Who catches their own bait, and how?

[The Fisherman Guy]

Just like many others before me, I am now addicted to fishing Walleye. The trouble is, bait can be an expensive endeavor if heading out for a weekend with a few buddies. 6 tubs of minnows will vanish when the bite is on, with three guys fishing.

Night crawlers are easily found under rocks, and on the lawn after rain. Minnows and leeches can be tough to catch in abundance, but they can be caught with a bit of know how and patience. Looking at previous threads, there have been some great suggestions for bait for minnows and leeches, but nothing definitave on where to find them.

Anyone care to share some of their tricks to catching your own bait?

How about home-built traps? Lets see your creations!

[ESOXangler]

find an old wire minnow trap, throw a few pieces of bread in her, and tossed it in a creek or a few feet off from the lakeshore. makesure you freeze the minnows before you take them out.

heres a way to catch leeches. put some duck decoys or peaces of wood into a place with leeches and leave it there for a while like a few days or so but the leeches will cling to it so you can just take out of the water and shake them off.

[jts1]

Back in sask we would drill some holes in a bucket or ice cream pail drop in some liver and a few rocks. Toss it in the dugout allways had tons of leaches

[MrDave]

I used to go to Open creek dam west of Rimbey in the winter and catch garbage cans full of suckers, with just a dip net. They filled the hole where the spring run in down a culvert. Probably still can if they aren't running air into. Other wise it was the minnow nets and waders.

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by jts1

Back in sask we would drill some holes in a bucket or ice cream pail drop in some liver and a few rocks. Toss it in the dugout allways had tons of leaches

X2 did this back in Sask as well


I also remember when I was younger going out and catching little frogs and using them to catch some big pike. At that age I think catching the frogs was almost as fun as catching the fish!

[coaldale fisherman]

I heard if you put a sheet of shiny metal like ducting in shallow water over night, the next morning it will be covered with leeches.

I've never tried it yet though.

[Fishfinder]

I jus hover above the water like a bee, then, using my spidey sense, I grab em with my tongue! Fast like grasshopper!