Feeding bullheads -)

  • Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59996
    July 11, 2006 at 1:37 pm #1219855

    Figured I better take a looky see at the boys this morning as I’ve been changing the water in the evening latly…

    I was using some sucker minnow at Evert’s yesterday and brought home about …4. One 5 incher and the others were maybe 3 inches…Dumped them into the bait tank with the boys.

    Well, 150 hungry bullheads turned those suckers into milky white water and plugged my pond pump! Little skin and one backbone was all that was left.

    Just finished cleaning the bait tank…again as I just did this two days ago ’cause the alge was getting out of control…

    NOW, I’m ready to go…a bit wiser about my bullhead friends …I might add.

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    July 11, 2006 at 1:39 pm #459493

    What do you normally feed your bullheads? For future reference. I would think small crappie minnows would work best as they would stay alive until eating, thus not adding to the mess the bullheads already make?

    farmboy1
    Mantorville, MN
    Posts: 3668
    July 11, 2006 at 1:42 pm #459495

    I was waiting to hear the rest of the title, Feeding Bullheads….To the favorite Wife

    I have never considered feeding bait anything while waiting to be fish food. Is this something you guys who keep bullys for extended periods of time do, or just leave them be?

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    July 11, 2006 at 1:47 pm #459498

    I haven’t kept them past a week. I think a week without food is nothing to them, but past that I would want to feed them just to make sure to keep them in tip top shape.

    sliderfishn
    Blaine, MN
    Posts: 5432
    July 11, 2006 at 2:06 pm #459506

    Quote:

    I was waiting to hear the rest of the title, Feeding Bullheads….To the favorite Wife

    Ron

    Steve Root
    South St. Paul, MN
    Posts: 5651
    July 11, 2006 at 3:28 pm #459534

    Years ago I had a “pet” Bullhead in an aquarium. He was maybe 8 or 9 inches long. Ate lots of crawlers. One day after Ice fishing I had several shiners left over. They were about 4 inches long. I didn’t want to flush them so I threw them in with the Bullhead for the week. It took him two days but he ate all of them. It was unbelievable. He grab one by the head, and then ram into the side of the aquarium to force it down his throat! Downright scary. If Bullheads got big I’d never go near the water. It also make you wonder what might happen if you were catfishing with 5 lb suckers instead of 7 inch Bullheads….

    Rootski

    demoncleaner
    East Troy, WI
    Posts: 246
    July 11, 2006 at 4:33 pm #459558

    Quote:

    It also make you wonder what might happen if you were catfishing with 5 lb suckers

    You would catch a 6 lb. Flathead.

    hof
    Rochester, MN
    Posts: 2443
    July 11, 2006 at 5:36 pm #459589

    I’ve got a few bullheads in my aquarium. They eat worms and minnows without any problems.

    Good Fishing,
    Mike

    kylepono
    La Crosse WI
    Posts: 16
    July 11, 2006 at 10:42 pm #459764

    obivously new to this forum been doing a lot of reading now I need some info, been using gills(4-6″) and perch about the same size with good success on some ok sized cats but are bullheads a better option or should I just start using bigger gills…I’m in La Crosse(P8) a lot of water to get used too since moving from Madison area…

    Thanks, K

    MachineHead
    Posts: 50
    July 11, 2006 at 10:50 pm #459765

    The reason bullheads are so good is their tenacity. They kick for hours with little input from you, and stay that way for a long time vs. say a sucker or some other victim.

    ggoody
    Mpls MN
    Posts: 2603
    July 11, 2006 at 10:56 pm #459768

    I don’t ever feed my bullies all that does is create a mess.

    Hay Kyle welcome to the forum glad to have you aboard, your lucky you get to use Sunfish for bait we Minnesotans are not allowed to use them, Sunnies, Bullies, Suckers work great for Flathead Catfish bait not sure about the Perch maybe someone could chime in on that….

