Storing Bait

[randyfaas]

What's the ideal temps for storing waxies and maggots to keep them alive for as long as possible? Also, what's the best way to keep minnows alive when it is super cold out? If I keep them in the house overnight, they get too warm and go into shock when you fish with them, and if I keep them outside, sometimes they will freeze solid.

[matthothand]

Keep the waxies at 55 and the larvae at 40. Keep the minnows in a bucket with an aerator in the fridge. If you can get a separate fridge for bait set it for 45 degrees and keep waxies in the door, larvae in the crisper, minnows in the middle towards the front, and beer in the bottom...within reach.

[RonWBasser]

I keep my waxworms on the floor next to my outside door (older home) and they stay just cold enough.

Minnows can be tricky, as matt said the fridge works best.

If you happen to have a permanent house like I did the past few years, I took a small coffee can, drilled some holes near the top and on the plastic lid. Then stuck a wire through it side to side near the top but under the lid and bent it up to come though a hole in the center of the plastic lid. I cliped this to a chain about 2 ft long and lowered it down a hole when done fishing with the minnows inside. I also used a 2x2 to hold the chain and span the hole so the chain would be down the center of the hole. Never a dead minnow and always the right temp.