Fishing Angles

Catching critters

From the Summer 2010 issue of Coast&Kayak Magazine. Read the entire magazine online.

I know it’s been a “creekin’ day” at my son’s summer day camp when I arrive to pick him up and the eight-year-old is soaked to the knees and wearing an ear-to-ear smile and splatters of mud. He’ll be clutching a battered cottage cheese carton containing a prize catch that could be anything from a crayfish or frog to a hellgrammite or a minnow, which we take home and place in a small aquarium we set up for temporary observation of the aquatic critters he brings home.

“Creekin’” is when the kids are allowed to wade and play in a shallow creek that flows through the summer camp’s grounds – under close observation by their teachers – and is a favorite activity among his classmates. Anyone who has spent a hot summer day knee-deep in a creek trying to nab crayfish, grab a frog or net a minnow can relate.

And if you like to catch fish while paddling during the dog days of summer, creekin’ is also a great way to catch the best – and freshest – bait to use when fishing from a kayak. There are ways and baits to collect without getting your feet wet to boot. Here are few of my favorites:

Catching Baitfish

In fresh or saltwater, the easiest way to get fresh minnows – other than buying them at the local bait shop – is to catch them in a trap made for the purpose. Minnow traps are made of wire mesh and are cylindrical in shape, with inverted funnel-shaped openings at each end. To set the trap, you place some bait inside, drop the trap in into the water and tie it off to the dock or shore. If you’re in a productive area and use an enticing bait (a can of cat food punched with multiple holes makes a good attractant; so do tightly squeezed bread balls), you may see minnows arriving almost immediately; otherwise, leave the trap out for a few hours or overnight and you can expect to have fresh bait flipping around the mesh when you check it.

If you prefer a more active approach – or need bait sooner than later – you can use any number of nets made for catching minnows and baitfish. A cast net is a round hoop of fine mesh edged with weights that you toss over areas where small fish are concentrated. The net is drawn tight around the catch by a line pulled through the center of the circle. Cast nets take some practice before you can expect to throw them so the netting opens properly on a consistent basis, but once you get the knack of throwing one you’ll enjoy catching the bait almost as much as reeling in the fish they catch.

Umbrella nets are fun and effective to use, especially in clear, shallow water where you can watch the minnows gather, although you can fish them “blind” for suspended fish too. Similar to an inverted umbrella, the mesh net is round or square in shape, from three to six feet in diameter, and held taut and open with wire supports. Each corner has a line that is connected to a single main cord that is used to quickly lift the net to capture baitfish that are swimming over it. I like to place the net on the shallow bottom next to a dock and sink bread balls over it to attract minnows. Once I see baitfish feeding over the center of the mesh, I lift it and add the contents to my bait bucket.

Crayfish, Crabs and other Critters

Freshwater crayfish and saltwater crabs hide under rocks during the daylight hours, and venture out to feed at night. If you’re quick and willing to get wet, you can catch “crawdads” by hand one at a time by lifting rocks and grabbing the crustaceans around the body just behind the pincers. As long as you target the smaller ones, the errant pinch you’re sure to get when you hold them in the wrong place won’t hurt too much...

Crabs and crayfish also can be caught in minnow traps or traps designed for catching them, which are set right on the bottom and left overnight.

On a hot summer day, the most active and enjoyable way to net a few crawdads, crabs or baitfish is to use a seine net. A rectangle of mesh with weights along the bottom, floats across the top, and poles of wood, fiberglass or metal along each end, seines are used in current and count on the flow to wash bait into the netting and hold it there until the netter can grab it.

The most productive bait-catching method when using a seine calls for holding it in the current with the lower edge of the net close to the bottom and the top edge near or above the surface. A lone netter can walk upstream with a narrow, one-person seine suspended across the current and hope to catch critters that swim past or try to flee and get caught against the mesh, but having a buddy or two to help makes seining more fun and effective, when using a one-person or a broader seine, that may stretch ten feet wide or more. With someone walking directly upstream of the net and turning over rocks, kicking up the gravel and generally disturbing the bottom, you’ll rout out the finned and clawed residents – any of which should make a great bait.

Catching ‘Hoppers and Crickets

Crickets and grasshoppers make great summer baits for freshwater species when fish are familiar with feeding on the insects that hop, drop or get blown into the water. You can catch grasshoppers all day long with a butterfly net, prowling fields where you see them winging away from your approach and then spotting where they land. Crickets can be caught at night with an old wool blanket sprayed with sugar water or sprinkled with cracker crumbs and left in a grassy field overnight. The crickets come for food and shelter and their legs get ensnare in the blanket’s fibers.

You can also use a whole loaf of bread to catch crickets; cut the loaf in two and dig out the soft, doughy contents, leaving two shells of mostly crust. Cut a thumb-sized hole in each end and put the two halves back together loaf-like, securing them in place with a large rubber band. Leave the loaf trap overnight in a field or area known to harbor crickets and by morning the inside should contain several prime summer fishing baits.

Be aware that catching your own live bait can be addictive. Don’t be surprised if you spend so much time – and have so much fun – collecting critters that you forget to go fishing!

Check the local regulations

Most states and provinces have regulations regarding the size of the nets and mesh that may be used to catch bait, what species may be caught and used for bait, as well as laws requiring identification on bait traps. Check with your local fisheries agency to learn more.

Dan Armitage is a boating, fishing and travel writer based in the Midwest.