How do baby bullheads and sunfish wind up with minnows?

[Guest]

Seems to me that Sunfish and Bullheads fall from the sky.

When I was a kid we used to catch Sunfish, Bullheads, and northerns in the creek by my parents house.

The crick originates 2 Blocks from their house and isn't more then 2 feet deep in any spot, and freezes solid in the winter...So where do them little fry come from?

[Surface Tension]

Most minnows arent raised on farms. In fact I dont know of any minnow farms. They're. trapped from lakes and ponds.

[Guest]

Yes ST is right. When i was in the bait business we had all kinds of mix game with the bait. The only farm raised minnows are albino minnows or rosie reds as some call them.

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[This message has been edited by D-man (edited 10-11-2002).]

[Crawlerman]

I just thought it was "illegal to use live minnows seined/caught out of one place in another body of water" in Minnesota That's why I assumed they farm raised like Goldfish.

[Guest]

I'm with ST. The shop by my house buys hers from a guy who traps 'em. I wish they were raised. I wonder if minnows would respond to stress better if they were farm-raised? Does large scale minnow trapping screw with the eco-balance of a body of water?

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RobertC

[Surface Tension]

Trapping should have little effect on minnow population. The reason being the best place to trap minnows are in ponds to shallow for fish to survive. Why? because theres no fish to eat them. If you had to buy minnows from a farm you would pay a lot more for them. Once in a while you will get a game fish that got missed during sorting. Its usually a bullhead though. They can be a big surprize when you stick your hand in the bucket and get on heck of a sting .CRICKEY!

[This message has been edited by Surface Tension (edited 10-11-2002).]

[Jimmy]

Another small fish that gets trapped in the process is the Stickleback. Just saw one in the minnow bucket today.

[Crawlerman]

Just a curious question: Most of you have prally ran into baby sunfish, sticklebacks, and almost defiantly baby bullheads in bait bought from a store right? My question is how do they get in there? If the minnows are raised on a farm or such how do the other fish get in? Or are they bred in natural ponds that allready contain other fish and then just seined out? Or is it just a matter of the "wrong eggs" getting mixed in when they are hatching them?

[Crawlerman]

I've got baby sunnies before

[Steve Foss]

I know a guy who traps and wholesales minnows. Most minnows, especially fatheads, are trapped from natural lakes and sloughs. The fathead lakes in northern Minnesota are often shallow and fairy dingy with mud bottoms, which is passable sunfish and excellent bullhead habitat. There are killifish and sticklebacks in some of those lakes too. Killifish have narrow vertical band markings. I've seen them in with fatheads now and then. The guy I know has caught all those species along with fatheads, and sometimes they stay in the mix after sorting.

Suckers are often reared specially in ponds, though.

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 10-12-2002).]

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 10-12-2002).]

[Guest]

Just a fair warning, be sure you have no bullheads or other non bait fish in your bait pail in ND. If you do this may lead to a $250 fine.

No game fish or bullheads, carp, ect, can be transported.

We do see them in the bait at times so be sure to look and get them out if you spot them.

I have seen tickets issued for this and the angler get them, not the bait dealer.

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[Crawlerman]

Ok. The thing I am trying to clarify is this: According to the DNR regulations you can seine/trap your own bait provided you use that bait on the same body of water. Essentially your saying that bait dealers get a permit to get around this law as they would be seining/trapping bait that would be used on multiple bodies of water? I wonder if there are restrictions to what ponds/lakes/etc they can get there bait; because if I remeber correctly the sole purpose of this law was to prevent the accidental spread of exotic species (such as the ruffee and the goby)

[Guest]

It is not illegal to catch your own bait and transport it or use it on other bodies of water unless you harvested that bait from infested waters.The Dnr has a list of infested waters.You can also use those bullheads,they are considered minnows untill they reach 7 inches in lenght.What you cannot transport but can use in the bodie of water that they were harvested is crayfish.

[Crawlerman]

Ah.. thanks for clarifying that. Now I just need to get my buddy to help me seine some crappie minnows... too cold this year though; next season.

[Paul S]

There is a guy by Merrifield (north of Brainerd) who has an aquaculture farm and among other things he raises and sells to bait dealers red tails, golden shiners and fatheads.
Paul S.

[Steve Foss]

Golden shiners are a bait I never saw in 30 years fishing in N.D. and northern Minneosta. Since moving to NW Wisconsin, I've seen them all over. I'm sure there must have been some around Minn., but I just missed them. Had great luck with the big ones last winter under tip-ups for northern.

[Surface Tension]

sftcatfish theres lots of lakes around Duluth with Golden shiners. Chalstoms and Fishermens corner sells them.