I fished about 3 days a week all summer long and only had a small
problem 1 time. After the other boater saw what I was doing he was
amazed at the bait I was catching and I ended up giving him about 5
doz spottail minnows for free.

During the week on lake lanier there are not many boat ramps that are
busy.




"Bob Rickard" wrote in message ...
A glass or clear plastic minnow trap (the best you can find) baited with
broken crackers and fished in the riffles is hard to beat for catching
minnows. While you are letting the trap fill with minnows, use a home-made
hand net made from a 2' broom handle, a triangular bent coathanger frame
(flat on the bottom) and covered with loosely stapled, soft window screen
material. Hold it downstream from rocks that you kick over to allow the
current to wash crawfish and helgrammites into the net. Pure fun, and deadly
bait!

Important! Wash out that minnow trap with dish detergent after every 2 or 3
trips, and it will produce forever.

--
Bob Rickard
www.secretweaponlures.com
--------------------------=x O')))


"CR" wrote in message
om...
I recently hired a guide to take me smallmouth creek fishing. We
fished artificials with not much luck then switched to creek minnows.
The action immediately improved, we started catching rock bass and
smallies. I was really hoping that I could catch just as much with
artificials but it seems that live bait catches more fish. I feel like
buying live bait is cheating, plus I like to keep things simple and I
don't like the idea of rigging up some complicated live bait tank with
an aerator. However, if I could be fairly certain of catching minnows
or crayfish myself, in whatever creek I'm fishing, then it seems OK to
me.

So my question is, "Is it possible to catch my own bait (minnows,
crayfish), consistently, from any given stream, with a few simple
tools like a cast net and bait bucket?"

Chuck.

P.S. All the fish we caught on minnows were lip-hooked and released.