How To Make An Old Timers Minnow Trap

Old school anglers know that making a minnow trap is one of the best ways to bait your line. You do not need to stop at the local tackle shop to pick up bait. You will not need to invest a lot of money in expensive, pre-caught bait that does not give the results that a minnow trap will give you.

If you enjoy catching your own bait and limiting visits to your local bait shop, consider catching your own minnows in a minnow trap, or following easy instructions on how to make a minnow trap of your own--easily, and with things you have in your own home or can easily purchase in the hardware department of most any store.

Use half or fourth inch hardware cloth, and make a basket about a foot square. Get a piece of hardware cloth about a foot by three feet long. Use a length of two by four to weight the cloth in foot long sections and bend it into the shape of a box with foot wide sides. The ends should be laced with small weight wire.

Cut pieces to fit one of the ends, and lace these on with more of the wire. Just be sure to make the lacing secure and tie it well. Cut two pieces of the hardware cloth, and place it in the other end so that it forms a 'v'. Lace them at the outer edge, but allow them to swing free, like a door. Bait it with dry dog food or bread, and place it over night in areas where there is lots of cover and the water is shallow. You should have plenty of minnows in the morning that have gone inside for a meal and could not find their way out.

Another way to build a minnow trap utilizes items you probably already have lying around your home. It is fun and easy, and you can even make building this minnow trap into a rainy day activity to occupy your little anglers, as long as you supervise and help out when needed.

The items you need to make your minnow trap are:
2 three liter cola bottles (you can use two liter bottles, if you don't have the larger ones)
1 Large nail
Twine or other cotton string
Heavy shears or utility scissors
Vise grip type pliers
Regular wire pliers
Utility knife with sharp blades (adult use ONLY)
Candle
Matches
One bowl of cold water

Get started by using the utility knife to cut the bottom 1/3 off one bottle. You can just throw that bottom away, but be sure to keep the bottle cap on the part you are keeping. Cut off just the neck and shoulders of your second 3 liter bottle, approximately half an inch or so below where the bottle begins to straighten out to form the body of the bottle. You can throw away the bottle and the bottle cap from that bottle.

Get a large bowl of cold water, and have it, your candle, your nail, and all your bottle pieces close at hand. Sit the uncapped bottle into the capped bottle, with the top pointing downward, so that it can act like a funnel allowing the minnow to swim down into the capped bottle top and be unable to swim out to escape.