Do any of you make perch traps?

[oxankle]

Some years back I needed trotline bait and had no ready source. Rancher friend had ponds with green sunfish in them, but no way to catch them other than hook and line. We wanted four to six inch baits.

I found a model on the internet and made a cloverleaf trap. I've since made several for myself and friends.   I use 1/2 by 1 inch welded cage wire. The "cloverleaf" comes from the fact that the commercial ones have three entrances, sometimes four, and if you look down on them the exterior walls do have a cloverleaf pattern.   In plain fact, the walls simply bend in to make an entry chute. Once the fish is in it tends to follow walls attempting to get out, and each time it comes to that entry chute the walls turn it back toward the center of the trap.  From a distance it appears to be a two foot square cage with six inch side walls.

 These traps are remarkably productive. A 24" x 24" trap can easily catch 50 to 60 perch if they are there.  I use ordinary cattle cubes, usually 20% protein, for bait.  (The trap has a little door on the top, and a circular wire bait holder inside the trap extends far enough into the door so that cubes can be dropped into it.) 

When I left OK I gave my traps to a friend, thinking I might never need one again.  Ha!  Yesterday I made one, finishing it this morning.  Now to put a cord on it and drop it into a creek. 

How do you obtain trot line or limb-line bait?  Do you use traps?

[Deleted]

They are not Legal here in Missouri.

Rockpile

[oxankle]

Whoa!!!! Perhaps I'd better check the rules here!

I'm going to be aggravated if I can only use this thing in farm ponds.  I know they sell minnow traps here, so I may be in luck.

[paquebot]

Many states have a maximum size hole allowed on minnow or crayfish traps. Your trap would probably have a 6" slot. You're catching eating-size fish with that!

Martin

[oxankle]

Martin; on these traps it is the width of the chute rather than the depth that controls. While the chute is six inches high, it is only about 3/4 inch wide, actually narrower than the round funnel on minnow traps sold here.

On the flip side, a six inch green sunfish will look good to a big flathead. Set up the way I have it the more likely catch is 4 inch sunfish. Anything that can escape a 1/2 by 1" wire will not be there, nor anything thicker than 3/4 inch. The chute is somewhat adjustable but once set up I seldom fool with it.

[Deleted]

Jul 27, 2016 14:47:07 GMT oxankle said:

Martin; on these traps it is the width of the chute rather than the depth that controls. While the chute is six inches high, it is only about 3/4 inch wide, actually narrower than the round funnel on minnow traps sold here.

On the flip side, a six inch green sunfish will look good to a big flathead. Set up the way I have it the more likely catch is 4 inch sunfish. Anything that can escape a 1/2 by 1" wire will not be there, nor anything thicker than 3/4 inch. The chute is somewhat adjustable but once set up I seldom fool with it.

That is what makes them illegal here is the 6" inch slot, don't matter how wide. It can only be so wide and so tall.

I bought a Shad Trawl only to find it was illegal to use here. 

Rockpile

[oxankle]

Researched it here fellows. Can trap up to 4 inch bream, trap cannot have over 2 inch slot, so if I use it on public water I will have to add a reduction piece to the slot. Easy to do. I've a private pond offered now, so will use it there. I can use up to a six inch bream for bait here but must catch them on hook and line--no traps. "Bream" includes green sunfish---bluegills do not make the best bait. Twenty to thirty baits at a time will be all I can use.

The round minnow traps,up to a gallon, can have a one and one half inch throat---that will catch a larger minnow than most I've seen.

[paquebot]

If you're going for big flathead catfish, you're using the wrong bait. Best that we ever found were bullheads. They'll stay alive forever and those big cats love them. Clip their stingers and hook them halfway between the dorsal and tail. Cat will swallow them head first with or without stingers.

Martin