Live minnow fishing

[jackopup]

I want to know if anyone else out there uses local caught minnows for pike bait.
i have had 18 lb Pike on a 2 inch minnow in the river clyde
i use a lead attatched to 3 size 16 treble hooks & put the lead inside the minnow with a treble in the tail , belly and head
Very deadly for all predatory fish
inc Salmon , Trout , Seatrout etc..
This method of fishing is legal in parts of the scottish borders
ie Hawick angling association water , River TEVIOT
I usually catch the minnows in an old cut in half 2 litre juice bottle baited with white bread
Anyone have any other methods
Please Share

[Baz T]

As a lad, when I lived and fished in Scotland for trout I used to use an old wine bottle with the indentation in the bottom, (I have just googled it and apparently the indentation is called a punt). I would use a poker to chip away at the indentation, and make a small hole. I would put some bread in the bottle, cork the top, tie on a bit of string, and fling it into the margins of a small dam I fished for trout. I would be able to fill it with loads of minnows (some quite large ones too) which had swam in via the indentation at the base (bit like a little tunnel) and they couldnt get back out again.

I would fish various methods. Normally either lip hook the minnow under a small float as a live bait, or if the minnow was dead, I would slide a slim barrel weight onto a hook length, then slide the hook length and barrel weight into the minnow body (trying not to burst it!). The hook would be sticking out of the minnows mouth/head, and I would then fish it sink and draw style, pulling it up through the water backwards as it were, and then letting it flutter down headfirst through the water. I used to fish some remote dams and artesian wells (nothing huge) and had quite a bit of success on those methods. I was 12 at the time, so it was all great fun and exciting using a small minnow live bait to catch a brown or rainbow trout. Sometimes takes would be powerful, other times just a light bump as you felt the minnow flutter down through the water. I would leave some slack, wait a few seconds and strike - sometimes successful, sometimes not!

[chazyboi]

as baz says we used minnow traps and old demijohns used for wine making with bread in ,,we used the minnows for large chub and perch great bait ,,,,,bleak were great pike bait on the 7 you could drop a piece of bread on the water in stourport basin and put your landing net under it not so many now

[the pyromaniac]

I've done it for black bass, sunfish, trout, catfish, northern rockbass, and other North American predators. My brother-in-law does it quite often for traíra, tucunuré, pacú, piranha, dourado, corvina, cachorro, jaçundá, and black bass in Brasil. All around the world, big fish eat little fish!

[the pyromaniac]

Blasted double post!

Move along... Nothing to see here....

[jackopup]

Thank you all for sharing the minnow comments with me , Very interesting

[Ripple]

Originally Posted by Baz T

As a lad, when I lived and fished in Scotland for trout I used to use an old wine bottle with the indentation in the bottom, (I have just googled it and apparently the indentation is called a punt). I would use a poker to chip away at the indentation, and make a small hole. I would put some bread in the bottle, cork the top, tie on a bit of string, and fling it into the margins of a small dam I fished for trout. I would be able to fill it with loads of minnows (some quite large ones too) which had swam in via the indentation at the base (bit like a little tunnel) and they couldnt get back out again.

I would fish various methods. Normally either lip hook the minnow under a small float as a live bait, or if the minnow was dead, I would slide a slim barrel weight onto a hook length, then slide the hook length and barrel weight into the minnow body (trying not to burst it!). The hook would be sticking out of the minnows mouth/head, and I would then fish it sink and draw style, pulling it up through the water backwards as it were, and then letting it flutter down headfirst through the water. I used to fish some remote dams and artesian wells (nothing huge) and had quite a bit of success on those methods. I was 12 at the time, so it was all great fun and exciting using a small minnow live bait to catch a brown or rainbow trout. Sometimes takes would be powerful, other times just a light bump as you felt the minnow flutter down through the water. I would leave some slack, wait a few seconds and strike - sometimes successful, sometimes not!

Did exactly the same ! The method was in every fishing book at the time as well as in the good old Angling Times !

Great days !

Ripple.

ps. Yes, I'm an old git !

[martin56]

Used to be able to buy minnow traps which you baited with bread though never used one.
Caught a good few perch with minnows - if i caght a minnow by accident i'd cast it back out again on the same tackle & often got a perch.
Once had a minnow SPINNER which had a needle about 2" long with a brass propeller @ the front & a couple of size 12 trebles on plaited wire along the side.

[Paul_Murphy]

I've been told that minnows are a very good bait for Chub as well. My local river is absolutely plagued with them, but when ever I have used them I've had no joy. I guess there are to many tro choose from for the bigger fish. I have read that freezing the minnows and them using them later on in the winter may bring out some fish when other options fail.

[Ripple]

A great Chub bait !

Best paternostered on a large single hook using a large-ish cork bodied float.
Try deep holes close to bank near tree roots for Chub and big Perch !

Ripple.