Albino minnows

[fishtrap2]

Has anyone ever seen/used albino minnows. I recently saw them (crappie& one other) I had never heard of them B4. I think it was Vados where I saw them. Comments? thanks.

[Guest]

I've seen them at Vados in the past but I've never used them. Kind of curious how they would work as well.

Good Fishin, Matt.

[Guest]

I've seen them and bought them from vados before as well. I haven't had any luck with them on the lakes I've tried, in fact it's been my experience that the fish are less likely to bite those as they are to bite the regular minnows. Just my experience.

Good Luck,
Rusty

[Valv]

I don't know how (and if) they will work, but I can guarantee if minniws are dark they attract more fish. I learned this from MnSportsman, always leave them in a dark bucket. When I left them in a white bucket, they became very pale color and I didn't have much luck with them many times.
Also I think if you want them "albino" style, try leaving them too in a white bucket for 3 or 4 days, they'll get pale and you can test yourself.

On the other hand, common sense says: why a bait shop sells white minnows if they don't work, so I assume they might have some use somewhwere.

[Scupper]

2 years we took a few dozen albino minnows with us on a trip to Red lake and LOW.
We put them up against regular minnows and they seemed to work better. This was done in early January and it was a tough bite.
We felt it might be an edge in stained water with a tough bite. Now on the other hand, we had limited success on Mille Lacs with albinos. We did not use them at night on Mille Lacs.
Good Luck...

[Guest]

Last year I put some red food coloring(quite a bit) in my minnow bucket,it turned the minners red. It was pretty cool,and the fish loved them. You could use other colors as well. It takes about 3-4 days for them to color real well.

I have never see albino minners.

[Guest]

now i'm totally sure on my reasoning here, but, i always thought that albino fish/animals (whatever) were more rare for a few reasons. One would obviously be that they are more rare, period. second is that the abino fish stands out more from its surroundings, natural commo, and other fish. so in theory it may not be a bad i dea to try using a bait that's chances of surviving naturally would be less. Giving you an advantage??

mHm

[Matt D]

I've posted variants of this info. elsewhere, so if you've heard it before, sorry. Just a little biology on the matter...

The "albino" minnows I'm almost certain you're referring to are fathead minnows. They're often sold as "rosy-red's" or "ruby-red's", but their color is typically a pale pink. (so they might be thought of as albino). They're merely a unique color strain of the plain old fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) that's been selectively bred for both the pet and bait industry. This is the same species that's commonly sold as "Chubs", "Crappie Minnows", "Fatheads", etc.

I've seen them but never fished with them. My guess (and just a guess) is that based on the minnows I've used for bait, action is much more important than the color. These minnows (alive) will act/look basically the same on a hook as the "XXX" mentioned above.

I know the LOW folks will second the statement that a lively "shiner" (which are Emerald Shiners) will often far outfish any "chub". Some of it's color, but some of it's behavior.

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Best FISHES,
Matt

[Cyberfish]

Matt, you are correct. A true albino would have no melanin (black pigment) then its eyes. The gold fatheads have black pupils.
Albinos would have red ones. I never seen an albino fathead, but I have seen albino channel cats at pet stores.

Cyb ><>