Saving Minnows

[GotALunker]

no food necessary.

even if you try, they won't eat.

just keep them babies cool and you'll be fine.

a word of caution about the foam liner....if it freezes, you run the risk that it'll crack and freeze into the pail.

I normally just take mine out when storing minnnows...makes it easier to break out the ice too as you can just give the bucket a few good squeezes and the ice breaks loose.

[TruthWalleyes]

I have kept my minnows alive the last two weeks or so. I will dump out a little water in the morning and put in snow, and repeat in the evening. Run some tap water into a bucket and let sit for a day... Use that water to replace your minnow water every two or three days.

Adding snow to your minnows keeps them cold...and brings in new oxygen.

I don't run any kind of bubbler with this setup. Toss out dead minnows each day (usually one maybe two).

I keep my minnows in a small cooler and that cooler goes right in the sled for fishing.

You can also skip the cooler and put minnows in fridge and add snow everynow and then to add oxygen, replace water every two days.

[bobbymalone]

I use the magic drops for aquariums to remove the chlorine from tap water. One bottle costs a couple bucks and will last for years and years.

My minnows live in a few gallon cooler with a $3 aquarium bubbler and air stone. It runs quietly and out of sight in the basement utility room. I change the water every couple days.

[MN BassFisher]

As others have said, don't feed them. It will make the water dirtier and make the ammonia levels raise. They don't need food as long as you keep the water near freezing. They colder it is, the slower their metabolism and less O2 they need. Just change a little bit of the water every couple days, with that, cold water, and a bubbler, they should last for a while!

[amateurfishing]

Thanks for all the info and replys!!!! cheap styro bucket and aquarium aerator thing sitting inside insulated cooler in garage, will get portable aerator for boat this spring. Thx for all the help.

[MN BassFisher]

Thanks for all the info and replys!!!! cheap styro bucket and aquarium aerator thing sitting inside insulated cooler in garage, will get portable aerator for boat this spring. Thx for all the help.

Way to go!!

[HookEmHard84]

This is a wierd question but I've always wondered it, I keep minnows for a long time in the winter, and sometimes I dont get the dead ones out for several days. After a while some of the minnows look like they are half eaten, do the other minnows go cannibal on them or is it just decomp?

[amateurfishing]

im no expert but guess decomp, i pulled 4 0r 5 out adn skin was falling off.