Salted Minnow Recipe?

[Guest]

Can anyone tell me how to salt minnows? What kind salts best and how long do they keep?
Thanks

[WarrenA]

are you interested in preserving them for future use or just to dry them out? I tried to preserve them to use for catfish bait i used a commercial bait sent and dunked them they stayed in good shape didn't seem to help me catch more fish. If you just salt them all you will do is dry them out and they will turn into fish mummies.

[Guest]

WarrenA,
I'm trying to pack minnows into the BWCA. So to turn them into mummies do you dip them in a brine or pack them in dry salt for awhile? A friend of mine tried to salt some a few years ago and he floated them in brine and then froze them and when they thawed they were the most vile, stinking, mushy substance on the planet.Help.

[Jim W]

No real recipe, but give this a try.

Buy your minnows, just have the bait guy put them in a bag, no need for water ,right?

Tak'em home, lay out some newspaper and on top of that some paper towels. Dry off the minnows ,good as possible(if you can, before you begin, starve the minnows of oxygen, killing them, so they aren't flopping around on you).

Lay them out flat, then take a can of Morton's Salt and apply salt liberally to both sides of the minnows. After coating them, put them in a zip-loc. I reccomend doing this a day or so before your trip, over freezing. However you can freeze them. They should be good for a week, not much more, depending on how hot it is.

{HEre is a little bryne(sp?) additive that might assist in making the minnows even more tasty. Add some suger, yes sugar, to the salt application. 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 salt however.} This will make for a very nice coating that hungry fish can't resist!

Good luck and remember to let us know how you did!!!

Keep the rods bendin'!!!

Jim W

[This message has been edited by Jim W (edited 04-11-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Jim W (edited 04-11-2002).]

[Guest]

Jim W
Does it matter if the salt is iodized? When my wife sees me doing this she's going to have me committed. Do they dry out or stay moist? How about vacuum packing them? Thanks for the info. Just trying to make sure this works since the bait stores are a little scarce in the BWCA.

[Jim W]

Iodized? Geez, I don't know? I just use Morton's. They will stay moist. In fact, a sign of them going beyond use is them rotting a little, falling apart. Vacuum packing I have not tried, but sounds like an excelent idea. Just be sure not to suck their guts out !LOL

Jim W

[NINETOE]

I salt alot of Smelt for Pike fishing. I lay them on news paper in the refridgerator ( the garage one of course) and let them lay for 24 hrs. I then use non iodized salt on them in a baggy. Then just freeze. I found on the net that in the old days people would put them in a tin can with saw dust to dehydrate them and then salt . Allegedly you can add some garlic salt for scent.

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...the MYSTERY is abound...

[Crow Hunter]

I got this recipe out of a fishing book. I have used it and had good results. I have used them under a slip bobber in Canada and the walleyes eat them like popcorn.

Mix one part salt to one part sugar. Put a 1 inch layer in the bottom of a plastic ice cream bucket. Put on a layer of minnows (they should'nt be touching each other) then cover with another 1 inch layer of the salt/sugar mixture. Repeat until the bucket is full or you are out of minnows. Then leave the bucket uncovered in your garage for three to four days. Dump it out and you will have your mummified minnows. I just put then in a ziplock.

[ghotierman]

any recipe for sugaring live minnows? Had a customer claim a gentleman on the ice added something to his bait bucket that really turned the fish on....sugar water? or commercial additive? any hints?

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Northeast Outfitters
915 Hwy 29 N NE
Alexandria, MN 56308
(320) 763-9598

[Xplorer]

I have used both plain non-iodized salt, and also a mix of about half and half salt and borax. The borax mix seems to keep them in better shape for longer. We salt down shiners to take up laker fishing each winter. They work great and can be done the day before leaving. I just dump a couple dozen live ones in a ziploc and add salt/borax to cover.
Uncle Josh also has preserved shiner minnows in jars, never used them tho, so no idea if they work or not.
Xplorer

[WarrenA]

I like the garlic salt twist and the borax I have used to dry deer hide and goose hide to use hair and feathers for fly tying. hope the replies have been a help

[Guest]

Thanks Guys

[Guest]

Just got back from the BWCA and thought i would fill in how the salted minnow thing went. I bought a 1/2 gallon of fatheads 3 days before I left. I dumped them out on a screen in the sun and wind and left them for about 8 hours, you have to keep spreading them out until they're all dead because they keep flopping around and they get really sticky. Then I layered them in 4 parts canning salt and 1 part borax in ice cream pails and put them in the fridge for 2 days. Then I tok them out the salt(try to get most of the salt off them or they keep drying out) and put them in zip-locks and froze them. Took them out of the freezer on the morning we left and kept them in the shade all week and they were good all week. We took some live minnows in with us and the salties seemed to work just as well, not to mention you don't have to keep dipping your hand in the minnow bucket, brrrrrr. Next time I think I will use bigger minnows, as you lose alot of size once salted. Again, thanks for everyones input.