I dipped the net into the depths of the minnow bucket and retrieved a feisty five-inch wild sucker.

After lightly running the hook of the quarter-ounce jig through the lips of the sucker, I did likewise with the attached stinger hook, this time near the sucker’s tail.

Properly rigged, I flipped the jig-and-minnow combination out into the river and allowed it to sink to the bottom. After engaging the spinning reel, I retrieved a bit of line, just enough to elevate the combo a few inches off the bottom. Moments later, I felt a sharp tap and responded with an equally sharp hookset. Shortly later a 20-inch walleye was in the net, one of over a dozen quality-sized ‘eyes that found their way into the boat during an outing last week.

When it comes to live bait, there’s little doubt that most of the time we use minnows that are far smaller than what most gamefish are accustomed to eating. If you’re limited to what bait store have – and a lot of shops don’t bother even carrying minnows through the winter season – your choices are likely fathead minnows and golden shiners.

Not being a fan of shiners, my preference leans toward fatheads, large ones if they have them. But shop owners are at the mercy of what their suppliers can provide at this time of year, and what passes as “large” is often more in the medium department, i.e. fatheads in the two-inch range are pretty much the norm now.

If you want larger minnows, you’re probably doing to have to trap them yourself. Fortunately, that’s relatively easy to do, so long as the creeks stay ice-free. Low-gradient streams that flow through farmland typically support good numbers of suckers, creek chubs, and dace, all of which I’ve had good success with.

It’s common for large, deep, holes to be located just downstream of culverts, formed by the nozzle-like action of the conduit during periods of high water.

Such places often hold a good supply of baitfish and are handy to the road, a real plus when lugging around a water-filled minnow bucket. Dry kibble dog food is an excellent bait for a minnow trap. Remember that minnow traps need to be tagged with your name, address and phone number. And that you’re limited to a maximum of 50 baitfish.

When using creek bait that runs from four to six inches in length, it’s wise to employ some type of stinger hook. Otherwise you’ll likely miss a lot of fish due to short strikes, especially if you’re aiming for walleyes. Though I’ve never used wild suckers or chubs to target muskies, I have bumped into some river anglers that have excellent success with such. They use circle hooks to reduce the chance of deep hooking fish.

You can buy pre-tied stinger hooks or fashion your own. I prefer the latter and have them tied in advance.

Here is one method: Start by tying a number 8 or 10 treble hook to 10-pound test monofilament, using either a snell knot or a Palomar knot. Trim the snell to around eight inches. Take a number 1 crimp-on leader sleeve (ones from American Fishing Wire work great) and run the tag end of the snell through the sleeve, make a loop, and then run the line back through the sleeve.

Now tie an overhand knot in the tag end of line, but don’t cinch it down. Use a fine instrument (I use a fly-tying bodkin) to pull the uncinched knot down the end of the sleeve, with enough line on the hook side of the sleeve to give you the length you’re looking for. Two-and-a-half to three inches is about right for the size of minnow we’re discussing.

Now you can cinch down the knot and trim the excess line. The overhand knot acts as a jam knot to keep the end from sliding back through the sleeve.

Stinger hooks tied in this manner provide a loop that can be opened and closed, since the line will run through the sleeve. To use it, place the loop over the hook and then tighten it up on the bend of the hook.

Another option is to place the stinger hook loop over the eye of the jig before tying it to the main line. In either case. use one tine of the treble to secure it to the side of the big minnow, about two-thirds back from its head.

There are other options for tying stinger hooks, many of which are demonstrated on YouTube videos.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.