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Targeting Golden Shiners
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Golden Shiners have always been an incidental catch in my experience. Anyone care to share their catches and hopefully conditions when you did, so we can understand this tiny mouthed favorite Prey of Apex Predators? I have no idea how to target these Golden Shiners . I'd probably go with a #6 or smaller Aberdeen hook and a piece of worm if I did though . I recall catching around 6 in a row as a kid next to a Willow tree and that was the most at one time I ever caught . Come to think of it this one was caught very near an over hanging willow as well as Maple Tree . Photos - Bluegill - Big Bluegill (ning.com)
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Latest Activity: Nov 20, 2023
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Comment by John Sheehan on November 20, 2023 at 7:34pm
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Great contribution Jeff thank you. I agree that a light wire hook Aberdeen #6 ,8 or 10 is perhaps the best hook to use when catching these small, mouthed Shiners. In fact I use 3" shiners to catch Crappie and generally use a 4,2 or 1 Aberdeen hook when trolling or drifting for 12" and bigger Slab Specks. The longer shanks are good for removal. With the light wire, whatever bait you use is less burdened and stays livlier.
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You mention Grass Shrimp which I understand is a favorite Yellow Perch Bait. I recall Greg getting a Golden Shiner one Year when we were fishing over in a cove by a stream inlet. We were on the Yellow Perch quite well when Gregs shiner was caught.
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Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on May 27, 2023 at 6:49pm
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Although Tooty’s bead head was on a heavier #6 hook, my grandkids and I have used them to catch hundreds of big golden shiners in our community lake…..it’s no wander the bass and catfish are big in there…..eating good…
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Just because you’re crappie fishing with a 1/32 ounce jig/live cricket combination doesn’t mean a big golden won’t strike….see below!
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I received some of Tooty’s homemade ties over ten years ago….I dubbed them “cotton candys”…….almost every time I fish them I catch a golden shiner…..there is a little red piece of plastic in the pink thread…..my guess is this resembles something that they really like……..
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With so many grass shrimp in our creeks and rivers I have determined that the golden shiners will feed on these…..I’ve caught many in cold water with a small firefly jig tipped with a grass shrimp……you will find that a wire hook is best similar to a Sabiki rig….they will often grab the bait while swimming fast in schools…..I will attach a couple I caught in cold water in my region…..the firefly has a #10 wire hook…
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An 1837 watercolor painting of a golden shiner by Jacques Burkhardt.
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