what is in the bait bucket

So our first run at minnow trapping wasn't the huge success I was hoping for. Me and the kiddos went to a local still water spot and tried soaking the trap for a few hours in one of the channels of the lake. We baited the inside with dog food from the house and made my safety line out of dacron fly line backing. Then we tossed the trap out and let it sit. My first observation is that all the dog food floated and continued to float even after a couple hours. I don't think that that factor helps.

In the time that our trap soaked I sent the little ones scavenging for worms. They came up with nearly 2 dozen crawlers and we sent those into the drink under a slip bobber. We caught a few fish from their self harvested worms and continued to check the trap that remained empty. We moved the trap a few more times and caught a few more fish on the worms, but the trap still struck out.

Oddly enough we caught more shiners on worms then in our trap...

I'm going to ID this as an Illinois golden shiner

I'm preparing for a weekend in the driftless and that means 48 hours of straight trout fishing madness. Can't wait!

shimano bantam coriolis co-200b

I have a serious sickness, it really came on full force this winter when fishing was at its slowest, but it has continued on into the spring. I can't seem to help myself but I've been buying up all the vintage fishing gear I see. Some I like well enough to add to my personal collection, and some I play with for a little bit and end up flipping it. Being able to resell things for a profit is pretty cool but the other benefit is I get to have my hands on pieces of fishing history (if only for just a bit).

This Shimano Bantam Coriolis isn't really what I would classify as "vintage", but Shimano is a brand that has great name recognition in the industry and holds its value well.

Stay tuned this week for a few fishing posts, more gear and some exciting trips in the next few weeks!