    Good Luck…….

    Ralph Wiggum
    Maple Grove, MN
    Posts: 11764
    July 12, 2006 at 12:03 am #459784

    Welcome! Agreed. Bullies are tough, but I think a lot of us MN fishermen would be using sunnies if we could.

    kylepono
    La Crosse WI
    Posts: 16
    July 12, 2006 at 3:15 am #459840

    just got back from a short excursion in the slough areas around Swift Creek, full moon and low levels really making it difficult, had some runs but nothing was hitting hard except for acouple of nice northerns and the skeeters damn forgot the OFF, going to try picking up some bullies, anything special working for them or should I just use the good ol’crawlers…

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59996
    July 12, 2006 at 4:12 am #459856

    Hey Kyle! Welcome to the cat world of IDA! Where the big boys talk!

    Just use a piece of a crawler..no sense wasting a whole crawler on a bullhead.

    WI has some very liberal laws reguarding what you can use for bait…might want to check them, but unless they’ve changed them…you can use anything..that’s legal to have in possision…and flats will eat anything!

    You may have heard the old saying…there’s flatheads…and everything else is just…bait. Very true in WI!

    Above is what is left of my 5 inch sucker after leaving him in with my angry bullheads.

    kylepono
    La Crosse WI
    Posts: 16
    July 12, 2006 at 4:33 am #459860

    well I thought my aquarium of pirranha where vicious I may have to start another aquarium with some bullies in it would be little interesting to watch them gobble up whatever I decided to feed them…K

    larry_haugh
    MN
    Posts: 1767
    July 12, 2006 at 5:14 am #459868

    BK,
    you sure you didnt forget some suckers in a bucket somewhere to stew for a few weeks. Yummmie.
    Looks like something out of Dirty Jobs.
    thanks
    Larry

    david_scott
    Twin Cities
    Posts: 2946
    July 12, 2006 at 2:09 pm #459977

    Quote:

    BK,

    you sure you didnt forget some suckers in a bucket somewhere to stew for a few weeks. Yummmie.

    Looks like something out of Dirty Jobs.

    thanks

    Larry

    A few weeks?

    I just emptied out my bait cooler last night. My battery went dead on saturday and I have been too sick to tend to the tank..

    Well, in 4 days(not weeks).. about a dozen bullheads and a half dozen big suckers.. LIQUIFIED!

    I poured out the tank and there was one little, tiny chunk of meat from something, and a pile of fins laying on the bottom of the tank… no skin, no skulls, just a whole bunch of greasy funk that looked something like … greasy funk!

    There is still enough odor coming off the tank this morning to get an Iowan excited from 20′ away! (good thing the lid is closed)

    emover
    Malcom, IA
    Posts: 1939
    July 12, 2006 at 2:18 pm #459982

    Hey B-day Boy!
    Hope you are feeling better soon
    now watch the iowan references

    dave

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59996
    July 12, 2006 at 7:09 pm #460078

    FD…it must have worked ’cause Emover’s coming up this weekend!

    Smell travel further that 20 miles!

    audemp
    Wi
    Posts: 721
    July 12, 2006 at 7:56 pm #460085

    You could have made Bullhead wine!! I heard it has a very nutty bouqet and goes well with desserts!

    farmboy1
    Mantorville, MN
    Posts: 3668
    July 12, 2006 at 8:04 pm #460088

    Quote:

    You could have made Bullhead wine!! I heard it has a very nutty bouqet and goes well with desserts!

    I am looking for the shiver, shiver, puke puke icons

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59996
    July 12, 2006 at 8:11 pm #460091

    That’s what I was thinking!

    david_scott
    Twin Cities
    Posts: 2946
    July 12, 2006 at 9:23 pm #460119

    All I can say is… yesterday was a day I REALLY wish I had a pick-up and not a van when transprting the tank!

    I dont know what became of that water but we were both giggling for some reason a mile down the road!

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