I fished smallies for half an hour on Wed. We caught seven in shallow rocks. They were very active.

Sorry for your loss. When I read this I thought of my dad and there are many similarities in the story. That is way they call our dads group “the greatest generation”.

It sounds like you have a ground wire problem. Try cutting the ground where you know it is good and re-ground it to the frame.

It would be totally legal then to catch a small bullhead and use it for bait. I have gotten bullheads by mistake in other minnows too.

I think what you did might have been illegal. Bullheads are a technically a gamefish with a limit of 100 and you can not use gamefish for bait. The DNR would probably frown on you moving the fish from one body of water to another. I would check with them before you do it again. You will not find bullheads in any baitshop.