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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.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by weekendwarrior
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...)
We just caught 5 limits in 2 hours using emerald shiners cut in half. How important is live minnows?
Wow that's funny just bought one of those today at Cabela's looks like a good productQuote:
Originally Posted by miso_ohio
I wanna keep mine alive as long as possible because of the shortage of shinersQuote:
Originally Posted by daleho10
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by weekendwarrior
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.
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
Wow that's interesting Matt. Have to give that a try.
That is exactly what I do as well, no need for a live well of any kind at all, I've been doing this for three years now and would never even consider going back to a live well, and let me say as well when you have to use the Goldies, they actually turn to a lighter shade and look very much like a lake shiner , this method works well, so simple,
Yep...good advice! I've done this a time or two and it does work great!Quote:
Originally Posted by Madd Matt
X2, It is easiest way to keep them fresh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madd Matt
I only use frozen shiners and don't have any problem catching limits. Good thing is each person can take a small container of frozens and keep them close for fast baiting. I gave up on trying to keep them alive years ago and I'm much happier!
Lol... I expected a few people to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about. I never expected the next 4-5 people to post to agree and say that is how they did it too! Especially the long time contributors and captains in here. Great minds think alike!
-Matt
Ok Matt, you don't know what you are talking about! I don't want to disappoint, but I am trying that out next trip. Too many yea's not to. ty
If you go east towards bula or conneaut it seems most places only ever have zip lock bags of minnows . $10 a bag 2 weeks ago , lol
When a shiner dies it turns bad real fast and can kill the other minnows. By fast I mean within minutes they start to decompose unless they are kept ice cold. I use a frabil aerator bucket and have for the past 15 years. Threw out the battery powered pump and use an aquarium pump with a 110 v converter. Pump cost less then 10 bucks, converter is a small one cost was 18 bucks and has lasted for more than 10 years. Throw a small handful of ice from the fish cooler every now and then and still have fresh lively minnows when I get home so they freeze better. At the end of the season if I have any left over frozen minnows I use them to feed the fish in my pond, those big bass enjoy the left overs from perch season.Quote:
Originally Posted by daleho10
Take at least 2 bags with you. Put a couple of dozen in a bag and keep on top of the ice for easy access for bait while fishing and then bury the other bag with the rest of the shiners completely within the ice with only the top of the bag(s) sticking out of the ice for easy recovery. Adjust the number of minnows in the bait bag accordingly with the rate of the bite. The colder they are the longer they last. The minnows on the top of the pile in the bait bag will be the first to go bad. If that happens either wash out the bait bag or change it as the slime from the bad minnows will do the same to the good ones.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bggeary
Quote:
Originally Posted by daleho10
If I have them in the live well I will always use the dead ones first as they are much easier to catch and put on the hook. If their color has changed I toss the dead ones over board that have faded from the fresh look into the decaying look. My live well pump cycles every 3 minutes and replaces about 1/3 of the water each cycle. I still prefer the minnows in the bag trick to the live well though.
That is the voice of experience. Can't agree more. I usually try to put the bag of minnows between two bags of ice when starting out... Then like Wakina said, make sure that you cover the bag with ice with the top sticking out. I use 1 Gallon size bags and don't put more than 6 scoops in each one. Basically, you don't want a large mass of minnows at the middle of the bag so that the center ones can't get cold.Quote:
Originally Posted by wakina
The guy that said that when you go East that is what you see... The first time we saw this was on a charter out of the Cleveland area that we were on and the old timer did this. I haven't had a live minnow on the boat since, for some reason though I do take live shiners when we go ice fishing, and now I am truly wondering why?
-Matt
Ha! Thanks! I feel better now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bggeary
-Matt