Hooking a minnow

[sparky88]

How do you hook minnows for crappies and eyes. I prefer through the mouth and out the top, my son swears by through the tail. Can't say one has worked any better than the other. Does it really matter?

[AQUAJOE]

My personal opinion is that if the are biting aggressive and the minnow s are alive then through the tail. This allows the minnow to move around alot which the aggressive bite they seem to like.

If it is a tough bite and the fish are not as aggressive then through the head. That will make the movement very limited and is less likely to spook a fish that is being finicky.

I will have to say most of time that I am fishing for crappies I am only putting the head on anyways.

again just my .02 cents.

[ice bandit]

if im fishing a horizontal jig I almost always hook em throught the lips but if its a vertical this is gonna sound weird but its up the butt

[Cheers]

I hear a lot of things about just putting a minow head on the hook, what about using the tail end only ? Seems a waist to just use the head but thats all you ever hear mentioned. Seems a dozen minows would go twice as far if both ends where used, but not worth it if tails dont work as well. ????

[sparky88]

You read my mind. I was wondering the same thing

[arctic_scrap1]

If I'm jigging for crappies I only use the head. When fishing walleyes I'll jig a whole minnow hooked through the lips but if it's slow I'll switch to a head then. I have used just the tail and have caught fish but I haven't used them enough to see if they work any better than the head. I also always try to fish a live minnow hooked through the back right behind the dorsal fin on a slip bobber as long as I have enough room between my poles so they don't get tangled. A minnow hooked like this on a small plain hook is the most accurate presentation of a live minnow you can get.

[tdk]

If I'm ice fishing I hook all minows just under the skin right next to and parallel to the dorsel fin. This seems to always help for a nice upper lip hook set. IMO Open water fishing using long shank jigs I go through the mouth and out the bottom of the mouth with the hook, then I slide the minow to right behind the jig head and put the hook up through the body so the hook is sticking up through the minow right behind the dorsel fin. This is using long shank jigs. It will cause line twist, so about 2 ft above the jig I use a high quality swivel. To reduce line twist. It really helps reduce short strikes. Last weekend on Winnie I was using a Andel Eye with just a minow head. We started getting a little short on minows so I used the tail too. It didn't seem to matter which half I used. I think the smell that the guts being exposed helps.

[marcumx*]

When fishing crappies I tend to hook them up through the head on a jig. When fishing walleyes Ive done them a variety of ways: through the tail or the head or just plain head only. It all depends on if your seeing any action and to try different scenarios till you do.

[pathogen]

When I use minnows for jigging, I like to use the head. The head is my preference but I do often use the tail. The head is smaller and more compact, and gives a somewhat different action to jigging. The tail can be just as effective, and occasionally even better depending on what the fish are looking for in the jigging action. I think whichever half you use, it seems better if you tear them in half rather than cutting them so the edges are ragged and leave some guts or tissue trailing----it further enhances the action while jigging.

[Zzapp]

I've always heard - and read - that you should use the head of a minnow for crappies. The eyes are a target/trigger for predator fish. It does seem to be a waste to just toss the body of a minnow away, but I've never had any luck with crappies taking it; perch and 'eyes will take as much as they can get, if they're hungry.

[MNMAV93]

when i am jigging for eyes or lakers this is the way i do it.

1. put the hook through the mouth and out the gill

2. put the hook through the side of the minnow.

3. at the end the neck of the jig should be in the minnows mouth.

hope this helps

nip

[deja vu]

Quote:

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If I'm ice fishing I hook all minows just under the skin right next to and parallel to the dorsel fin. This seems to always help for a nice upper lip hook set.

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That's also been my experience... I normally fish for walleyes, using live minnows on both my rod and my tip-up. When crappies and panfish show up on my graph, I’ll switch to another rod with a smaller hook and a much smaller minnow.

I almost always use Eagle Claw long-shank fine-wire Aberdeen pattern hooks, ranging from #1/0 size for 4”+ walleye minnows down to #6 or even #8 size, for very small crappie minnows. I believe long-shank hooks are easier to remove from fish outside the slot limits, without killing the fish. I also believe the fine-wire hooks keep the minnows alive and kicking much longer than when using heavier wire baitholder or octopus pattern hooks.

