Gunforhire35 you described it to a T I also take it with me on my john boat and catch minnows off the back all i need is my net and crackers and a bucket to put the minnows in how many times you go fishing and run out of minnows and the minnow trap has a couple of down falls people like to steal them and if the creek floods some times you lose them and it takes awhile to get minnows with them but you can get minnows through the ice with them you cant do that with the umbrella net as i would call it. so what you waiting for give it a try.