Shiner size

Just wondering what is the biggest shiner you guys have used and caught fish with in the fall?

Can’t say I’ve encountered a shiner to big.

we used shiners for spearing decoys. like nhamm said.

usually my problem is not finding big enough ones

The bigger the better. All year round. I usually get a few smaller ones in winter, however. I have had days where mini pike will smash my 6″+ shiners and not touch the little guys, leaving them for the larger fish. Strange, but it happens.

The reason I am asking is I have been trapping my own Redtails and shiners and some of the shiners are HUGE! 7″ and even 8″ shiners. I have caught walleyes on shiners up to 5″-6″, but I have never used or seen 7″-8″ shiners from a bait shop. I am looking to use them this fall and I always use big redtails but have never tried shiners this big.

I’ll take em if you don’t want them,

Any tips for trapping shiners or any other kind of minnow. I would imagine one has to live near shiner habitat which would likely be far from me. I live in Southern MN. Just started dabbling in it because I have a creek on my property. Been trying to get fatheads but every time for the last 5 years I can only get creek chubs. I even made my opening smaller but nothing. At this point I assume there are only creek chubs in this creek or that the smaller minnows do not like dog food?

Sounds like your creek only has creek chubs. Fatheads run up the creeks when they spawn, if you have a pond connected to that stream it may be worth trying to trap there. I haven’t had an issue catching fatheads on dog food.

I won’t use shiners… I stick with very large creek chubs. I am talking 6-9″ creekers are perfect for fall walleyes.

My favorite way to fish. And the funny thing is that you would be surprised at how many smaller walleye in the 12″ range you still catch with the big creekers. Its is a blast watching that line peel off the reel when you let them take the bait.