old jig & minnow

[lindy rig]

How do you guys hook your minnow? If you go through the head, doesn't it kill the minnow and isn't it important to have a lively minnow?

[paceman]

I usually hook them from the bottom up just behind thier lips. I like a lively minnow. Do the exact same thing if lindy rigging with a minnow. I can sometimes feel the minnow wiggle like crazy just before a strike.

[TravP]

If your jigging your minnow is moving, even if it's dead. If you want your minnow to stay alive, run the hook through the mouth and out the gill. Then Hook the minnow just under the skin in it's side.

[lindy rig]

Thanks.. I have done both and also realize the jigging gives the action. I just always seem to question taking a nice shiner and running a hook through it's brains

[Jim Almquist]

I always grab the dead minnows first when jigging.

If I am Lindy rigging then its a different story

[#fishhunt#]

For me it depends how aggressive the fish are and how big the minnows are. I always go through the mouth out the gill. from there I either, on aggressive fish go right behind the head and with finicky fish I try to get the minnow on as far as possible and may put the barb back up through the stomach.

[TruthWalleyes]

Anyone want to post a pic of the hook through the gills and into the skin. I've never tried this before, probably depends on the hook gap/minnow size i suppose.