keeping minnows

[mwalleye]

I have set up a minnow tank in my garage to keep minnows I trap. If they are to be kept for some time do I need to add something for food. Anf if so what do I feed them? Thanks

[cmb]

I keep a tank of stream fish (minnows & darters) and have had sucess feeding frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, and shrimp pellets. all avalable at local pet shop. also, you may want to consider adding some plants, algae or whatever is found where you catch the minnows. tip, dont overfeed and keep the water cool

[Toad]

Kinda depends on how long you want to keep 'em in the tank. If they'll be in there beyond 2-3 weeks, you'll want to feed, else your minnows will start to loose body mass.

I too trap & seine minnows all year long and I've noticed that different species will eat dry oatmeal sprinklings, while others like chubs seem to prefer live or once alive critters, like meal worms, earthworms, corn grubs or wax worms. Overall, most minnows will eventually eat granular cornmeal or bread crumbs of some sort.

To me, catching and keeping your own bait is a sure sign of a good fisherman. Glad to hear there are fellow baitmen like you out there. Just too bad it's becoming a lost art.

-a friend called Toad

[Spinnerman]

I've tried keeping minnows and chubs for long periods of time, with not much luck. How do you guys keep your water cool during the summer months? Thanks

[EricCO]

How do you find the minnows to net?

I usually only see shad in the fall when they are schooling towards the surface.

[Roger Mayer]

Hi!

I use an old deep freezer for keeping my minnows. When I want to cool the water I just plug it in. It brings down the water temp nice and slow. Just be careful to monitor it so it doesn't turn into a block of ice!

Roger Mayer.

[Kevin A.]

Take a five gallon pail full of minnows and stick it in an old refrigerator, use a $5 aquarium air pump & air stone, feed them goldfish food...I've kept them this way for a couple months before I finally used them up.

[BC]

All the information on the postings is very good, the only thing that was left out that I had problems with is overcrowding of minnows. Depending on the type of bait [spotails and creek chubs need alot of room] I always try to give them an extra inch or so. Trapping bait is alot of fun and it is a good way to show kids what is really going on.

[FOOTDOC]

This sounds like great fun. Please give some advice on trapping minnows. What type of streams do you go to and what if any bait do you use in the trap? Any advice would be helpful.

[Melonbob]

I've done alot of trapping since I was a little kid, and once my grandparents bought the lodge we got a commercial bait licence, which meant alot of work, sometimes in the neighbourhood of 200 dz a day. I've tried about everything, and my best results have always been with plain white bread in the traps. I trap local swamps that have a population of baitfish, and remember, they're just like any fish, if they're there today, they may not be tomorrow. Keep your tank cool and DARK, or they will lose colour. Good Luck!!!!

[bob oh]

One thing to find out is how many minnows you are allowed to keep without a commercial bait license. Ohio has a limit on number of minnows you can have without the license and I am sure other states do as well (they have to sell those licenses). Can't remember the number, but know a friend who was charged because he had too many minnows in a dockside storage net.....
Bob
Guess they probably wouldn't come in your home to count your minnows, but maybe they would ;-)

[EAGLE EYES]

I love to net minnows. I have been doing it since I was old enough to walk. My dad showed me the tricks of the trade. Seining is just so much fun!
One thing we do to keep minnows alive, is we use an old washing machine barrel. It has holes in the bottom. What we have done is we put attached the barrel under our dock. Granted you can't do this if you don't have a boat dock or lake shore property. But anyway,we have keep minnows in this all summer long. The greatest thing about shoreline or river seining is you find out what is in the lake. Also you can tell what the eyes might be looking for by the results of your seining catch. For example in the spring to early summer, We net the schools of Shiners that are abundant at the time. Then later as the shoreline temp starts to rise in the main lake we start to pick up more sucker minnow and chub.ect...
Sorry to ramble on! I just love the sport. But anyway to get back to the original post by mwalleye. I don't think you have to worry much about feeding them. The minnows will live for along time with no food. But if you want feeding them sprinkles of gold fish food once in a while can't hurt. A good thing to remember is water at 39 deg. is at it's maximum density, and will hold the most oxygen for minnow species that need it, like silver Shiners. Good luck!!!

[Toad]

Another tip that somewhat relates to this topic is minnow coloration. Most baitfish species have the ability to change their pigmentation to match the color of their surroundings (ie, for camoflage). For example, placing chubs in a white container will cause their skin to lighten up a shade or two.

Often, if you're fishing in and around dark colored cover, like weeds, or over dark colored rocks-- especially in shallow water-- you can do a number on walleyes with these "lightened up" minnows. They stand out in the environment and fish more easily detect them.

This is little wrinkle that pro Daryl Christensen uses to his advantage at tournaments. You know what they say, "it's the little things . . ."

-a friend called Toad

[John in MN]

Conversely, when fishing in sand or light colored bottoms, have the inside of the minnow bucket black to make the minnows the darkest they can be to make them stand out more against the light surroundings.