Dead minnows

[jh_blount]

Folks, I got a question for 'yall. Need some opinions. Im headed to the lake when I get off tonight bout midnite, so on the way to work I stopped and got me 100 minnows. Well, just went to check on them and half are already dead . I know the rest will be when i get outta here. Im new to nightfishing, and I dont ever hardlly fool with minnows. My question is, will the crappie hit a dead minnow, or will I be wasting my time. I have plenty of jigs, so I could just fish docklights, but I really wanted to try out my new lights. Thanks for any info.

[Barnacle Bill]

Folks, I got a question for 'yall. Need some opinions. Im headed to the lake when I get off tonight bout midnite, so on the way to work I stopped and got me 100 minnows. Well, just went to check on them and half are already dead . I know the rest will be when i get outta here. Im new to nightfishing, and I dont ever hardlly fool with minnows. My question is, will the crappie hit a dead minnow, or will I be wasting my time. I have plenty of jigs, so I could just fish docklights, but I really wanted to try out my new lights. Thanks for any info.

You got to keep them cool. I use liter bottles full of frozen water. Just put the whole bottle in. It works great.

[bama647]

thats what i do also it works fine. you may want to take some out to the lake with u this time of year

[anchorpuller]

Temperature is one thing. IBN gave a good suggestion about the frozen bottles of water to cool em down.

Oxygen is another thing. That many minnows in a small container will die from lack of oxygen. You might try a cooler with an airstone in it. The airstone pumps aren't expensive and will run all night on a couple of DD batteries.

I've found it made a HUGE difference in my minner survival rate just changing those few things from my before of using a plastic style minnow bucket.

I was putting too many minnows in the bucket and they died from oxygen deprivation, as well as temperature rise.

[FishnLine]

I wouldn't go out with dead minnows alone, but I have caught them on some nights with a dead minnow or two.

[jh_blount]

Well, they put them in bags (50 in each bag) and I put both bags in a cooler on top of a bag of ice. The bags were filled with oxygen (suppossedly) also. So I dont know what I did wrong . Guess Ill be fishin' dock lights.

[Crappie Xtreme]

Hey Blount, Anchorpuller is right you need to try and keep them cool and have good oxygen for them. Here is what I use in my boat. I have a Power bubbles under my console that runs off of my starting battery. I have one of the hoses running to my front livewell and the other running to my back livewell. The front livewell has been tee'd off to a cooler that I have made into a minnow bucket. This system works better than anything I have tried. The cooler helps keep the water temp down and the Power Bubbles puts plenty of oxygen in the water. I drilled a hole at the top of the cooler and put the hose in the hole with a stone on it and left plenty out to attach to the shut off tee in the hose. I can take it in and out of the boat and still have the hose running to the livewell.
I have let this Power Bubbles run for several days in my boat with my minnow bucket and it don't even hurt the battery at all. Thats what is nice about it it does not use any power at all. And it works great for the fish in the livewell. Unless I have a lot of fish in the livewells they will stay alive for a long time while I am fishing.
I have never had very good luck with dead minnows, but ones that have plenty of oxygen are more active and I think they help attract more fish.

Just my 2 cents worth, hope it helps.

Crappie X.

[anchorpuller]

If there is a little wind to keep the water moving, I've found dead minnows work almost as well as the live ones. Especially if fished under a float.

I'd certainly try it with the bait you have on hand!

The bags they put them in are usually only meant to keep your minnows for an hour or so. Even with tropical fish that they put in the oxygen infused bags. They are only meant to keep them for a short trip home. The rate of oxygen use is too fast to keep them in there long.

Any chance of putting what minnows are still alive in a five gallon bucket or something and tying some ice up in the baggies to throw in? It might keep em going til you get off work.

Good luck! Let us know how the lights do

[jh_blount]

Thank 'yall for the info. Ill try something different next time.

[Rattlesnake]

I usually leave the minnows in the bags and put them into the refrigerator untill I need them. they will last for at least 24 hours.