Fish-Hawk.Net

Hi all. I'm trying hard to get into this ice fishing stuff. I like crappie fishing the best but will fish for pretty much anything that's legal.

My question is about freezing dead minnows and using them later. Is it worth the bother or is it best to just flush them and go get some fresh ones? It's usually the shiners that don't last very long. I can keep the muds and suckers alive for several weeks.

I'm guessing frozen minnows work fine because I think that's all that can be used most places in Quebec and we've seen lots of nice fish come thru the "hice".

Thanks.....
Doug

I freeze my minnows with a bit of table salt and then use them on my next outing if your jigging the fish will not know that the minnow is dead unless he takes his pulse as for refreezing them again forget it they will be like soup. At the price of minnows it's worth keeping them in the freezer and they get stinky after they have been frozen which seems to attract them.

Frozen minnows work just fine.

if you have a vacuum sealer what a buddy of mine does is any left over shiners get their heads lopped off, salted and put in sealed bags in lots of 6 or 8. That way when he manages to get out for an evening bite he's got all the bait he needs to tip his jigging spoon. They don't get freezer burnt that way and in the smaller quantities he doesn't end up wasting many.

I agree about salting the minnows before freezing.

If you freeze them without salt you've made chum.

Thanks all.

There's lots of info out there about salting minnows. Will try some of them out.

Hi guys

I always freeze my minnows. The trick is to spread them over a large surface so as they do not touch each other. I sometimes also salt them. Remember this is ice fishing, so once they are frozen it should not be that hard to keep them frozen.

On Sunday I got seven walleye, one on live minnow and six on a orange jigging rapella and frozen minnow.


Steve

I freeze mine in Pepsi with a bit of salt.
Not sure if Diet Pepsi would get the bigger fish

Out4trout wrote:I freeze mine in Pepsi with a bit of salt.
Not sure if Diet Pepsi would get the bigger fish

Put some Mentos in their mouths before putting them in the pepsi...

Craig

Freezing them is a complete waste of time .....just leave the left over minnows on the ice for the birds or wildlife to feast on

Bass Addict wrote:Freezing them is a complete waste of time .....just leave the left over minnows on the ice for the birds or wildlife to feast on

... or hide them in the nooks and crannies of you nephews ventilation in his Ford Ranger...

Oh... wait... that's garlic worms...

Craig

I beg to differ . Salted minnows of the right type can be very handy when salted and used in the summer for Greys in Quebec in the summer . Use enough salt so that they never really freeze hard and they stay firm behind a troll. Back when a bunch of us used to go to Kipawa every summer I used to get up to 30 dozen of Serge's best Emeralds of the winter and salt them for our trip . Still know a bud who uses them by choice on Charleston every summer . No hassle about keeping minnows alive . Also they use small salties on spreaders for smelt and other fish on lakes like Bark etc
I've chummed with cut up salties as they sink well and then layed one on the bottom for Lakers on Palmerston when could fish hardwater and things were slow as well . It worked for sure

Speaking of Kipawa .......mmmmmm sure would be nice to go back up there again . Not very many lodges up there anymore . Trophy Lake Trout , Pickerel and Pike on one of the most beautiful lakes anywhere within 5 hours of here . Eric Lindros bought the best place up there a few years back . the bugger lol Cheers

Smitty

when you paying 1$ a piece.

freeze them!

Last season I happened to have a few leftover shiners, and so I wrapped them up in paper towel and put them in a ziploc bag and more or less forgot about them. Anyway, I pulled them out in late December when I started on the perch, and what a sight they were. Completely freeze-dried to the point of being mummified, but half of one on a small Buckshot lasted for several fish. After three or four perch they began to resemble grey globs of god-knows-what, but hey--they really worked well. That was all the convincing I needed; now all the leftover bits go in the freezer.

Same here. I had some frozen shiners that I was breaking into pieces and the perch were all over then. One med. minnow landed me 5 perch. Frozen minnow have their place as far as I'm concerned.