keeping minnows alive

[Guest]

How does everyone keep thier minnows alive from day to day in the winter and still have good minnows. Seems like my minnows only last 4-5 days and then not good

[Matt Johnson]

I keep the minnows in the basement, somewhere on maybe a concrete floor or a cooler surface. Then I change the water once a day, like at night or something. I can usually keep minnows somewhat fresh for over a week or possibily two.

Another thing I've done in the past is set up a fish tank. I know it sounds funny, but you can keep minnows alive for a long time in a fish tank. Doesn't cost a whole lot and you can incorporate an aerator to provide oxygen. Then all you do is get one of those medium sized green minnow nets and scoop some out when you need them.

And one last option is to buy some kind of oxygen-producing bucket. There are several models available at different tackle or sporting good stores.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Mr.Seaguar]

I keep minnows alive for months. Keep them cold. I dont mean cool, I mean ice skimming over or at least floating around. Every time i fish i add water right from the lake. Ive heard this can kill the minnows but so far hasnt happened. I guess when they are 34* PH is not a big concern. Whenever i run low i just buy more and dump them in with the old ones. I usually keep 75 or so small minnows in a Frabill Kool Keeper bucket. They are a ton more active when you keep them cold than they are if you dump warm ones into cold water IMHO. Good Luck.

[bobberup]

I use a medium sized cooler to pick up my bait at the bait shop for my winter fishing.For me it seems to keep the water at a good temp.and keeps it from freezing up.Then when I'm done I just bring it home and put it in the basement.If I need to change the water I'll put a couple of drops of De-chlor in and drop an air pump in.But it seems like I never have any bait left.Yeah right

[Blaine]

I also have a tank. I was lucky enough to find one in a bait shop that was closing up. A medium sized cooler will work, a small garbage can or even the big Rubbermade storage bins will work fine too.

I keep mine on my back porch so that the bait stays PLENTY cold. I use a regular old aquarium style pump to circulate the water, I don't bother with a filter. On the coldest of nights, I hang a 60 watt bulb in a drop light over the water to keep it from freezing. Don't feed your bait... That will cause them to foul up the water. I change 1/2 the water once it gets cloudy or starts to stink. If the water is kept cold, you wont have to change it often

[berke99]

I keep my minnows in a small coleman lunch cooler, the lid locks down with the handle. If the lid freezes shut it will open with a little pull. I never have water splash out when it is in my portable. At home I put the cooler on the wooden step in the garage, and when I go to bed I put the cooler inside right next to the door. In the morning I set the cooler on the step again. If the minnows start looking lethargic I just throw a snow ball in the water. This keeps my minnows alive for many, many weeks. I also change the water when ever I am on the lake.

[rod bender]

One thing you might want to try is painting the inside of your bucket/cooler black. This will keep the minnows a natural color instead of turning lighter in color. I'm not sure if it makes a difference to the fish but it works for me.

[LittleRanger]

Here is hands down the best system available. If I can explain it. This system is for houses, not portables. You drill a hole right next to your fish house (and I do mean right next to it, next to a inside hole)Now tie a stick to a piece of rope, tie the other end of rope to a submersible minnow trap filled with delicious shinners and sink it 10-15 feet. Now go in the house, and if you have done this correct you will see the rope from the nearest hole. The rope of course will be going down 10-15 feet. Now get a long hook of some type and grab the rope from inside the house and pull up the minnow trap, get shinner and sink it again. Leave your bait out there all winter, they can eat and will aways be fresh. End of season, pull up trap, cut line and you are done. Use cotton rope if you want to be friendly to the lake. I wish I had picture of the minnow trap. Consisted of 3 inch pvc plumbing cleanout (screw out the cap and get minnows)1/4 inch chickenwire tube about 3 feet long..........my 2 cents

[Blaine]

Another tip... I'm not sure how much bait you guys haul around. We are allowed 6 tip ups here in CT and I usually fish with at least 2 other guys. I carry by bait out to the ice in a 5 gallon bucket but have a second bucket drilled with 1/4" holes all over it. When I fire up the auger for the tip up holes, I drill a hole big enough to drop the bucket into it. The bait stays in there all day and they stay plenty fresh. I use the other bucket for running around to the holes with.

You may not want to do this in a high traffic area as it might be a hazard to people after you have left. I always fill my holes back in with slush, it doesn't take long to firm back up enough that someone wont go in if they step on it.

[Dan Thiem]

Has anybody ever hear of a Minnow Missle? It's some kind of gadget made from pvc tubing with holes in it and threaded caps on the end. Supposedly put the minnows in the tube and drop down the hole, tie off the rope. Then they are ready when you come back to the fish house. The whole time you are gone they are in the lake water at the same temp and PH balance. Also the smell might even chum in a few fish.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I have a 5 gallon fish tank in my garage. Begining of the hard water season I buy a bunch-o-little-fishys (minnows) and plop em in the tank.

The garage isn't heated and gets down right chilly in the winter. The bubbler keeps the tank from turning into a 5 gallon ice cube, and the minnows are stayin alive all winter long.

When I go out on the lake, I just scoop up some and put them in a regular styrofoam pail.

[huskiesplayer15]

FRabill minn-o-life bucket for 60 bucks has worke well, changr the water every three days. we also use the submersible bucket too, does work good.

best fishes

Chris

[loebs93]

I have the Frabill, Min-o-life bucket. It comes lined with styrofoam bucket and an air pump. I change about 50% of the water when it starts to get dirty. When I run out of bait I'll scrub off the thin layer of slime on the styrofoam and go get fresh bait. And the coolest thing I made room in our fridge for the entire bucket so when I get back from fishing I just throw the entire set-up into the fridge. Each day I'll turn the pump on for about 5-10 minutes to give them some O2. I dont think I've lost a minnow yet.

