Hooking frozen minnows.

[trigger7mm]

What’s your best trick for getting minnows to stay on your hook better. Thawed, mussy minnows can be tough to cast sometimes. Thanks.

[Dark Wing]

I just got a good tip a few weeks back . Put the hook through the eye's and then through the back . Don't pull the eye of the hook completely through eye's of the minnow . You can even fish rotten minnows this way .

[ORV]

salt salt salt

keeps them a lot firmer.i hook them thru the body where

the silver line is. the bones there seem to help them stay on better

i.m.o.

Orv

[crosman177]

Gorge hook with needle is the best technique for simple dead fish bait fishing.

[NSR Fisher]

It depends how you want to present the minnow.

If you are dead sticking a minnow without much movement, taking your hook point and putting it through the gills or eyes, turning the hook 180 degrees, then putting it back through the body so it sits horizontal is the best way. Ideally the hook will be poking out 3/4 of the way down the minnow.

If you are lindy rigging with a bit of movement, sometimes the best way is to hook it right in the spine of the tail. The flesh is a lot tougher there and you can usually slide the minnow on a little bit reverse direction, they stay on very well this way and it avoids a lot of the mushing action because you are simply poking it through the tail and following the spine a few CM's.

If you have fresh, solid minnows you can usually just thread it right onto the hook like a night crawler, if you bend the minnow gently while you do it, you can usually get the hook to sit perfectly as if you had a swim bait. Do not attempt with mushy ones though.

Hope this helps!

PS: Leeches / Night crawlers outfish minnows some days, and if the action is really hot try using a scented plastic bait, it saves so much time and when the bite is on the difference isn't much between real and fake.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by NSR Fisher

It depends how you want to present the minnow.

If you are dead sticking a minnow without much movement, taking your hook point and putting it through the gills or eyes, turning the hook 180 degrees, then putting it back through the body so it sits horizontal is the best way. Ideally the hook will be poking out 3/4 of the way down the minnow.

If you are lindy rigging with a bit of movement, sometimes the best way is to hook it right in the spine of the tail. The flesh is a lot tougher there and you can usually slide the minnow on a little bit reverse direction, they stay on very well this way and it avoids a lot of the mushing action because you are simply poking it through the tail and following the spine a few CM's.

If you have fresh, solid minnows you can usually just thread it right onto the hook like a night crawler, if you bend the minnow gently while you do it, you can usually get the hook to sit perfectly as if you had a swim bait. Do not attempt with mushy ones though.

Hope this helps!

PS: Leeches / Night crawlers outfish minnows some days, and if the action is really hot try using a scented plastic bait, it saves so much time and when the bite is on the difference isn't much between real and fake.

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, worms and leeches are great in the summer, but as the Fall River walleye bite comes on, I find that I catch my bigger fish on big shiner minnows. I like using Jigs, or drop shot rigs from about the middle of September to the end of the season. Cheers!

[bobalong]

Not sure where your located but if possible only buy Parker minnows. They almost never get mushy and I have thawed and froze them up to 3 times and they still say fairly firm.
Not sure who else carries them but The Fishin' Hole does, check soon though as supplies can sometime be scarce this time of year.

[trigger7mm]

You’re right Bobalong, Parker minnows are by far the best. Don’t seem to be able to find any in Edmonton this year though. I’ve heard that the harvest was very poor this spring.

[warriorboy10]

Cure the minnows overnight for sure! Don’t use table salt, Rock or Kosher. Bout a buck a pound. Minnows will be way tougher

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

You’re right Bobalong, Parker minnows are by far the best. Don’t seem to be able to find any in Edmonton this year though. I’ve heard that the harvest was very poor this spring.

They are getting so popular that supply has been a little iffy the last few years.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by warriorboy10

Cure the minnows overnight for sure! Don’t use table salt, Rock or Kosher. Bout a buck a pound. Minnows will be way tougher

What’s the best way. Just put the salt in a zip lock bag with the thawed minnows, and shake it up. Then lay out on a paper towel in the fridge. Will that do the job? Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated.

[yamaha 1]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

What’s the best way. Just put the salt in a zip lock bag with the thawed minnows, and shake it up. Then lay out on a paper towel in the fridge. Will that do the job? Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated.

I put my minnows in a ice cream pail, salt them with a lot of kosher salt, let them sit over night in the fringe. The next day spread them over an old window screen in the sun for a few hours. It will toughen them up. you can keep them in the freezer after that for a long time.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by yamaha 1

I put my minnows in a ice cream pail, salt them with a lot of kosher salt, let them sit over night in the fringe. The next day spread them over an old window screen in the sun for a few hours. It will toughen them up. you can keep them in the freezer after that for a long time.

That’s a great tip, thanks.

[CBintheNorth]

Ice fishing I hook through the eyes then back through the body. Holds them fairly straight.
If casting or trolling open water I hook once through the eyes and then put a small piece of red (personal preference) elastic on the hook to stop them from sliding off. The 1/4" wide elastics work great for this. I usually cut up a few into tiny squares and throw them in a pill container in my tackle box. Lasts for years.

[muzzy]

First off to save money I use a large bag of frozen smelt. $11 in Superstore. While still frozen I take the smelt out and rebag into 4 sandwich size baggies wrapped in a piece of paper towel. I'll get about 30 give or take smelts into each bag and pop them right back into freezer. That way you arent thawing and refreezing the whole bag of smelts which quickly turns them to mush on second thaw. With a small container of minnows costing ballpark $7 then 4x$7 =$28 vs $11 I'm way ahead
Now for hooking and having minnow stay on and be presented in a very lifelike presentation
Open minnow mouth, slide the hook in and out the gill cover,
Push the jig or hook as far into mouth as it'll go ( the actual hook is just going down outside of minnow) then with jig all way into mouth rotate hook 90 degree's and push it through the minnows body sideways just above backbone so the point just protrudes on far side. Guaranteed it stays on and on a dead stick stays in lifelike horizontal position

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by muzzy

First off to save money I use a large bag of frozen smelt. $11 in Superstore. While still frozen I take the smelt out and rebag into 4 sandwich size baggies wrapped in a piece of paper towel. I'll get about 30 give or take smelts into each bag and pop them right back into freezer. That way you arent thawing and refreezing the whole bag of smelts which quickly turns them to mush on second thaw. With a small container of minnows costing ballpark $7 then 4x$7 =$28 vs $11 I'm way ahead
Now for hooking and having minnow stay on and be presented in a very lifelike presentation
Open minnow mouth, slide the hook in and out the gill cover,
Push the jig or hook as far into mouth as it'll go ( the actual hook is just going down outside of minnow) then with jig all way into mouth rotate hook 90 degree's and push it through the minnows body sideways just above backbone so the point just protrudes on far side. Guaranteed it stays on and on a dead stick stays in lifelike horizontal position

Another excellent tip! Thanks.