Shiner bucket temp

[weekendwarrior]

Hello all was wondering how cold to keep shiners. I think live ones fish better but last Friday most died by mid morning in live well. Heard some people say to keep them cool. So is colder better than warmer? What do some of you do? Thanks in advance for replying.

[miso_ohio]

Colder is always better, this year I switched to one of these and so far so good, I do try and keep a couple frozen water bottles in there as well to help keep it cool.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Engel...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

That is just an example, some people use a cooler that they modify with an aeration kit and Frabil has an insulated bucket type as well, all work in insulating the water, throw a frozen bottle in there and you should be good. A non insulated bait bucket in my experience does not keep them alive too long if it is hot out.

[LEfriend]

Hello all was wondering how cold to keep shiners. I think live ones fish better but last Friday most died by mid morning in live well. Heard some people say to keep them cool. So is colder better than warmer? What do some of you do? Thanks in advance for replying.

I bought a standard "tall size cooler" just for bait. Rectangular, taller than wide. Don't know dimensions...same one as I take drinks and lunches in. About size of a minnow bucket. Drilled a hole on the side towards top the to slide aerator hose and stone through, screwed a small picture frame hanger on side to hang the aerator pump on. Put some ice in and works good. Some guys freeze the ice in bottles. I've never had any problem just throwing in some crushed ice or a chunk. (look at Skipper 9's link and mine is the hillybilly version...)

[daleho10]

We just caught 5 limits in 2 hours using emerald shiners cut in half. How important is live minnows?

[weekendwarrior]

Colder is always better, this year I switched to one of these and so far so good, I do try and keep a couple frozen water bottles in there as well to help keep it cool.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Engel...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

That is just an example, some people use a cooler that they modify with an aeration kit and Frabil has an insulated bucket type as well, all work in insulating the water, throw a frozen bottle in there and you should be good. A non insulated bait bucket in my experience does not keep them alive too long if it is hot out.

Wow that's funny just bought one of those today at Cabela's looks like a good product

[BLACK PEARL]

We just caught 5 limits in 2 hours using emerald shiners cut in half. How important is live minnows?

I wanna keep mine alive as long as possible because of the shortage of shiners

[walleye2go]

They need to be alive when you use them whether you cut them or not. Otherwise they will get mushy and lose their color and scales. I would not recommend adding crushed ice in a large amount to live minnows either. It will shock them and they'll swim right into the ice laying on top and die. It's best to use a chunk of ice out frozen bottles. I prefer using a 120 quart cooler with a 12 volt aerator with dual aeration discs. I can keep 18 scoops overnight with no problems. I'll maybe have a 1/2 scoop dead in the morning. I also use a water additive to reduce waste in the water.

[miso_ohio]

Wow that's funny just bought one of those today at Cabela's looks like a good product

Just one word of caution with those Engels. the aeration unit is total junk, the bad reviews on it mainly complain about that and I experienced it myself. I ended up swapping it out with a better unit, mine went out after about 4 trips on it. I got it at home and have not taken the time to open it up yet to see what is failing on it. It does not bother me though because the rest of it is top notch, it really keeps things cold, plus it does not tip over as easily as some of the bucket type do, both in the car and on the boat. Ideally I will probably build a larger cooler (hillbilly) one for longer holds overnight but for now I am completely happy with the Engel.

[Fishing Addiction]

I got the frabil bucket a couple years back and so far still working great. It runs on 2 d cell battery's and also comes with a 12v supply cord to plug in the boat the aireator is built on the top and has an insulated insert for the bucket. The best 85 dollar investment my wife ever made. I got sick of buying aerators every year.

[Madd Matt]

Okay... I'll tell you my secret, and everyone can tell me that I'm nuts. But I dare you to try it.

I go into the bait store with a ziplock bag and gets my scoops of minnows put right into the bag. No water.

The bag goes into the cooler with the ice. The minnows die. But they are on ice and they stay bright and shiny, and firm. In fact I will go as far to say they they are more firm than a live minnow. They will keep their scales and stay as bright as the live ones.

I don't have to scoop any minnows out of the bucket. In fact, I take a Wet towel and put it on the side rail of the boat, put a handful of minnows in it with a couple ice cubes and fold the towel over. The ice slowly melts and the towel stays ice cold, and when you have up and down action you never have to bend over for minnows.
The bait shop guys tell me that the only customers that get their minnows like that and put them on ice are the old timers... Which is where I learned it.

To each his own, especially when it comes to fishing.

-Matt