Thread: dying minnows

There could be 2 problems. #1 is your fishing a lake that down deep there isn't enough oxygen and killing the minners. #2 is get a bucket with water at the exact temp as lake water, then keeping your minnows in a freezer bag with cool water, set the bag in the warmer water and let them get used to the temp change. It could take up to 2 hours to adjust. This is how they do it at the pet shops.

about fishing too deep (below the thermocline) can be killing the minnows. But, I think your minnows are dying from the quick temperature change (shock) from cold water to warm water conditions. You need to acclimate the minnows to the warmer water, but slowly.
I used to buy minnows, bagged w/oxygen pumped in, and transport them to the lake (1.5hrs drive time) ... they came out of a cold water tank. By the time I got to the lake, loaded and launched the boat, and got within 100yds of my 1st stop - the water had warmed up a bit ... Even so - I stopped the boat and dumped the minnows out of the bag, into the minnow bucket. Then, I would dip out some of the cold water, and replace it with an equal amount of lake water ... and repeat this proceedure until the minnow bucket water seemed to be the same temp as the lake water, then put the minnow bucket overboard. (meanwhile, my partner would be using the trolling motor to get us to the 1st stop) I had a couple of those small personal/individual sized minnow buckets, and would put about a dozen per person in each (again, filled with lake water). Minnows start coming to the top of those ... dump water and refill (or put a bubble machine on it). Don't remember having too much problem with mass die offs.

Dropping cold minnows into hot lake water = soon to be dead minnows ... no matter how they're hooked. Summer lake water has more oxygen in the water above the thermocline (if there is one), than below it ... even if the water is warmer. Minnows/fish breath with their gills - so, as long as you don't hook them where they cannot open their gill flaps or gulp water thru their mouths, then they should be fine. Usually, it's the sudden temp change that kills them. They may not seem as frisky, in the warmer water, as they do in the cold water ... but, neither are the other "minnows" that are swimming around in the lake (so the fish aren't going to expect your minnows to act any different :D )
Shiner minnows are harder to keep alive, in warm water, than are Fatheads (Tuffies) ... so it pays to know what specie of minnow you're buying, too.

But, hey ... what do I know :p .... I gave up on "minners" as my #1 Crappie bait, when I discovered jigs ... LOL!!

... luck2ya ... cp