Catch chub minnows ???

[MisterCompletely]

With chub minnows no longer being available to buy, I'm wondering if a person could go up to Scofield and catch a bunch either on a tiny hook and bit of worm, or with minnow traps. Has anyone tried that? I'd like stock my chest freezer for cutthroat bait for the grandkids at Strawberry.
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[RonPaulFan]

I want to catch them with a casting net. I have a small one and need to practice. Related to that, I'd also like to practice and catch minnows with larger than a ten foot casting net to be practiced for when I eventually get a sailboat and I'm on the ocean. I haven't heard one complaint that the minnows are gone because of any size casting nets, so why are the larger ones prohibited? If there's not a reason, then perhaps I'll ask the legislature to remove that prohibition. It's not that I want to deplete Utah of minnows. I just want to add that skill to my capabilities. I doubt that I'd harvest many minnows anyway.
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[Kent]

TubeDude and I did that last fall, at Scofield, with good success.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]As Kent suggested, it is possible to target just the minnows at Scofield. But it is also possible that those skinny cutt-ettes will also wanna play with your small jigs.

Oh yeah, we had greatest success fishing around the docks...where legal. And we picked up a few leftover redside shiners along with the chubs.

You may have better success with the redsides at Electric Lake. They swarm the shallows about June for spawning and you can catch them on small hooks, in minnow traps or with a cast net.

I am attaching my writeup on minnows. It has info on using both traps and cast nets.

Also attaching a pic of some special small jigs I make to fish for minnows...on size 10 hooks. But the truth is that any hook or jig with a bit of worm or small dough ball will catch chubs. Little pieces of Gulp goodies also work well.
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[MisterCompletely]

Thanks TD for that info. Yeah, I've trapped the shiners at Electric Lake, and even bought 2 traps just for that. But while contemplating what to tip the jigs with for the cutts, I thought about all those chubs at Scofield and figgered some of you guys surely had a good way of collecting some. I can imagine that the traps would potentially be faster, although catching them one at a time might be almost fun. I think I'll go up and give it a try, and see if I can preserve and freeze them using your suggestions.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]You will find that the smaller bait-size chubs are more difficult to find. They travel in small schools and there are not as many as there used to be. The big predators do a good job of eating the small ones before they can become big ones. The only small chubs and redsides we got at Scofield were around the docks...usually between the outside docks and the shallow shoreline.

On the other hand, the big ones are more solitary. We did best by fishing small jigs below a bobber...and keep it moving to find the fish. If you can rig a slip bobber to get deeper you will often do better than fishing too close to the surface.

Those big chubs are great bait for Da Berry. Fillet them and cut the fillets into nickel sized pieces as you use them. Keep them frozen until you use them if you can. They soften up fast after thawing. Some guys use too much bait to tip their jigs. Just some "sweetening" is usually all that is needed...and it does not use up so much bait.
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[gofish435]

I sent you a PM yesterday with an idea for chub collection.

Good luck!
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[gofish435]

I sent it again so I hope you got it this time.
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[ocean]

At Scofield I just use a tiny hook and tiny piece of worm it's hard not to catch chubs there since it's over run with them. I need to make a chub run up there soon toogood luck. Oh by the way by the dam it's chuck full of them always .
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[MisterCompletely]

Thanks, that's just the encouragement I need. I'll probably just drive up without the boat and screw around from shore to see what I can scare up. Probably feel like a kid again. []
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