Guys, a little tip I would like to share with all the perch fishermen. For years I have caught my own emerald shiners, mostly in the fall when they come in close to break walls and other structures along the lake. You are allowed to have 500 minnows without a bait dealer license(around $34 in Ohio) I always bought a dealer license to be legal in Ohio!
https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents...it%20R1118.pdf
After catching the shiners I blot as much as possible the water off of them, then pack them in yellow corn meal(not corn meal mix or white corn meal) it must be yellow corn meal. Don't ask me why it has to be yellow, I have tried the others and it doesn't seem to work. I have found that shiners frozen this way work as well or in my experience better than live emeralds! My belief is the corn meal preserves the shine on the minnows.
I always do them as quickly as I can before they die, mine are all flopping around as I dust them with corn meal, pack them in 1 quart size heavy duty freezer bags, 3 or 4 scoops at a time, more if you want. I haven't tried it but using a food save bag would probably well too as long as you blot the water off of them. You can do this with your unused bait as well as long as they are not dead, no sense wasting $3.50 a pound emerald shiners.
Sorry bait dealers but maybe you could start using this method of freezing your minnows for the seasons when emeralds are hard to find! Try it guys you will be amazed.