Palmfishing.com.au

There are many commercially available bait traps on the market, but my advice is hang onto your cash and make your own. About 10 minutes in the kitchen is all that is needed to make the best bait trap money can't buy. I have used several, from commercially available clear plastic traps to folding net style, and all cost good moneyand none work as well as the one described here. Here are the steps to make your own, works really well, and is basically free and environmentally friendly, as the plastic bottle that is used is not thrown away, but reused. 

Materials 

One plastic juice bottle (the 2 litre variety with a handle, not a cloudy one but clear plastic.)

One old wire coat hanger

One heavy Snapper lead (or similar weight)

One pair of sharp scissors.

Method

Cut a circular hole in the front of the juice bottle, (about 4cm diameter) not on the label side, but the other side. You can remove the label if you wish but this is not necessary.

Cut your coat hanger wire to desired length, (about 25cm is fine) bend at about 10cm to form a hook. This wire is used to anchor the trap to the sand, by placing it through the handle of the juice bottle.

Keep the lid to the bottle in place. This is used to remove the bait when the trap is full and must be left in place, so that bait cannot escape when in the water.

Finished!

Now to catch the bait.

Fresh sliced bread is best, so that a slice can be folded in half without breaking. Once folded tear a circular piece of bread to form a hole of about 4cm or the same size as the hole in the bottle. The slice is now carefully placed into the hole and the slice opened out so that the hole in the bread and the bottle line up. Don't allow any bread to hang over the sides of the hole in the bottle, as this will slow the process of capture down.

Place a few handfulls of sand into the bottle with the snapper lead and anchor the bottle to the sand with the coat hanger, obviously the bottle will fill up with water. Water depth need be no more than 30cm. 

Step back and wait.

Once panicked flashing is observed or a lot of movement inside the bottle, retrieve the bottle, take out your live bait, and place in a bucket of fresh water. If more baits are required use a new piece of bread, and repeat the process.

Please check your states max live bait numbers, as it varies. This trap is legal and free. Please check out this link for maximum size regulations  (the trap proposed here is smaller than maximum allowed by fisheries) If you are outside NSW please check with your local fisheries deartment.

The rest of the bread can be used for burley or for your lunch! Good luck.