My idea 4 live bait maintenance

[rnvinc]

Me being mostly a minnow fisherman, and buying 12-15 dozen minnows at a time, I faced several problems that had to be overcome.

1. How to keep that many minnows alive while fishing.....aeration!!

2. How to keep leftover minnows alive between trips......aeration....and food!!

3. How to keep from running my battery down using aerator while parked in garage between trips.



I use a 300 watt power converter to run 2 110v aquarium aerators affixed to the top of a large styrofoam cooler that holds the bulk of my 12-15 dozen minnows.

One aerator feeds air down into the bulk cooler storage.
One aerator feeds air to the front of my boat into a styrofoam bucket under my seat where I sit while spider rigging. This air is supplied via 1/8 inch vinyl tubing run along the underside of the boat gunnel....Problem 1 solved...

If I have leftover minnows after the fishing trip I can hook an extension cord up to the 110v aquarium aerator that supplies air the bulk cooler storage....Problem 2 and 3 solved....

Please note that minnows are live creatures and if you don't feed them after a couple of days they will starve to death...aquarium fish food works fine..

[SPORTCITY]

Looks like you have a good system. I do believe that keeping them cool is also important. Just don't use any water that has been treated with chemical (chlorine) I believe that you will find that minnows do not require food for an extended time. I have maintained minnows for several weeks during cold weather without adding any food to the tank. I believe that keeping the water cold is more important than the aerator although both are important.

[rnvinc]

I agree that keeping minnows cool is very important in longer life expectancy. I generally freeze 2 liter soda bottles of water to put in the minnow water during the warmer days. I wonder if anyone here has other ideas for keeping the water in minnow storage cool?

[deathb4disco]

Learn to use jigs, and forget the minnows.

[speckfinder]

Minnows around here 1.75-2.00 doz., I haven't bought a minnow here in over 15 years

[shores]

Learn to use jigs, and forget the minnows.

True, true, unless the guy besides you is tearin em up. Then maybe minnows. Rough decision. I learned to be flexible.

[crappie cowboy]

When I moved here at Pickwick from Grenada, I thought that it would be hard for crappie to see small jigs at 28 to 30 fow, Man I was supprised to find they not only can see them, They tear em up.
I try to have a few minnows as a back up, But jigs seem to be the go to thing here.

crappie cowboy

[fingerlicken]

I always use jigs until the crappie move into the brush to spawn than I go to minnows.

[Nightprowler]

If I'm gonna be using minnows on a hot day. The first thing I'll do is, put a dozen in a seperate bucket. Then I'll gradually add lake water to the bucket, so the minners will become used to the lake water temperature and not SHOCK them to death, before they see the first fish. You need to add small portions of water slowly, let them get used to that , then add more. You'll notice the minners will change to a lighter color. Also I keep my hands out of the bucket as much as possible. Another thing, if the minner slips out of your hand, jumps all over the boat floor...it goes back in the bucket and get another. If the minners has lost all its wiggle on the boat floor, he's not the freshest. I have not made the switch to 100% jig fishing, because I realize minnows seem to work better on some lakes. Hope this helps.

[rnvinc]

I spider rig with 12 poles and I always start the day alternating minnow, jig, minnow, jig (sometimes jig tipped with a minnow)all the way around my spread. I will generally change and gravitate toward the bait the actually starts catching the most fish. 95% of the time the minnow wins, but like I said my bait choice is probably influenced more by what I have the most confidence in.