fish they caught.


We aint no Heelbeelies we just aint got no learnin thats all. :wink:


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## great googly moogly

too bad utah doesnt let you use live minnows . . . although i dont see the harm if you caught the minnows where youre fishin


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## PBH

great googly moogly said:


> too bad utah doesnt let you use live minnows . . . although i dont see the harm if you caught the minnows where youre fishin


there isn't any harm in using them where you caught them -- but that isn't the risk. The risk is using them where you didn't catch them! That's why the law is in place. If everyone were honest, we wouldn't need the regulation.


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## Packfish

Nothing like fishing with live minnows- used a 8 ft a 3 ft net- one guy on either end and walk the shallows and then into shore. Get 15 dozen and be off perch or walleye fishing.
A little east of here though.


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## BigIceHole

We were at strawberry about 1 1/2 - 2 yrs ago and ran into the minnow man catching minnows. (It was cool to watch him throwing out his net.) We also have a minnow trap and caught a ton at scofield one day with frito lay chips in it- Anyway red side shiners do work well, but agree that chubs hold up a lot longer. Also, one of my friends has a pond at his house with minnows in it, nothing beats fresh over frozen! He gets carp and fat head minnows, they both work great!


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## JAT83

How do you catch carp minnows?


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## LOAH

Same way. I have a bunch in my freezer from a pond by Utah Lake.


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## rugerdogdog

As far as how I rig a minnow, LOAH is right, it is very hard to describe. But I'll give it a try. You take an appropriate sized worm hook, poke it through the fish just in front of the tail fin and pull it all the way through, and place it along side the fish. You'll notice that they have a "twist" to them. That is, they won't lay flat on a flat surface. poke the hook in using the "twist" to work it in until the hook comes out the chin. The eye of the hook should be just poking out the side of the fish. Then throw two half-hitches over the tail. That's the part that allows a Powercast. 
As I said, it's hard to describe but very easy to do. I can rig one in under a minute. I suppose none of that really matters. Any way you can end up with a hook sticking out, pointed backwards, because they should pick it up head first, and throw half hitches over the tail, will work.
Also, I usually fish with the bail open. The theory is that they will swim off "chewing up" the minnow before they swallow it. When your line first starts to go out, just let it go. The first time they stop, close the bail and set the hook. Of course this is a bad idea unless you are watching your pole. If I am rigging for the kids or will be doing anything but watching my pole, I'll just leave a few feet of slack line in the water.
If anybody is still reading this and is super interested I could take a picture next time and post it?


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## LOAH

Do it. I'd like to see.


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## bucksandducks

So you just cast it out, LOAH's way and rugerdog's way, and let it sit out there until something takes it?


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## LOAH

That's what I do. If I haven't seen any action for a little while and I get impatient, I might tighten the line a bit and jig the minnow for some flash and then leave it alone again, or I'll just reel in and cast out again.


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## rugerdogdog

Yup, just let'r sit. Its just like worm fishing as far as that goes. Except the little fish won't generally go for a minnow. And trash fish usually leave them alone too, although I have caught a few carp, catfish, and suckers over the years.


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## BrookTroutKid

Can you use Goldfish you get at like Wal-Mart, kill them, and use them as bait in Utah?


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## rugerdogdog

Yes you can. I believe that is a popular tactic for strippers in Powell, or is it Wipers in Willard???


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## rugerdogdog

Good point. Sorry. I didn't mean to call catfish 'trash fish'. Its just that they are in the same group to me. That is, fish that I don't take home. Only because I have no idea how to fillet or cook them. I have had a few people try to tell me how, but they are always just as gross as a sucker when I catch them. 
However, a "big channel" would be a different story if I ever caught one.


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