minnow bucket

[Cardsfan55]

Do any of you use a small ice chest for a minnow bucket? If so how does it work for you? Thanks in advance!!

[stormcloud]

13 qt. igloo. Put a quiet bubbles aerator on it. Works like a champ. Usually fish 7 to 8 hrs. per day. Batteries will last about a week. In hot weather I have to add a hand full of ice to it once and a while.

[Slab]

I don't use an aerator, I freeze the little buggers. Ice and ice bottles. They don't need air if their metabolism is in "frost" mode. Serious, try it, ice chest and nothing but ice and water, no aerator. You can keep minnows alive at home or in boat for weeks.

[wicklundrh]

I have several different buckets and they all have their place. I have a pull behind that I like when I am not fishing for a long amount of time. That said, most of the water I get when I get minnows is a lot colder than the water on the lake. Lately, I have been using a 5 gallon bucket with aerator. I have an aerator rock on one end, I pull the hose off the aerator and slide a couple heavy washers down the tube. Holes are small enough so they won't slip over the rock. This keeps the rock on the bottom. I put a lid on the bucket so the water doesn't slosh in the waves or when I am up at speed.

I use a small cooler when Ice fishing, otherwise the water will freeze!

[Cardsfan55]

Thanks for the info fellas. .I use a frozen water bottle in the summer in my bucket I have now and it works. .just need to replace my bucket and thought I might try the cooler vs a regular bucket.

[RogerA]

I use a small cube ice chest and it works great for me and is the perfect size. I modified it to accept an air hose from an on board aerator by drilling a small hole near the bottom. In this hole I glued a hard plastic hose to which I hook my aerator hose. On the inside I have a small piece of hose attached to a donut shaped air stone and the system works good.

[ThreeWayMan]

I use a small cube ice chest and it works great for me and is the perfect size. I modified it to accept an air hose from an on board aerator by drilling a small hole near the bottom. In this hole I glued a hard plastic hose to which I hook my aerator hose. On the inside I have a small piece of hose attached to a donut shaped air stone and the system works good.

So, if you have minners in your ice chest,, where is your cold beverages??? In the live well?

[Joey Clark]

Slab you got me wondering at this freezing. What exactly are you freezing

[Slab]

Slab you got me wondering at this freezing. What exactly are you freezing

I just mean I keep the minners real cold. Colder the better. Keep plenty of ice in your cold beverage cooler and throw in ice often into your minnow cooler. Frozen water bottles work too, but when regular ice melts, it'll add oxygen to the water as well.

I learned about keeping minnows cold when after ice fishing, I left my uninsulated 5 gallon bucket in the garage, and it got real cold out. I left it full of water and minnows. Two weeks later I went out there and found that it was just about frozen solid, except in the very middle, where the minnows were still swimming around alive as on the first day. Not a one was dead. It was so very hard to break through the ice, but I used them to ice fish once again. good deal

[Joey Clark]

Thanks Slab you had me a little confused there for a min. I do use the water bottle trick during the summer months it helps a lot.