Worth messing with minnows?

[KrabbyPatties]

In the past few years, I've almost completely gotten away from using minnows for panfish because waxies are cheaper and easier to deal with. However, I've been out a couple of evenings and haven't iced a single crappie. I've been setting up in about 20' of water on a bay and I'm graphing a few fish just before dark. Any thoughts on how likely it is that switching to minnows would significantly improve my chances? I just HATE to mess with them because they always seem to die, a few a day, before I can get out again but waxies are never a problem.

[reinhard1]

if i go for the day and plan on comming home prior to evening i just go with euro larva. rarely use waxies for pan fish [just me]. i have found that late afternoon and into the evening minnows work well for me. not that euro's or waxi's dont work in the late hours , but in my opinion minnows work better for me anyway in the evening. good luck.

[KrabbyPatties]

Thanks. I may go out for a few hours this afternoon...might tote along a dozen minnows for a side-by-side.

[TyGuy02]

I like to only use the heads for my jigging spoons, sooo, I only buy minnows every 2-3 times out. Let them freeze up with very little water and only take a short time to thaw out in front of the heater. I just use a small ziplock baggie for them.

Makes me think of a time last year, I told my dad to drain the water from the minnow bucket when we were at LOW. Some nice shiners/chubs. He didn't realize ALL the water drained and what I meant. Ended up having a frozen block in the minnow bucket for the rest of the year. That's why I went to baggies.

[DoubleE]

I just put my minnows and fatheads in a 5 gallon bucket with a bubbler. I'm going on almost 2 weeks now. I change the water and if any die, I throw them out. Bubblers are under $20 so its well worth the price.

[th64]

Minnows, love em, hate em, gotta bring em,

especially this time of year

Good luck

[BuckmasterG]

For what it's worth, I understand minnows may be the better bait this time of the year for crappies. Then, as we get deeper into the winter thru late ice I switch to bugs.I agree with TyGuy I've only been using Heads, or 3/4 of the minnow body when jigging (cutting off the rest of the minnow). If you are using a dead stick with a float though, I'd def. use the whole minnow being sure not to spine them, with as small of a float as possible. Been doing better jigging than using bobbers tho, because crappies don't move much after they hit the bait. BOL!

[Beast26]

I usually don't use them because I am usually moving around a lot. When I am sitting in one spot I always put one down. Last Thursday I caught my two biggest crappies on minnows (both 12"). They were the only crappies I caught on minnows that day. BTW - I always hook my minnows upside down - through the belly and they seems to stay active longer than when I hook them in the back and it doesn't kill them.

[Captain1221]

I tried some minnows the other day on a local lake in Stillwater, MN. My buddy brought some out with him and I gave it a try. Never had a bite with them, neither did he. We both switched to waxies and larva and we both had a fish on right away.

[fsnrod]

You have to be careful with new laws about taking water on and of lakes you have to know if your on infested waters or not. THIS INCLUDES MINNOW WATER.

[mainbutter]

On Monday, minnows outfished euros 5-1. I fished 3PM-5:30PM.

[fishersofmen]

I have been catching a ton of fish on minnows this week. Quite a few with euros as well. I like to have both with me unless I am only fishing for gills. Almost never buy waxies.