Does anybody here pack in live bait? For minnows and such you would have to carry them in water (heavy). A 24 ounce jar of water weighs 1.5 pounds just for the water alone: pretty heavy!

I'm no fisherman. How difficult is it to catch live bait (minnows and such) from the bank of a trailside stream or lake with a net? Are there times when not enough of tiny baitfish to make catching them probable or worth the effort? Or is it pretty much always easy to do?

Assuming live bait is legal....

...if I felt I could only get the fish I wanted with live minnows, I'd probably carry a minnow trap - gotta be lighter than carrying minnows in water!

Insects (larvae) are pretty easy to catch in streams and the edges of lakes. It takes some time though! And a little cardboard tub of worms is pretty lightweight.

Most folks tend to use flies or lures (spinners mostly) in the mountains for trout. You must be wanting to catch some monster trout if you need minnows!

Good luck!

Hey Bill, if you can find a large soda bottle left as trash (hopefully not) you can use that as a minnow trap. Cut the top 1/4th off, reverse it, and you have a fish trap. Might need to adjust the opening hole and poke holes to lash it on, but it's real easy.

Ok thanks, as you all can see I'm no fisherman, thinking of taking it up, minnow trap seems like great idea!

Since you're a newbie, note that you will need to put some bait in the minnow trap, such as bread crumbs.

also note that here are lightweight collapsible minnow traps which also work as crayfish traps (think miniature lobsters).

Yeah, actually I didn't know about baiting the trap. Thanks for the easy solution guys. I had to google around to find how to make a trap out of soda bottles as you all pointed out. I found these step by step directions for dummies to help me out:

Two three-liter plastic soda bottles "A" and "B". Leave lid on "A" and cut off bottom 1/3 of bottle.

Remove the lid from bottle "B" and cut about
one-third of narrow neck off. Cut off bottom half bottle "B".

Place bottle "B" into bottle "A", tops pointing same direction.

Punch holes bottom sides of both bottles. Use twine to sew together.

Punch a few holes "A" to aid water flow so minnows stay alive.

Tie long cord bottom of trap to help when lowering and raising.

Remove lid, bait with bread, replace lid and place in water, tie down cord. Minnows will swim in through "B" and be trapped in space between "B" and "A".