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Thread: techniques for hooking live minnows

  1. #1
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    Default techniques for hooking live minnows


    Let hear from everyone on this one.

    Whats the best way to fish with live minnows.
    The best way or your favorite way to hook the minnow. Through the lips? The tail? Through the eyes? Just under the fin?
    What size hook? What color hook? Weight you use? More than one hook?
    What type and size minnow do you like to use.

    Us new crappie people would like to hear from the people that have been chasing them for years.
    Duane

    My soon to be ex-wife calls me a CrappieHead

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by duane
    Let hear from everyone on this one.

    Whats the best way to fish with live minnows.
    The best way or your favorite way to hook the minnow. Through the lips? The tail? Through the eyes? Just under the fin?
    What size hook? What color hook? Weight you use? More than one hook?
    What type and size minnow do you like to use.

    Us new crappie people would like to hear from the people that have been chasing them for years.
    I will start this and tell how I have been fishing with live minnows. I plan to read this thread very close to learn a better way to fish.

    I like a #4 or 2 light wire gold hook. I tie a 1/8 oz casting weight about 12 to 18" above the hook. I like the brand TruTurn hooks. But do use the cheaper ones also.

    I am going to try making some jig heads with a 1X jig hook to fish a jig tipped with a minnow.

    I like fishing with a small Shiner minnow not larger than 2". Sometimes I like and have had good luck using Rossie Minnows and the smaller Crappie minnow. I hook they through both lips from the bottom.

    I use a insulated & aerated minnow bucket to help keep the minnows. Shinners die so easy, so this was a must for me.
    Duane

    My soon to be ex-wife calls me a CrappieHead

  3. #3
    Morphine Guest

    Default

    I like to to hook them through the bottom lip and out the nostrel. It keeps them alive longer that way. I like to use gold and red hooks with small sinkers. I cant remember right off the bat what size. Double hooking works well if your trying to fish at two different depths. Small minnows have always worked best for me so far. Good Luck!

  4. #4
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    Default Minnows

    Through the back, just under the dorsal fin. One gold hook / split shot.

  5. #5
    Morphine Guest

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    I also don't like to put too many minnows in one bucket. It seems to help keep them alive if you don't fill the bucket full of minnows and use two or three buckets.

  6. #6
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    Default Hooking

    I hook them right thru the eyes.

  7. #7
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    CrappiePappy is offline Super Moderator - 2013 Man Of The Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Exclamation Minnow rigging ...

    Hook/line/sinker version ........ one or sometimes two #3 or #4 Water Gremlin pinch-on/off sinker, #1 Eagle Claw light wire bronze Aberdeen hook, 6-8lb line, minnow hooked thru the eye socket (behind the eyeballs, not thru them). Preferable minnow is a 2 to 3in Bluntnose Minnow, or Creek Chub Minnow (commonly called "tuffy" or "crappie" minnows). If available, and legal to use in the waters I'm fishing, I may also catch and use Brook Silversides, Threadfin Shad, or Gizzard Shad in the 2-3 inch size range (when possible/available/necessary).
    When using a "minnow" (of any of the previously mentioned species) on a jighead - I hook the minnow from under the "throat" (at the V of the lower jaw) and exit the hook between the two nostrils, or the area between the nostrils and eyes. Generally I use a 1/16oz jighead, unpainted, weedless, and with no other "additions" (except in very murky waters, when I may have a tube or grub of bright coloring on the hook - color for sight, minnow for smell/taste/vibrations)

    I've used quite a variety of hook styles and sizes .... from #8 to 2/0's - Kahle, longshank, baitholder, and aberdeen - gold, bronze, steel blue, and red. I've used them pre-snelled, snelled them myself, and just a hook tied on the line. They all had their time and place, and they all worked....!

    Hooking a minnow thru the back was the way I was originally taught - for "still fishing" (aka "tightlining" - tied or anchored in one spot). I've changed to hooking thru the eyesocket, for this method, because it works better (and I've not seen where "back hooking" has any advantage over it) Also, when drifting or slow trolling, I prefer hooking thru the eye socket. When casting, I'm more inclined to use the "jighead" method (up thru the nostril/eye area). All of these hooking methods are inclined to make the minnow swim downward or in a circular area. Hooking thru the tail makes the minnow tend to try and swim upwards - good for use when free-lining (weightless), or on a slip sinker rig for bottom fishing. But, you must have a hook small enough and light enough, or minnow big enough, to carry the weight of the hook and not be dragged down by it.
    My methods and preferrences are by no means the "best" or "only" ways ... they've just worked for me, in the waters I've fished. .......luck2ya .......cp

  8. #8
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    To be very honest with you, I have fished shiners and tuffys in the same spot on the same day, and the shiners produced alot better. One day I would throw a shiner in and catch a fish right off the bat, then I'd throw a tuffy in and nothing, put another shiner back in and catch another. I kept switching out, I caught my limit that day and none of the 30 were caught on tuffys. Hard to keep shiners alive, but its worth the effort to me. I hook them just like crappiepappy, right through the eyesocket. I have heard that crappie usually go for the head first, and I believe this, and also they stay alive longer.

  9. #9
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    Barnacle Bill is offline Super Mod and 2014 Crappie.com Man of the Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    My wife says to hook them thru the mouth from the bottom up and they will live longer. (you wanna tell her she's wrong?) Anyway, I've found that to be true. I'm guessing that it forces their mouths closed and they don't drown. To keep them alive on hot days, I put a 32oz bottle of frozen water in with them a couple times during the day. It works like a champ! I always have some because thats the way I carry my drinking water. Just take a few extra on hot days.
    Fair Winds and Following Seas

    Bill H. PTC USN Ret
    Chesapeake, Va


  10. #10
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    If I'm trolling, I hook them through the eyes. If I'm fishing with a cork, I hook through the back.

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