It is kind of a pain to make a whole wire minnow funnel trap so I was thinking, would a minnow swim into a pvc pipe or other pipe? What if I used a 5 gallon bucket? I would of course put a wire funnel on them. Anyone have any other good minnow trap ideas. I need to catch enough to fill my aireated containers for the spring.

The clover leaf design is what the commercial guys use, easy enough to make but kind of large.

2 or 3 liter pop bottles work pretty decent also, cut the top off, invert it and your done.

Never had much luck with minnow's and dark traps like that. Little bit with bullheads but that's about it. Best minnows trap I ever used was the clover leaf style with the center mounted bait tower. Think I made two for like $30. Would be less now that I have the rabbit cage clips and pliers.
But yeah not to hard at all especially if you use a angle grinder with a cut off wheel to cut your mesh. Though the first one will take a lil fanaggling to get right. Will say though don't expect to keep them long if people see them. Folks will pay and arm and a leg for them !

… these are cheap and they work… I think 7$ on Amazon

Same thing I use.It folds right up

You can catch a great many times more minnows with a seine or cast net, than you can trap in a small trap.

Keith

My brother in-law in Virginia can make it look easy.I just can't seem to get the hang of using a cast net.

Minnow traps work in areas that seines or cast nets would get hung up. Not hard to make a trap with a funnel. Only need a funnel on one end. If in current place the funnel end downstream. I use 1/4 screen cloth.

Also have a flat one that is hooked at all four corners with a rope in the middle.You just lower it in the water with some bait on top of the net.Just wait about 5 minutes and slowly raise it.

Yep 5 minutes with a seine and you get a bunch of bait.

Try taking your gum out before you throw it.

Lol.....I can't chew gum as it makes my jaw snap to much.

Tired those before, turtles loved em lol

If your only catching enough for yourself pretty much any mesh trap will work, look up the Gee minnow trap, not too expensive and they work ok.... if you want to make your own, copy one, just put one slightly longer funnel in, bait with cat food or whatever you find works. Lots of cheap chinese traps on ebay, the one Savell showed is one type.
I potted salt water minnows, (killies) commercially, I made my own pots, basically a modified smaller mesh eel pot, paid off my house with killies, lol

The big "trick" is to set on minnows, don't expect them to go out of their way to find your trap.

One more .............

Yep they will swim into pvc pipe. I have made some from 12" irrigation pipe with a wire funnel on one end and just wire mesh flat on the othah end. A minnow trap I use that have funnels on both ends I block one shut.

It takes some practice to get good with a cast net. When I was a kid, I practiced on grass until I got good. The trick is to grab the net in similar sized bunches. When you throw, use the weight of the weights to extend the net open, as it rotates.

The cast nets work best on flat mud, sand or limestone bottoms with nothing to entangle the net.

I loved working a seine and got very good at it. seining was one of my favorite things to do.

Keith

ADC how can you post gif’s like that?! Without a link??? I want to try

It takes some practice to get good with a cast net. When I was a kid, I practiced on grass until I got good. The trick is to grab the net in similar sized bunches. When you throw, use the weight of the weights to extend the net open, as it rotates.

The cast nets work best on flat mud, sand or limestone bottoms with nothing to entangle the net.

I loved working a seine and got very good at it. seining was one of my favorite things to do.

Keith[/quote]

I’m pretty dang good with a cast net, my minnow spots are very rocky though. I’m plannning on building the cloverleaf minnow trap so I can catch the big shiners and chubs that are very abundant in the river I want to trap