Shiner bucket temp

[daleho10]

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

[airshot]

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

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.

[wakina]

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

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.