Best time to start collecting?

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X24

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2007
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Nebraska
When would be prime time to start collectiong natives in the midwest? I'm just so anxious to start getting free feeders (fathead minnows) and some other cool oddball natives (creek chubs, small sunnies).

Ice just all melted a week or two ago and i know its WAY too early, but what water temps or time of the year would be good starts?

Thanks,

Mike
 
i live in nebraska to i have most luck in the late spring to middle of summer for most natives. for baby gar the best time is during round july when the rivers are down lower and run a net threw some little pools created by the edges of the river when the rivers are low. let me know what your looking for i might be able to help you and where

for minnows go to walmart or anywhere else there is a good supply of fishing equipment and buy a seine net(youll need help from a friend for that) or there are minnow trapps that work great for both minnows and crawdads. to get mminows in there throw some bread in there for crawdads throw some kind of meat. for sunfish wait a couple weeks after the first couple spawns. and watch the regs for certain lakes. sunfish for it to be "legal" must be caught by hook and line. if theres any other natives your looking for let me know
 
I have a lot of relatives up in Norfolk, i didn't know there was anybody with over a 55 gallon tank haha.

I live a little west of Columbus. I have a net and minnow trap i use to get the minnows, but a seine net is kinda out of the question for where i gather my minnows from. Small creek with lots of concrete pieces dumped in it. You net the Elkhorn? I love fishing it during the summer. Shallow enough to walk out onto it and then just cast into those deeper pools and pull out channel cats.
 
ya i fish the elkhorn quite a bit mainly by taha park or out by the rendering plant where the elkhorn is joined by the north fork of the elkhorn river. the elkhorn up here produces a ton of minnows just wait till the water is lower and look for them in shallow areas. specialy areas that are gettting no water flow. you can usualy feel the minnows when you wade out in the water and they end up brushing up against you. if you are looking for stone cats, topminnows, johny darters and a few sticklebacks( i have caught more of them at calumus and lake yankton though), i know a couple places by peirce for em. you know the aquairum in yankton? i used to donate alot of stuff to em.
 
Ya whenever we camp yankton i check it out. The fish farm part is really cool too.

I get minnows, creekchubs and some occasional odd natives out of Looking Glass Creek, althought you've probably never heard of it. I live right next to the Loup Power Canal (that should ring a bell to you), there aren't many small fish in there though, just about the smallest fish you can pull out of that canal is a crappie.
 
ya i know the loup and i heard of that creek before. i havent givin the aquairum anything for a long time. bout bout 7 years ago i gave em a blandings turtle that i caught down at two rivers. then bout 5-6 years ago i gave em alot of darters, top minnows, stone cats and a couple other things i cant remebmer at the moment. and i ended up with three orange spotted sunfish i got from them. if i figure out how to post pics i can post up a lot of natives ive caught
 
andy1234;1701878; said:
ya i know the loup and i heard of that creek before. i havent givin the aquairum anything for a long time. bout bout 7 years ago i gave em a blandings turtle that i caught down at two rivers. then bout 5-6 years ago i gave em alot of darters, top minnows, stone cats and a couple other things i cant remebmer at the moment. and i ended up with three orange spotted sunfish i got from them. if i figure out how to post pics i can post up a lot of natives ive caught
Click to expand...

They had a 75 or so gallon tank with a lot of darters and stonecats and stuff in it last time i visited. Could have been from you.

But anyway, late spring it is, i'll post pictures up if i find anything worthwhile.
 
I don't know temp, but as soon as the fish come in to spawn, I'll have my net ready.
 
I collected a lot of my natives in December - January wading in freezing cold water. It just took a long time to acclimate them. None of them died and they were easier to catch because it was so cold.

Collect whenever you can stand the weather. There will be fish there *shrug*.
 
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