Catching Madtoms

[elvispacman]

I remember catching one of these a while back all my years fishing in the bayou ive only caught 2 with a cast net by accident. but ive seen a lot recently in really shallow water(less than a foot deep) anybody know how to catch them before they see me or some traps that i can set up?

[mistahoo]

minnow trap or cast net?

[elvispacman]

already tried the cast net, they see me standing before i even get in the area to throw them and streams filled with stuff thatll ruin the net

[mistahoo]

set a minnow trap and leave it there for a good while.

[HawgHunter]

Minnow trap with dry dog food as bait. Leave it there for a few hours while you go fishing or cast netting somewhere else.

[elvispacman]

whats a minnow trap look like

[mnemenoi]

I have always been successful using a hand net under debris.

[mistahoo]

Re: Catching Madtoms

whats a minnow trap look like

Cylinder like with two openings. I'm on my phone so I can't post a pic

Sent from my spaceship using Tapatalk 2.

[HawgHunter]

whats a minnow trap look like

You can buy minnow traps like this from academy fairly cheap.

MinnowTrap.jpg

[HawgHunter]

whats a minnow trap look like

Or you can make your own like I did from the directions on this site.

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?38891-A-Bream-Trap-You-Can-Build-Yourself

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[HERM]

Or you can make your own like I did from the directions on this site.

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?38891-A-Bream-Trap-You-Can-Build-Yourself

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I really like this one ,I may attempt to make one myself.

[HawgHunter]

I really like this one ,I may attempt to make one myself.

It really is quite simple and cheap to make. I say go for it. Instead of the metal clips to hold it together I saved money using string to sew it together.

[HERM]

It really is quite simple and cheap to make. I say go for it. Instead of the metal clips to hold it together I saved money using string to sew it together.

I have a mad stash of heavy duty zip ties. Freebies from work. LOL

[HawgHunter]

I have a mad stash of heavy duty zip ties. Freebies from work. LOL

Perfect. Can't beat freebies when trying to go cheap.

[decal]

I've never caught these in minnow traps, but I suppose if you left them out overnight in the right area you might be successful. When I first got into natives a few years ago these were at the top of my list for local fish. It took me quite a while to get onto them, but since then I have found them to be quite abundant. I've almost always found them in small, shallow, slow moving creeks with a dipnet. Like mnemenoi said, dip through debris, flip rocks and dip under/around them, and look in thick submerged plant growth (hornwort and bacopa are particularly productive). I have caught dozens of these throughout the area, many in Sugar Land.

You might want to carefully look over the difference between madtoms and bullheads... I think if you're seeing the fish swimming in the open, especially in a big swarm, they're probably bullheads. Bullheads get a lot bigger and will eat any fish that fits in their mouth, whereas madtoms generally stick to inverts and fish food.