I hook minnows from back to front, next to or just behind the dorsal fin, with the hook bend just under the skin, and the point and barb just protruding through the skin behind the head. I’m very careful not to hook so deeply that the hook damages the minnow’s spinal system.

It’s not too difficult to carefully hook larger minnows, using larger long-shank hooks. It’s very difficult to correctly hook smaller minnows… I’ve successfully used a folded strip of plumber’s abrasive tape to hold a small slippery minnow between my left thumb and first finger, while my right hand carefully inserts a small hook clamped in a forceps into the back of a 1½ inch long crappie minnow. It gets easier with practice…

Now I use a thin rubber glove, with a fine pebbly surface on the thumb and first finger, and a small pin vise, or the handle of a #1 X-acto knife, to hold the smallest hooks. Positioning the hook and rotating the X-acto handle a quarter turn produces a perfectly hooked and lively minnow…

Many fishermen will consider this too much effort for the benefits obtained. Simply hooking your minnow through the upper tail section, just behind the dorsal fin, being careful not to damage the spinal chord, is one alternative... Clamping very small hooks in a forceps will make it much easier.

Good luck.

[Matt Johnson]

I prefer to hook the minnow upside-down and through the tail. This forces the minnow to constsntly try and upright itself, but it can't (the minnow's equilibrium is off and it's instinct forces it to do this). So, all it does is just sit there and wiggle violently. When a fish comes in to eat it, the fish doesn't have to chase it at all, and the minnow doesn't play havoc on your bobber or deadstick rig either. Very easy to tell when you have a bite because the indication is much more distinct.

I don't use minnows for crappies, but for negative perch and walleye I really like the upside-down method...

[Fishing_Rookie_123_]

I just hook them in the back, right behind the dorsal fin (if you hit the spine it will instantly kill the minnow). It seems to work well for me (I'm new to this, though, so what do I know). Is this what you mean by hooking them through the tail? Or do you just put the hook in the meat right in front of the tail fin? Just curious because I want to try the head and tail methods to see if they are more effective than the way I do it now (behind the dorsal fin).

[Boar]

Interesting read, I When jigging, with any jig, Do things this way. I use the head with some meat behind it, not cutting it but pinching between thunb an forefinger, bloody an more scent than a clean snip with a sissors. I make sure that I hook the meat head through the lips, not from under the chin an out the head. This gives the meathead more of a flipy flop effect an is more tantilizing than hooking out the top of the head where it rides with the jig in a stiff mannor. I seem to get picked clean from time to time but I also get more fish looking this way. I always pop the air bladder an drop the torso down the hole. It dose an has turned nuetral fish into bitters. I sacrafice a few minnows before setteling into vexilar mode of tunnel vison. I've noticed alot of times that fish seem to from time to time rise past my jig an inhale a torso gently floating down, thats when I try to match the fall with just a small hook burried in a torso with no slpit shot, this dose take patience in 31' of water on LOW but dose work. I have had success with just killing a minnow letting it lie on the bottom therefore setting depth on the bobber to the same depth I'm fishing.I have seen walleyes an perch suck up torso's on the bottom I've sent down. I prefer to jig with a chub an send shinner boddys down, more meat an scent with a chub an the shinner bodyies lose their scales which gives off an effect of feeding fish. I have cleaned fish that have torsos in their stomachs, Have watched cameras showing bodies sucked up off the bottom, an watched via vexilar fish rising for a torso rather than my jig an have caught them by matching the fall rate. I also like to hook my chubs on a dead stick or rattle reel especially behind the head, have you ever noticed when you bring up a fish an the minnow is still in its mouth, its the tail thats is more often than not sticking out of its mouth. With the hook shallow behind the head ups the odds for hooking those fish that just like holding the minnow in its mouth for a while. Oh yea I also like to use a little man made powder scent that has proven to turn nuetral fish active but thats top secret. These are just things I like to experiment with while fishing sometimes they work an some times they dont. Later boar

[bgreen82]

i was watching an old in-fisherman video with doug stange, and he said for crappies through the head is best, but to go down through the top and out the bottom so the hook is at the front of the minnow head cuz crappies tend to bite the front of the minnow when they get it. just what i saw.