Dead minnows deteriorate pretty fast so if I paid for them, I want them alive until I use them.
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Dead minnows deteriorate pretty fast so if I paid for them, I want them alive until I use them.
I agree dead minnows can work fairly well in cold water. Fish are sluggish and just a very scuttle movement to help catch there eye is all that is needed. However as water temps. warm they become more active and a lively minnow seems to worm much better. I ice fish for them and you can dead stick a dead minnow and do very well. However by mid May I like to use medium fast swimming jigs. Friends fish for largemouths in summer and catch some really nice crappie on crank baits retrieved at a fairly high rate of speed. I do not believe that would work at all right after ice out do to the cold water. Also as above poster stated dead minnows deteriorate fairly rapidly especially in warmer weather and warmer water. We freeze dead minnows and give them to guys who may run out of minnows while fishing. Or if we run out of live minnows we can atleast give them a dozen of frozen ones and not loose a customer.
I was completely wrong on the price I listed per dozen at my local bait shop. They’re $1.15/dz for mediums. I typically just buy a half pound and don’t pay much attention to the dozen price.
I assume everyone has had a chance to respond so thank you very much. This helps the shop owner sell them for a fare price. Also that is a great price for medium minnows DHC. Not sure he is making much or even any profit assuming he pays about the same price per LB. as we pay.
If your buddy is paying retail price for minnows, I'd suggest he shop around some. Surely there are bait farms up that way too. Around here the stores pay $11 per pound for shiners and toughies. The owner of a store told me that and I believe them. I know they lose a lot and I know they gotta make money and I don't begrudge them that at all. I do know that I wouldn't pay $3.50 per dozen more than once though.
The dead minnows also work good at night time.
LittleJohn
In my area bait shops that sell minnows are pretty few and far between and the one I am familiar with charges about 1.85 per dozen for a sm/med size.
Another place to check is if you have a pet store that sells feeder fish. We have one that sells rosie reds for 1.59 dozen and sm/med goldfish for 1.89 dozen.
Seems also that the pet place fish are in better shape and survive longer perhaps because the people there have more experience in keeping fish healthy.
Just another option to look into for bait.
We can only get fatheads. Small are $3/doz and large are $3.50/doz. A "dozen" is 40 or so minnows though. Buy 2 doz and you wont be able to see the bottom of a 5 gal bucket.