Mud Minnows

[ronaultmtd]

This time of year one of my favorite live baits is mud minnow or chubs...easy to catch, hardy and everything that swims eat them...a wire minnow trap with a strip of bacon is the easiest way to catch a bucketful of mud minnows- I sort them so I turn the small ones loose and only keep the jumbos...some refer to them as "striper candy" but in my experience blue catfish find them irresistible- snakheads, bass and slab crappie can't pass them up as white perch, redfish and speckled trout go for them as well...most any predator eats mud minnows- if there are flounder in the area this is the live bait to have....

[mchottie]

i've never heard of bacon used as bait, have to try that once the weather improves. and if you have any leftover after setting the trap, LUNCH!

[AintMisBehavin]

WASTE PERFECTLY GOOD BACON ON MINNOWS!!!??? Blasphemy man! Where do you get those wire traps anyway?

[ronaultmtd]

Wally World, Dick's, Anglers...most any tackle shop has the wire 2 pc minnow traps...a fish head will work as will a crushed crab or a hot dog- bacon is easy to pop in and it catches the most...but when they are thick they will get in the trap when there is not bait at all in there...and I usually put the trap in the edge of grass in a foot or so of water...

[D3NAL1]

you might have me coming in there for the bacon!

[AintMisBehavin]

Thanks Ron... might be able to spare half a piece of bacon. (Wonder if I can still fry what the minnows don't get?)

[Redfish12]

Ron, those minnows are awesome for bait and very hardy! I have seen them kept alive in wet paper in a cooler (no water) for days. How do you like to fish them?

[ronaultmtd]

If I am flounder fishing I use an line sinker to a swivel and three feet of mono to a long shank hook- I hook the chub thru both eyes and put the rod in the rod holder and drift with the current- when the rod gets a solid bend I will pick it up and reel in the flounder/fish...If I am using them as Candy for stripers I live line them exactly like I use spot...when anchored blue cat fishing I drop them to the bottom and then reel up a turn or two so they are under the kayak just off the bottom-and bass fishing I use them on a slip cork and a split shot an inch or so above the hook

[Redfish12]

Thanks Ron! I use them on the captain's rig style rigs with a squid strip for flounder although most the time these days I just use gulp on a bucktail. I have fished them on a slip cork for trout but never really tried them for much else. They are like baby piranha and will clean out a fish carcass in no time!

[Slobber Bob]

The ole "bull minner" as they are referred to by some of the guys I used to work with that were born and raised in southern Dorchester. Some of them also call turtles turkles though.

Riddle me this.... how come whenever I've used minnows, I always seem to catch better on mummichogs than killifish? Is one really better than the other? Or is it just a coincidence?

[ronaultmtd]

A frisky minnow is the one that gets eaten first...a lethargic, weak minnow seems to get eaten by bottom feeders- skates, rays, catfish...

[AmberjackYakin]

This time of year one of my favorite live baits is mud minnow or chubs...easy to catch, hardy and everything that swims eat them...a wire minnow trap with a strip of bacon is the easiest way to catch a bucketful of mud minnows- I sort them so I turn the small ones loose and only keep the jumbos...some refer to them as "striper candy" but in my experience blue catfish find them irresistible- snakheads, bass and slab crappie can't pass them up as white perch, redfish and speckled trout go for them as well...most any predator eats mud minnows- if there are flounder in the area this is the live bait to have....

BACON! A good cheap hotdog is the way to go

[Fishinfool]

BACON! A good cheap hotdog is the way to go

You guys should be ashamed! Feeding bacon or a hotdog to bull minnows! You are going to raise their LDL cholesterol!
Bada bing...