Bullheads??

I live in the Winona area, Pool 5, and am looking for ideas were to catch bullheads. i went to the backwaters and tried to find them by site in 3-4 feet of water with no luck. any ideas were they may be this time of year and how to get them? i am looking for catfish bait of course. Buying them from Everts is a little to far out of the way for me, so i was hoping to catch some on my own.
thanks

city lakes is the only recommendation that I can offer right now. (I’m betting that Everts is much closer) I’ve been starting to explore some of the lakes south of TC and streams. Nothing to report as of yet. I know that others are able to round them up in certain areas. Hopefully they may share some ideas.
thanks
Larry

RELIABLE bullhead spots are worth every bit of work to find them. Around more heavily populated areas city park ponds usually are the best combination of convenience and success. Every year I try and scout some more good spots…but I keep coming back to the same pond which unfortunately is now 25 miles away. Talk to as many people as you can, most people don’t mind sharing where they have caught bullheads, to most it’s a nuisance.

I’d try any pond to small lake with a small creek flowing in or out. Don’t fish in the creek as much as right at the mouth.

Here is an idea that would be easy and your kids could even help out.

Buy yourself a
1. 55 gal fish tank from any pet store.
2. a filter (most tanks come in packages now an usually have these included).
3. Fill with water
4. Put caught or bought bullies in.

You could probably fit 3 dozen bullies or so in a 55 gal tank. They are easy to care for you can feed them left over worms minnows or anything you dig up in the back yard, making them cheap to care for. They will last a long time thereby saving you time of looking for bait as you would only have to restock 1 time every other week.

Pug,
You got the right idea. I have to say my success rate is much higher in these areas. (creeks flowing into or out of lakes or ponds) It makes sense.
Though I tend to see the smaller ones. 3-4 inches. Its amazing how much bigger a 6-7 inch bully is.

Audemp,
You also got the right idea also. I know Comanchero 15 put up a post some time back. He specializes for Catfishing on the St. Croix River. Very knowledgeable fisherman. He posted a thread on prepping bullheads for holding for bait.
You need to let them expell all the junk that they run through thier system, before you can consider putting them in a tank. Filtration will never be able to keep up with the first 24 hours of expulsion. After that you probably could hold fish. You in all likely hood would need to double filtration because of the size of the fish and quantitiy, even with a 55 gal tank. All wild fish process amazing amounts of ?????? Junk. everything that is in the water.(weeds, seeds, bugs, algae, it makes quite the soup after 24hurs.)
thanks
Larry

The MachineHead method…

Go to nearest shallow dam, dig out seine, net victims of flathead feast.

I guess I am lucky because clouds of 3-7 inch bullies swarm the outlet of Green Lake here. There are two lowhead dams within a few hundred yards of each other and I get as many as I can use in one pass.

I bring home and place said victims in a plastic 33 Qt. container. The cheapo storage type found at, say, Walmart. I also use chlorine stuff for ponds and make sure the power filter I hang over edge doesn’t get stopped up during first day or so.

After that the bullies seem to do just fine. They *can* go for more than a week without feeding, but start to look a bit ragged beyond that. Sushi style crawlers can tide them over if needed. READ AS: Ginsu & a cutting board you do not care about.

There are also oxegen pellets you can use in case a filter goes out during that first day. Make sure to change the water weekly about 1/2 the tank and use de-chlorinator this will help keep the fish longer and healthy before thier death in the belly of the beast (Flathead).

Here is an old post with some information on bait tanks and keeping your bullheads frisky. Hope this helps you guys!: Bait Tank Information

Hey Lookin4fish – Here are a couple of ideas to help you locate some bullheads in your local area.

#1: This is the url for the Minnesota DNR lake finder information: MN DNR Lake Finder Information
Do a search of some of your local area lakes in the request line on the lake finder page. When you pull up the information on a lake, there will be a lake survey given for most lakes. This will show you the results of the DNR’s survey of the fish population for that lake. Look for lakes with a high bullhead population. This will help you narrow your search.

#2. The simplest and easiest way to locate bullheads is to call your local fisheries office. You will find a listing of the fisheries offices on pages 74 – 75 of your 2006 Minnesota Fishing Regulations. Tell them what you are trying to do, where you would like to fish for bullheads and ask them if they can zero you in on any lakes or ponds with large bullhead populations. It doesn’t hurt to ask and they may be able to help you.

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Pug,
You got the right idea. I have to say my success rate is much higher in these areas. (creeks flowing into or out of lakes or ponds) It makes sense.
Though I tend to see the smaller ones. 3-4 inches.

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Yes, I do tend to catch smaller ones, but I where I catch them they are what I would consider medium. Of course it is different for every lake. If I had time after catching a dozen there, I would move to a different lake that has some nice big ones. But I could only bag a few because the bite wasn’t as good there and who wants to waste too much time catching bait when there is catting to be done!

Another option I have done is to get my dozen from Moore’s. Like I said, why waste time fishing for bait!

That’s awesome info C15!

lookin4fish, one other thought would be to check with a bait shop in Winona. I know that Mike from HOOKED ON FISHING in Rochester is aware of what lakes hold a good supply of BH’s…I would think someone in that area would have a good idea too.

I happen to have a great spot in Fridley that I can load up on bulls of all sizes on any given day. Now if only there were flatheads up that way…

Uh-oh, I just put 2 and 2 together. I live in Spring Lake Park. I know where you get them. I’ll keep my mouth shut if you supply me with a dozen 12inch, er, 7 inch bullies a week!

Pug, I bet you don’t know where I can get them…

Hint – it is connected to the Mississippi..and right off East River road.

Bingo, now if I can just figure out where. Actually, knowing what I know about bullheads, I think I know 2 places there I could get them. See how it pays to lurk?