[The Grebe]

I can keep minnows for a long time....Fall, Winter, Spring, in the summer it is tough.

We have a pantry in the basement that is quite cool and that is where I keep the minnows in a standard Styrofoam bucket.

We don't have well water, so if I need to add some fresh water between trips, I boil some up in a large kettle to evaporate the chemicals, then I throw hands full of snow into the water until it stops melting, check the temp and replace the old water with the new....then it is back into the pantry.

This works for Crappie minnows, Fatheads and small Shiners, larger minnows like Suckers and big Golden Shiners need bigger containers and more attention. I usually don't buy many of the real big minnows, maybe a half dozen tops, once or twice a season.

I think that water temperature and oxygen content is far more important then the physical hardness of the water?

I guess that if you wanted to keep the minnows as pets in a fish tank, this might be a factor, but they are bait...they should'nt last so long that you have to start taking into consideration their physical envoirment!

When one has to start taking into account the long term comfort and living quarters of the minnow, maybe one should trim back on how many one buys, or start catching more fish to use them up!

[Bob_D]

This is my bait tank.

I'm making a second one this year, so I'll have (2) 100 gallon tanks. Last season I just used a standard fish tank bubbler with air stones. That worked fine, but this year I'm going with the commercial aerators. I change 1/3 of my water every 3 days, so I don't ph shock the bait. I don't feed them, so the water stays cleaner longer.

[psegriz]

I was in the bait bus for a number of yrs. Hauled them to TN, IL, IN,KT,OH in summer and winter. I still have my commercial lic. so it enables me to keep over 12 doz. and I trap my own and can use bigger traps. I keep them in a 20 gal. plastic barrel with a plain aquarium bubbler in the root celler. It's about 34 degrees most of the winter. I'll store up to 2-3 gallons of bait in it and change water every couple days. I just scoop what I need out for the days fishin into a 12 quart cooler. I'll keep decoys, fatheads, crappie, sucker, shiners, chubs and rainbows all winter. Just pick out a couple dead if they show up, that is one of the biggest factors in high PH. The other thing is a real fresh minnow will put more PH into the water by it's excreations (sp) Hope this is helpful to anyone. The cooler you keep them the more you reduce thier motabolism and in doing so also thier excreations resulting in a lower PH. On another note by having a container with an open top you're allowing the tank to breath, thus letting fresh oxygen to the surface and allowing some PH to dissapate into the air.

[reeft]

I have a small chest freezer that works well. On the warmest setting it is just above freezing. It is only big enough for one 5 gal bucket. With an aquarium aerator running I only change water once or twice a week.

[P.DONA]

We're lucky enough to have a nearby stream with fast flowing water I have a 55 galon drum with some holes in it. We put a top and a latch on it, and steak it down well.

They'll last in there indefinitely, and are always acclimated to the water temps of the area..

We also drag streams for our own bait. mostly mummies, but occasionally we will hit gold with pond shiners.

[MasterGophHunter]

This is a great topic! Now I know that you must keep the minnows very cold. I live in a college dorm room and I was wondering how I would keep minnows alive in here. I like the idea of using a small lunch cooler. I don't plan on turning my heat off and keeping the window open. So how do I keep them plenty cool?

-MGH-

[Rick]

This is just a little differant. It's made for keeping your fish alive while ice fishing. However, I see no reason why it wouldn't work for bait as well.

Ice Well - Fish Well - CLICK HERE

[nate18]

The easiest and least expensive thing to try is to go to a local pet/fish store and buy a mini aerator. some run on an outlet some run on batteries. you can hook these up to any size foam or plastic bucket. this will produce oxygen for your minnows. they are inexpensive around $12 last time i bought one. The most important thing, as everyone has said, is to keep the water COLD. Not only do the minnows last longer in cold water but keeping them in similar temperature conditions that they will be exposed to while using them will eliminate the "shock" factor. (dropping a cool or warm water minnow into ice cold water.) Also, add ice or snow to your minnows when you get them from the bait store, if you are heading from bait store to fishing spot. By the time you start using them, the minnows will have adjusted to the decrease in water temperature making the minnows more lively when you drop them down the hole. Again to eliminate the "shock" factor. This has worked well for me in the past. Take care and good fishing.

Nate

[PikeTipper]

Wow, another one of those inventions that should have been obvious along time ago but I never thought of. Thanks for the link Rick. Will these be available in stores or are they just an online deal?

[Blaine]

nate is right on about the "shock factor". The worst thing you can do is decrease the water temp too quickly... You will have a few dozen dead shiners in no time. If you get your bait from a shop like mine (my water temp right now is 56) give them time to adjust. I used to keep mine in the basement, I'd always move what I was planning on using into a bait bucket or two andleave them on the porch to slowly cool overnight

[Dan Thiem]

Remember everyone, a scoop of crappie minnows is only around $1.00 so spending too much money saving minnows seems kind of fruitless. Unless the bait shop isn't on the way to the lake.

[Bob_D]

Pike bait is $8-9 a dozen around here, so if you fish much it's wise to find a way to keep them alive. I buy my bait in bulk and I use 50-60 lbs of pike bait a year....That is about 100-120 dozen. Plus my walleye and trout bait.

The biggest reason I keep my own bait is so that I can go whenever I want. I never have to make a trip to find bait. I just load up and go.