What's a "Slick"?

[Go_Fish]

Are "slicks" a kind of stream minnow? I hear they're better than shiners for walleyes. Also, how do you rig em?

[WebFreeman]

I think it's a horney head minnow, but not sure. I've had luck seining them at beaver creek park. There is a creek that runs under the road there. We hooked them through the lips.

[SKMO]

Are "slicks" a kind of stream minnow? I hear they're better than shiners for walleyes. Also, how do you rig em?

According to a friend of mine who is a Fisheries Biologist "slicks" are stoneroller minnows. There are a couple different species but very difficult to tell apart.

I myself have heard numerous times about "slicks" over the past several (25) years. Seems to be a local name for them especially in deep south central MO.

I seined minnows with a couple Bradleyville locals back in 1982 and all they wanted was "slicks" or "topwaters", which is the Prairie Topminnow.

They did catch fish. And I would have to say that the topminnow was the most durable live bait I have ever dunked. They would stay alive on the hook and wink at you when you released them after a long drift.

[WebFreeman]

Listen to SKMO, but I am right about a good place to seine them.

[bryantsmallie28]

Thats right. What people call slicks are i think also called stonerollers and i think there are quite a few species of them but they are really hard to tell apart. I have always had a lot better luck with them than any other, but their best quality is they are so much easier to keep alive and stay alive so well on a hook. I trap a lot of slicks every year mainly out of bryant and sometimes out of a few smaller creeks around home, and i also trap quite a few shiners but usually just throw them back because you cant keep them alive. A lot of timesshiners die when you stick them with a hook or when you cast them. Slicks are kind of hard to keep alive in a tank, but i keep mine in an old washer tub livewell in the creek or a pond and they will stay alive all winter long. The key is cold water, once it starts to warm up they start to die.

[Andrew Schaefer]

A word about minnows: make sure you know what you've got when you're seining creeks or trapping minnows. There are quite a few rare or endangered species of minnows around, and getting caught with some in your bait well wouldn't be good even if it was by accident.

[Sam]

Knowing what you've got would be the thing. I helped a friend seine the Finley, and I ended up with a big picnic cooler full of minnows. Most of them were the "slicks" he wanted, but there were about half a dozen different kinds, mostly unidentifiable by me.

I could recognize some gar minnows because they were perfect little garfish, only about 2 inches long. Lots of the others, I had no idea what they were.

The "slicks" made great bait, though. They'll stay alive on a hook for a long time.

[PowersiteProwler]

Yes, Andrew Shaefer you are soooooo correct! I've seined minnows before around The Tin Horn area of Beaver Creek, and done pretty good in getting quality top waters. (assuming the water level is just right) About 2-3 years ago some guys noticed me seining and they followed behind hitting some of the shoals I had hit. They were catching baby minnows alright, but they were baby walleye. If you've never seen real small walleye there are many similarities to a top water minnow, you have to look at the mouth and fins closely. I pointed out to them that what they had were baby walleye, not top water minnows, and they eagerly got rid of them...QUICK! They had 4-5 of them in their bucket...Now that's a fine those boys didn't want to mess with, I can promise you that!

[hornyheadchub]

Here are some pics of a Central Stoneroller(Campostoma anomalum) of family: Cyprinidae, Minnows or carps, a Northern Studfish (Fundulus catenatus)and a Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus) both are types of topminnows.

I don't have the heart to harm a topminnow, they are just too good looking and useful in our ecosystems.

Stonerollers are VERY tolerant of poor water quality, but most importantly they serve as the nest builders for nearly every other nest spawning fish in the creek/river. Stonerollers actually transport hundreds if not thousands of rocks of similar size to a spot they have chosen to spawn at.

If you pay attention in Spring and the first months of summer you'll see places in the riverbed that look as if someone has taken a bucket of similar sized rocks and made a neat little pile (sometimes +24" diameter). This serves as a safe-haven for stoneroller eggs to develop, and subsequently many other fish will use the nest after the Stoneroller has left. Goggle Eye, Smallies, Sunnies, even the myriad of shiners, darters and dace use these nests.

So the next time you seine 'minnows' out of the creek, think about the impact you are having on the reproduction of your favorite gamefish and the forage fish that feed them.

[SKMO]

Here are some pics of a Central Stoneroller(Campostoma anomalum) of family: Cyprinidae, Minnows or carps, a Northern Studfish (Fundulus catenatus)and a Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus) both are types of topminnows.

I don't have the heart to harm a topminnow, they are just too good looking and useful in our ecosystems.

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I am just gravitating to anything called a "Studfish". Has to be a heck of a bait.

Why are topminnows critical to the river system?

I will probably never seine and use another (topwater) again since I do not bait fish on the rivers much anymore, just wondered what important nich they occupied