How To Catch Mud Minnows In A Minnow Trap (Best Baits & Spots)
- By: Austin Moon
- on
Using a minnow trap is one of the easiest ways to catch mud minnows.
You can catch a lot in a short time, you don’t have to worry about throwing a cast net, and the trap itself is cheap and readily available in most stores.
In this video, you’ll learn exactly how to catch tons of mud minnows in a minnow trap, including:
- What materials you’ll need
- What bait to put in it if you want to catch dozens of mud minnows
- And where to put your trap to catch them quickly
Check it out below!
How To Catch Mud Minnows [VIDEO]
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Here’s what you’ll need to catch mud minnows in a minnow trap:
- Minnow trap (I used a Frabill trap)
- Rope
- Bait
Best Bait For Mud Minnows
As far as bait goes, mud minnows aren’t picky!
They don’t migrate, so they have no choice but to eat whatever is in their area.
I used blue crab in this video, but here are a few other options:
- Shrimp
- Fish carcasses
- Dog or cat food
- Vienna sausage
- Bacon
- Really, anything smelly!
Where To Put Your Minnow Trap
Mud minnows are called that name for a reason… they like mud!
You can find them on mud flats or in muddy creeks, as well as grass flats.
They’re really hardy and can be found from sandy coastal areas to brackish backwater areas.
In this video, I found a bridge over a muddy creek that I could see minnows in and dropped it down in there.
I waited for 20 minutes and had enough minnows for a full day of fishing!
Conclusion
Redfish, black drum, trout, and flounder all love eating mud minnows.
And to catch a full day’s worth of mud minnows, all you need to do is put a minnow trap baited with something smelly in a tidal creek, mud flat, or grass flat.
Have any questions about catching mud minnows?
Or have any other ways of catching them?
Let me know down in the comments!
And if you know someone who wants to catch more mud minnows, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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Great video! I’ve been wanting to trap minnows while here in south Florida, but when I looked at the FWC regs on trapping, it appears that only shrimp, stone crab, blue crab and pin fish can be harvested by recreational fishers using traps. The rule is 68B-4.020 Saltwater Fish Traps.
FWC does authorize minnow traps for freshwater use.
So I’m confused after watching this video. Can I legally trap mudminnows, or any other minnow species in saltwater?
What is the ideal size of the opening?
Austin, Thanks! Great video. To the point and you really covered it.
Could you catch mud minnows in a mud bottom residential canal about 1 mile from a creek? The water is brackish and tidal. How does using these as bait compare to other baits like shrimp or white bait? Can you keep them alive in the trap overnight? Shrimp don’t survive overnight in my canal so you can’t go out before the bait shops open in the morning if you want to use live shrimp. Are there likely to be other fish mixed in that are juveniles of species that you are not supposed to keep? What’s the easiest identifier of the mud minnows?
Great job Austin! I love the on location video and the camera inside the trap was awesome. After my 2021 artificials only challenge I’m going to try this
Thank you, Jeff!! I really appreciate that man!! I love that your doing artificial only its going to make you much much better with artificial!!
Hello really enjoyed the video on mud minnows. As an inside member i would like to ask if you could give me any locations to catch the minnows in the Sebastian, Florida area. Thank you bill
Thank you Bill, I really appreciate that!! id be glad to help! The first location I noticed is at Dale Wimbrow Park Boat Ramp. On the opposite side of the peninsula from the boat ramp looks like an ideal area to look for them!! Another location is Sebastian inlet state park, if you can access any of those lakes on the east side of coconut point there is a good chance there will be some in there, especially if you can access any of the culverts or areas where the water runs underneath the dirt road, like the one you will see if your entering the dirt road from A1A heading towards coconut point! There is another location just like this off the side of Birds Impoundment trail right by Melba island. I hope this helps Bill!!
Are mud minnows in flats (gulf harbors,fl) I have pinfish traps that work great..?? Tks
Thanks for the comment Gary!! Absolutely Mud Minnows should be in your area!! I took a look at google earth and found an area that may hold them and could be worth checking out!! Right off the side of green key rd there is a small overpass (doesnt look like an overpass) with a culvert running underneath the road. On the north side of the overpass where the culvert drains there is a deeper hole, and it looks to be a perfect place to look for Mud Minnows!! Ive never used a pinfish trap for them but it could work, you just want to make sure that the entry hole isn’t too big because you will lose a lot of minnows if they can swim out easily!
I’m at 6215 bayside dr new port Richey..I’ll get trap like u used..but was saying i love pinfish trap as always have them in live well! Thank you excited to learn new stuff!! Salt strong the best
I have used minnow traps many times and, from experience, if u take the claws of the crab, u will catch a lot more minnows.
Thanks for the tip Kenny ill have to do that from now on!! I never thought about that but it makes a lot of sense!!
What do you do with them after you catch them? I’ve never fished with live bait, and don’t have a live well. Will they survive for a while in a bucket with water?
Thanks for the comment, Kevin!! Mud Minnows can be an awesome bait, Ill post some links below on how to use Mud Minnows as bait. Mud Minnows are really tough and will outlive most live baits. They will probably stay alive for a good while in a bucket, but I would recommend to get a small bubbler for the bucket just to be safe and make sure they live as long as possible!
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/catch-redfish-mud-minnows-jig-head/
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how-to-rig-mud-minnows/
Nice video
Thank you Pablo, I really appreciate you taking the time to make this nice comment!