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Thread: minnow problems

  1. #1
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    Default minnow problems


    I found that a jug of frozen water keeps my minnows alive but when I put them in 80 degree water they die very quickly. What is the secret of keeping them alive?
    Last edited by strawhat; 07-16-2005 at 09:59 AM. Reason: to correct spelling

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by strawhat
    I found that a jug of frozen water keeps my minnows alive but when I put them in 80 degree water they die very quickly. What is the secret of keeping them alive?
    strawhat......you may have to monitor their water temp and not get your minnow water so cold. It's probably the sudden change in temperature that kills them. It's happened to me before, they have to be slowly brought to the approximate water temp you will be fishing. I keep a styrofoam cup with a mixture of lake water and the cool water of the minnow container so they won't die, keep 3 or 4 in the cup.....and every time you lose one, bait up and put another in the cup. Check the cup water ever so often so that it doesn't get too hot. Good fishing......

  3. #3
    Steve-O Guest

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    Keep the minnow bucket water warmer so it's not quite a shock.
    Use the tidwell rig to get the minnow deep quickly. It's cooler down there.
    Change minnows often. They may last 10 minutes in the hot water.
    Worms stay alive much longer and are quite active in the warm water. Tip a jig with a small worm.

  4. #4
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    I have experienced this with minnows. Since I keep my boat in a slip, I will buy my bait the evening before, because I hate waiting on the local marina to open at 8:00am. I carry them down to the stall where I have an airated tank. I will put about 1 lb of Ice to 5 gallons of water. I leave them all night. The next morning I usually lose about 3 or 4 minnows out of 10 dozen. I also use a blue baitsaver, I get from bass pro shops to put in the water. Its really good on lake shad. I generally do this thru the hot summer months. From Sept.15 to May 15 I will purchase my bait the evening before and put them in a holding tank directly in the lake water. This keeps them really well with practically no loss. Its really hard during the summer months to keep bait alive. The airated bubblers you can buy at Wall-Mart work really well. They run on 2 D cell batteries and drop in down in a cooler, and put your minnows in . It will keep them good for about 8 hours. Most of your bait houses keep their minnoes at 48-55 degrees. Just be carefull you dont drop them right into 90 degree lake water. It shocks them to death. Warm them up slowly and keep them airated, and you will be fine. Good fishing.

  5. #5
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    I get the bait shop to put them in a bag full of oxygen. The water from the bait tank at the store is cold. I put the bag in the livewell when I'm driving to the lake so they will gradually warm up out of the sun. When the livewell fills up when I launch the boat, the minnows get slowly warmed up still inside the oxyegenated water in the bag. after a few minutes I dump them into my bucket and get them in the lake. My minnows last all night with very few lost to shock.
    Scott

  6. #6
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    Where I fish, the minnows don't have to be alive to catch good fish. In fact, our biggest crappie come on minnows that are all torn up after having caught 2 or 3 crappie. They work well if they are dead but only dead for a short time. If the minnows are starting to turn white, then they don't work as well. This afternoon from 5:00 to 7:30, we used 3 dozen to catch 70 total crappie with 30 of those being big keepers. We use a small minnow bucket dipnet attached to an old broken rod to reach out and retrieve the minnows when a crappie throws it. At Granger Lake you are only wasting minnows if you put a fresh one on every time you catch a crappie. I constantly hear clients comment that they thought that minnows have to be lively to catch crappie. I asked them if the person that they heard that from makes a living catching crappie. I know that it may be true at other lakes but not here.
    Crappie Guide (since 1986)
    Granger Lake, Texas
    (512) 365-7761

  7. #7
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    Tommy, the lake I fish here in Oklahoma is like yours. Alive, dead , chewed up, doesn't seem to matter that much. I also use the minnow net on a broken rod to retrieve them!! And I thought I was the only one!!! lol...Sunday, we caught 159 crappie, fishing from 3pm until 8pm, with 4 dz minnows.
    Everyone has a secret talent they didn't know about until tequila.

  8. #8
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    Boat49, what lake do you fish? My daughter is a cheerleader for the Sooners and I come up that way once in a while. She has been to a couple of lakes in that area and I was wondering if any crappie were in them.
    Crappie Guide (since 1986)
    Granger Lake, Texas
    (512) 365-7761

  9. #9
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    Default Jigs

    With crappie bitting like that why not just use Jigs?

  10. #10
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    I do use jigs 99% of the time. We just use minnows when they get picky when the water is very clear in the hottest part of the summer. I use Walmart jigs tipped with white crappie nibbles. They will normally catch just as many as minnows..
    Crappie Guide (since 1986)
    Granger Lake, Texas
    (512) 365-7761

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