How are y'all catching your small bream for bait ? Cast net just like for shad ? Maybe using tiny little hooks and bobbers ! I can catch those little tiny 4 inch bluegill but only when I am trying to catch eating size crappie

I use a panfish hook with a small bit of worm and catch them right off the dock. You can also purchase a perch trap and put bread in it as bait and they will swim into the trap and then cannot swim out. The only other way is by castnet.

Just find some shaded areas near the grass and put on corn or worm. Bobber, bottom or jig it man! It works for me!

cobester

I usually catch mine near brush piles near the shore fishing with crickets or a small of worm under a bobber.

Find the nearest small creek and you will find all the perch you want. Small long shank perch hook, split shot weight, and a bobber. Bait with worms, crickets, grasshoppers, corn, flies, etc. They'll eat just about anything, just put a very small amount on your hook.

Set out a perch trap with dog food and come back in a couple of days and you should have all the perch you'll need for a weekend. Academy had perch traps for $25.

Wiggler,
A cast net around boat ramps usually nets me perch from 2 to 4 inches. For me it's quicker than setting a trap or trying to fish with those little bitty hooks. THe approaching summer improves my catch-rate, I do best right before sun-up.

I prefer the perch trap method too - have found the traps coated with the black rubber coating that you buy at Academy catch more perch than the shiny metal wire traps - don't know if it's just the location I'm setting traps at or not, but I have two traps with the silver mesh wire I made myself and two with the black coating, and the black ones catch more perch... Maybe they're just like me - if it's from Academy, it has to be good...

Are you talking about perch traps or minnow traps?

If you are talking about perch traps, the square or clover shaped ones at Academy, they are only legal to use in saltwater.

Minnow traps, generally barrel shaped can be used but the opening can't be larger than 1" by 3".


TPWD Outdoor annual page

I believe the trap sizes also apply only to public waters. If you're doing it in a private pond, you can use any method ya want (check with the landowner first). That's what I've always understood anyways.

I was out crappie fishing the other day and there was a family out there using little hooks baited with what looked to be worms with a small weight fishin on the bottom. They didnt even have poles, just using line wrapped around a stick. They caught a mess of bream. We were back in a cove.

I don't have the time to spend catching them one at a time with a hook. I simply stuff a floating pool chlorine dispenser with bread and throw it into the water where the bream are known to live.

When the floater starts jiggling from the bream pulling bits of bread out of it, I simply toss my castnet over it and pull in the bream, float, and all!

I've always managed to net enough bait for a night's flathead fishing... and with a little more work, enough to bait a trotline.

Tkishkape, that sounds like a great idea. How about some details? Do you use the crust too? How tightly do you stuff the dispenser? Any other details you can think of will be appreciated.

Actually, I just kinda press the bread through the mesh so the little nibblers can reach it.

There's no sense in wasting good bread... I usually use a slice from my partner's sandwich. The bream don't like mustard, though.

Two or three slices of any soft bread will work or a crumbled McBiskit after the kids eat all the meat and filling out. Once again, stay clear of the mustard.

The traps I found at Academy are rectangular shaped - about 1' x 2' with a throat in one end with a 1" x 3" opening. The label says "minnow trap".

I have a little pond near the house. I just take a 33 with a small hook and some corn. I can usually catch a dozen or so in 15 minutes.

Lester