catching minni's

[Reel Time]

most the time, i will catch my own killies, and out of all the bait i've tried inside it,, yellow american cheese seems to work the best for me.

[catfish hunter]

I always use a sciene net cuz it only takes a couple minutes ,but when I do use my traps I use dead crabs

[woodrufflou]

my grandfather taught me when i was younger to use bread...its always worked for me

[catfish hunter]

my grandfather taught me when i was younger to use bread...its always worked for me

when I use bread I always use stale bread the has bunker oil on it ,but when I put them in my tank they always puke it up and make a mess so I try not to use it unless I have nothing

[Capt Craig]

When I have been cleaning fish I'll keep some of the scraps and carcases and put it in my traps. It works like a charm

[rb218]

How do you guys keep your killies alive for the long haul (week or 2)?  Tank? cage? in the water?

 I have been using my plastic killie bucket (the kind with the big door on top) but it gets slimy and they dont seem to do very well even when feeding them regularly.

[Reel Time]

 rb, i have kept killies at home for a week, never tried longer so dont know about 2weeks. i took a big tub filled it with water from the hose and dropped in an air pump from an aquarium to keep them going in a shaded area.

 and yes that was fresh water, thats the amazing thing with those guys,,

[ped579]

My vote is bread.  Always worked for me.  As far as saving them.  Whatr we did not use we let go.  There always seemed to be enough the next time around.

HAppy Catching.

Paul

[CapBob]

The best for kellies is a quartered up female horshoe crab with eggs. They go crazy and the pots are jammed. But alas they are protected now.

But in my youth caught thousands that way (helped pay for my firsy car).

Now we use crushed up crabs or dead rip bunkers

[catfish hunter]

we used many tricks ,one was a flattened coors light can the shine atracts them {need bait also},try some catnip in an old sock.there are many tricks ,one that I use is I throw my racks in the same spot time after time then when I need bait I pull the siene net around the area

[CAPT. JOHN K.]

Catfish hunter....You have to use a 2 tank(holding pen) system. After you get them in your trap with the bread you transfer them to a separate pen for purging. After they have spit up all the bait (bread/bunker/cheese/etc. You transfer them to the 2nd pen where they will stay in decent condition. If they are not purged they will begin die-ing off. I use this system in my lagoon and have never had any problems. You'll always have a few that don't make it but that's to be expected. Hope this helps.
                Capt. John K.

[IrishAyes]

Nice info Capt John.  Something I wasn't aware of, the purging thing.  Thanks. 

[ped579]

I am glad I did not had to worry about all that I spent most of my fishing life getting fresh killies whenever I needed them.  On our way out we would stop at Cattus Island and set up our traps in the drainage ditches sit back have a cup of coffee and in about 15 min had enough bait to last all day.  What we didn't use went back to area we caught them.

Happy Catching.

Paul