Home Made Minnow Trap

After reading the reviews on Bass Pro and listening to others on here about them not closing right and having to use bread ties etc I decided to build my own. I bought two 1/2 water jugs ($1.87)and some 20 gauge X 18" floral stem wire(88 cents) at Walmarts. At the hardware store I bought some hardware cloth 1/4" mesh 24" X 5' for $4.85, enough to do 6-8. Also a tent stake to tie it to, I stole that from my son



The pieces of the two jugs I'm going to use



I used a 12' X 19" piece of wire and drilled holes in the parts of the jugs and then laced the wire through them. It ended up 20" long



Here is a better shot of the wire lacing and that's a 1" opening in the jug top for the minnows to come in



I didn't put any holes in the other end so when I get it out of the water I can hold it up and look at what I caught while their still in the water, If I like what I have I just unscrew the bottle top and let them go in the minnow bucket

On Edit-I think I will have to drill holes in this end so it will sink properly.



As an extra bonus the jug I just cut the top off will make a good little bucket with a handle to get fresh water for the minnow bucket or bail the boat



I think I may go fishing in the morning and try it, I'll let you know how it works

Nice lookin trap Blackhawk.

Thanks, I've been sitting here thinking about it and I will probably have to drill holes in the big end of the jug so it will sink and not hold air.

If A Guy Puts His Mind To It He Can Really Think Up Some Cool Things, That Looks Awesome Buddy Let Us Know How It Works.

ps, You Can Always Use It For A Big Beer Glass.

I've got a few of those water jugs around and a roll of that kind of mesh wire too...O might make a couple of those to sell at the yard sale.

I like making stuff like that, I finally figured out why I didn't catch any minners in 3 days with mine, it wasn't the dog food that wasnt working, DUH, I had the opening facing upstream and it neds to face downstream to work. They can swim in against the current but don't seem to be able to swim through it heading downstream, I don't know why but I experimented a couple of yrs ago and found this out but had forgotten. I think it's because of the current going through is very unstable due to the different openings and all. I will have to take mine back out to the same place, when the water goes down and use the dog food again to see if this was the problem.

I like that minnow trap.

I bought a half pound of minnows this morning for tomorrow's fishing trip. I gave the girl a 10 dollar bill and she gave me 17¢ change back. I guess every thing is going up. The last time I was there I bought a quarter pound and it was $2.50. I think I'm going to start using jigs instead of minnows. I can't afford them at that price.

I tried it out this morning and it works great, caught about 30 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" bream over a span of about 90 min. Not very many minnows in that pond. I will have to put holes in the jug part so I can use it from the bank without that end floating. Putting it in from the boat it works fine without the holes

Thats the perfect size bait that I need to catch...I bet I could catch plenty of pinfish and small croaker for bait with one of those....probably a few small bait crabs too.

Here's pics of the one I made a few years back, It's made from 2 one gallon plastic jars. I used the top end off of both jugs so that I can take off either end to get the fish out easy and can stick a hand in each end when mounting my bait inside. It has worked pretty good for me so far. Beats having to pay a small fortune for minnows.

Those are some great ideas guys. Wonder how well they'll catch goldfish.

Probably won't fit in your fish tank, ridge

ive got a minnow trap i found one day that some body left behind ....dident know what ta bait it with ....u guys gave me an ideal ...dog food ty ....n lol papa

Just get a small loaf of sub type bread, put it in and it will plaster itself up against the back of the trap and the minners will go in to eat but can't get back out, or hope they can't.

ive got a little bag with mine ....do i put it in that or should i just put in in the trap ???

I just put my bread in the trap.

ok ty papa i will give it a try