Catching Shinners On The White

[trouthog]

i never have , but i been hearing that its good fishing... i keep reading all over.. i have taklked to a guide or two when i been at the river, but i have a buddy i was in the military with & he and his family are coming in from Montana for a week. I'd really like to try and get him hooked up an soem good fish...

so i got everything i need to catch um.. i went to cotter but only caught a few shinners.. got a bunch of what i think are redhorse suckers... fun for my boys to catch but worthless for trout as far as i know....

i was told to go to the walk over bridge at the spring & puy my trap.. i have tryed all different times.. can anyone help me? what am i doing wrong? do i need to get in boat & go to the mouth where the spring enters the river ? instead of way up futher up...

HELP ME PLEASE!!!!

[Al Agnew]

I guess you mean shiners...kinda like the difference between stripers and strippers.

First, for shiners it's easiest to go to one of the smaller, warm-water creeks. There should be lots of them, and you should be able to see them and know where to put your traps.

Second, I would think that trout that are so inclined to eat fish would eat any soft-rayed fish...in other words, they might not go for sunfish, but they'd probably go for any kind of minnow or small sucker. I'm not convinced you have to use shiners or other minnows that come out of the White or the spring you're talking about.

And you probably know this already, but it's very important to set your minnow trap so that the opening is pointed straight downstream or down-current. Minnows coming up to the trap approach by swimming upstream and into the opening. Finally, try different baits. Crackers, dry dog food, Wheaties all work, but some minnows might prefer one over the others. Dry dog food was always my favorite bait when I trapped big stonerollers and creek chubs for walleye fishing.

[trouthog]

i am looking for the olive green back w/ the black stripe.... some call them shinners, some call um Arkansas shiners .. her is a link ...http://www.whiteriver.net/articles/minnows.htm

i thought the same thing, but appearantly trout are pick little suckers.. cuz large bait shop minows just work ok ( so i hear), but the water of the white is too cold & the dont live long or thats what folks tell me.. i havent tryed them yet.. if i cant get any by the my buddy gets here we will buy some from the bait shop.. i think i may just be in the wrong spot..

not my trap by the way.. mine is the brand, but w/o the plate, i'm looking for one so it sinks fast & stays put ..

a buddy here at work told me gulp plastic types in the in watermelon work as well.. but i picked up the non-sented stuff incase we wanted to go up by the dam & fish the C&R area... bass pro make some that look darn close the real thing!

[Al Agnew]

You're talking about the duskystripe shiner (in Arkansas, in much of Missouri it's a closely related species, the bleeding shiner--they both look alike). They are usually very common in the creeks this time of year, so my suggestion still stands...look for them in some of the smaller creeks running into the White. The forks of Sylamore Creek oughta be full of them, for instance.

[trouthog]

thanks AL!