Preserving Minnows

[deacon]

Looking to preserve some minnows, any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Have heard important to dry and then apply salt and borax. Where can a guy find borax? Have looked in a couple of stores, no luck.

Thanks.

[looneyducer]

I ran into some Borax at Target last Fall, near the laundry detergent. I've never tried it on minnows though.

[huntnfish]

I picked up some borax at Wal-mart last spring in the laundry detergent area.

[mnhunter2]

What you are looking for is 20 mule team borax, should be in the laundry soap dept in most large grocery stores. I mix it 50/50 with a curing salt. I put a couple of cups of the mix on an old towel and then dip my minnows out of the water and let them drip for a short time and then dump them on my towelto cover them in the mix. I put a couple of tablespoons of the salt/borax in a sandwich bag and about 2 dozen minnows, shake the mix around in the bag and roll it up to get the air out and seal and freeze.

[Bob/Mn]

What does borax do?

[Norsky]

Just go get some salt from Cub or Rainbow, I just get the Morton's non-iodized salt, get 2 of them, put the minnows into a coffee can, pour salt over them, put some more minnows in, pour more salt over them, be sure to cover the minnows with enough salt, no need for Borax at all. I then take the whole coffee can, put it in the freezer, take it out the day before you need it, then go fishing. Worked great for me many times up in Canada or BWCA. Borax is a great preservative, I use it on pheasant skins and it works great, not on my minnows though.

[Pat K]

The Borax is supposed to preserve the color of the minnows better than just salt.

[Hookmaster]

I just made up a batch to take into Canada. I used 1/3 cup canning salt and 1/3 cup of sugar in a 1 quart freezer bag. Put about 1/2 cup of freshly dead fatheads in each bag after laying them on newpaper to get excess water off. Close bag with some air in it and shake the bag to coat the minnows.Let air out and freeze. I'll see how these work. I used the salt/borax before and I thought it was just OK.

[deacon]

Thanks for all the feedback.

First batch I did with just salt.

Going to try Borax and salt in next batch to compare. Never heard of sugar and salt but if I get hungry fishing they just might be okay....

[dirtking]

We always just use pickling salt - works great - I would think the sugar would lead to sticky hands and a messy boat!

[Tom7227]

But if you get really hungry it helps get them down a little easier.

[deacon]

Tom, I got a good chuckle...

How about root beer schnapps to preserve, maybe we are on to something..

[Hookmaster]

You were right on the stick factor with the sugar. Next time salt only or back to salt and borax.