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.

[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

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.