Fishing with salted minnows

[Bobby Winds]

Just about everyone I know here salts their own Emerald Shiners when the are in abutment. We just pour a LOT of table salt in the bag and freeze them in case we can't get live ones for perch fishing

When the bite is on they work just as good as live minnows.......put them in your cooler until you do step # 1

Now they make a mess of your boat unless you do this simple easy step first..... take a pail or small bucket and but in about 2" of water in it, then throw in 4 or 5 minnows at a time to rinse off the salt......leave them in the water until you need them and of course replenish as needed.

You can do all other kinds of crazy things with them but we have found it's not necessary.

[labsrus]

I will use half kosher salt and borax mix to treat any left over minnows. Put in small Ziploc bags and freeze until I need to use them

I will use a small plastic container, the slice lunch meat containers work pretty good, add a little water to half dozen minnows to get the salt off of them.

Swap out the water on a regular basis.

Works pretty good for us.

[andreindy]

I am going to bring salted minnows to a fly-in outpost in Ontario July 13-20 (Abamasagi). I could try to bring both, but purchasing is easiest when you choose a particular size. How do you choose between medium shiners (about 2 to 2.5") and the large (3 to 3.5"). I am trying to think of what size the forage base for walleyes would be around that time and if a particular size would be better than another....

[BornToFish]

Greetings,

You question does not have a "right" answer. The answer comes down to personal preference.

I've been using salties for about five years. I've noticed that there has always been a range in the size of the minnows that I purchased. That is, they aren't cookie cutter minnows. I've also noticed that the minnows tend to run a bit smaller than what the supplier reports. For example, the minnow dealer might report that there are about 80-100 minnows per pound, but I counted out 100-120 minnows per pound.

I favor larger minnows over smaller minnows. I guess it just fits my temperament a bit better. Thus, I would go with the large salted emerald shiners. The next guy might answer the opposite, and go with the smaller minnows as there are more minnows per pound.

I understand that the shiner minnows are spawning right now in the lakes that I fish in NW Ontario. There will be lots of small minnows swimming around for the next month or two.

Please note that each angler is permitted to take 120 (ten dozen) salted minnows across the border into Ontario.

Good fishing and tight lines!!

[BornToFish]

Greetings,

Andre: If you choose to go with the larger size saltie minnows, you may want to use a jig with a long shank hook. As I explained in my earlier post on this thread, the junction between the minnow's head and its body is the weak link. I want the point of the hook as far back as I can get it, and definitely past the "neck" of the minnow.

The fish may hold onto the body of the minnow when it bites. When this happens, I set the hook and get the head of the minnow back, while the fish swims away with the body of the minnow.

Good fishing and tight lines!!

[brigeton]

So do you guys think salted minnows work better than plastics?

[andreindy]

Originally Posted by BornToFish

Greetings,

Andre: If you choose to go with the larger size saltie minnows, you may want to use a jig with a long shank hook. As I explained in my earlier post on this thread, the junction between the minnow's head and its body is the weak link. I want the point of the hook as far back as I can get it, and definitely past the "neck" of the minnow.

The fish may hold onto the body of the minnow when it bites. When this happens, I set the hook and get the head of the minnow back, while the fish swims away with the body of the minnow.

Good fishing and tight lines!!

Thank you Born for your insight. I will certainly implement the hooking strategy. Regarding shiner size, I will also likely go with the large size. However, "matching the hatch" was on my mind and by gosh if I couldn't recall the general size of the swarms of baitfish I was seeing last July.

It will be a wonderful time this year....

[BornToFish]

Greetings,

I am in no way an expert when it comes to emerald shiners. Minnow trappers have told me that they trap their biggest shiners of the season during the early season (e.g. April). The average minnow size decreases as the season progresses due to newly hatched minnows entering the population. The minnows that you purchase now may have been recently trapped, and somewhat smaller than what was trapped in April. I would go with Large size minnows now.

I suspect that the adult population of emerald shiners returns to the lake shortly after the spawn, whereas the juveniles remain near the spawning grounds and shore. Thus, the "match the hatch" concept in July might be adult shiners. I would go with the larger shiners, as I would want my bait to stand out from the thousands of nearby live shiners. On the flip side of this concept, I've noticed that it's tough to sell a salted fathead minnow in a lake that has emerald shiners as its forage base.

The discussion is likely splitting hairs. It's likely that either size salted shiner would work equally well.

Nearly all of my walleye fishing is in NW Ontario. Over the years, I've noticed that my early season results are about 60:40 when it comes to the choice of live/salted/frozen minnows to plastics (soft and GULP type products). I believe that this is due to the horizontal nature of the presentation - casting. The walleyes simply don't have the luxury of time to study the lure as it goes past them. They have to either eat now or let it go by.

In marked contrast, my experience is about 80:20 when it comes to fishing minnows versus plastics as the season progresses from springtime to summer and autumn. My presentation of choice transitions from horizontal to vertical. The walleyes have the luxury of time to study my lure when the presentation is vertical - it's not going anywhere. I believe that the choice of minnows versus plastics is important during these months of the season.

I have encountered "lights out" crazy bites during summer/autumn when it didn't matter what I put in front of them. The choice of minnows versus plastics didn't matter in these situations. However, I don't encounter "lights out" type bites all that often. Thus, I believe that the choice of minnows versus plastics is important to my success during the majority of my season.

I understand that there are plenty of anglers that prefer to use plastics over live bait throughout the season. The same can be said for the guys that prefer to snap jig with hard baits. I think that's great if it works for them!

Good fishing and tight lines!!

[CI_Guy]

Originally Posted by brigeton

So do you guys think salted minnows work better than plastics?

On Lac Seul, Minnitaki and LOW I've had better luck with salted over plastic. But there are lakes around home and in northern MN that plastics seem to out perform the salted minnows.

[crankerGuy]

salted minnows or plastics both are great choices over buying live bait if for no other reason costs.......we salt our own using larger fatheads,scoop of canning salt 1 scoop of fats use small square styrfoam container repeat til full about 18 doz.....bring some sort of rinsing pail the salt will get on everything....drain excess water out every morning the minnows will last the week so i quess plastics are better......no mess, they never go bad.....good luck !!!!