This part of MI of primarily SWAMPY! All over the south and east side of the county! Lots of areas were drained 150 years ago. Little drainage ditches everywhere. The southern part of the county, the northern areas of the two counties to the south, are the headwaters area for the four major rivers that flow from southern MI. The Grand, the Kalamazoo, The St. Joe, and the River Raisin all start around here. I have to drive for at least 30 minutes until they get big enough to be a decent-sized river, although I can practically catch fish at my doorstep. Both of the fish pictured were caught out of the Grand River, within a couple miles of home.
I've been playing with my minnow trap the past couple weeks. Been using cheap dog food and a piece of bread for bait. Not having much luck. I might need to switch over to cheap cat food; that's what I caught all the chubs on a couple weeks ago. However, that spot has high numbers of chubs, so it might just be location. I've seen a few videos on youtube from a guy up in the UP that swears by Gees minnow traps. Of course, I'm using a Frabill. Always had good luck with it back in OK, but up here has been mostly non-effective. I'd buy a Gees trap, if I could find one. Nobody local has them. I've looked online, and found some there.
I also like to do a "bait cage" inside the trap. Used to use a cricket tube, which fits nicely. It keeps the bait from floating up to the top of the cage, forcing the minnows to enter the trap to get to it, instead of picking at the bait from the outside of the trap. Only problem with a cricket tube is that the end caps aren't glued on very well, they tend to pop off. Also, the end caps are a bright yellow color, which makes the trap highly visible when it's in the water. I've done what I can to "hide" the trap, using 40 lbs test mono for the line, and a water bottle with no label for a marker, attached to the line. No one's going to pick up an unlabeled bottle for the deposit.
I haven't replaced my previous cricket tube. They only cost a couple dollars at Wally World. I could go to Menard's and get a roll of 1/4" hardware cloth, and make a tube from that, and spary-paint the tube a dark color (did that for my crawfish trap).