Thread: Dead Minners'

Originally Posted by bassnomo

A question for all you seasoned crappie veterans:

When trolling with minnows, do you let the dead ones stay or replace with live ones?
Will a crappie bite the dead one trolling as well as a live one?

How do you hook them trolling?
On ajig I hook
Minnow only: though the back, but not throught the spine?

On a jig - under the mouth and out the top of the head?


Thanks in advance from the reforming basser'

Basser.....When I spider rig slow I want my minners alive and perky, if I'm trolling fast I don't care if they are dead, I of course would like them alive but it's not necessary.
I generally hook them through the lips and they will live longer. On a jig I hook em' though the lips also.
Good Luck.....................crappie cowboy

Ditto everything cowboy said. I will even replace the ones that have been on a while but are still just alive. I wan't 'em flippin and floppin when I pull 'em out of the water. Allways hook 'em through the lips, never in the back, unless you're catfishin'.

concur ......

I like em live....

I hookem thru the lips when trollin, but when I'm really fishin I will hookem just under the back fin and sit back and watchem go to work. To me they seem to be more mobile when hook thru the back. Plus they cant holler if they got their mouths hooked shut.

Lively only! A live minnow will but off electrical signals that other predators can pick up using lateral lines. Keep those minnows lively and never just dunk fresh minnows into lake water. To keep them lively, add a little lake water at a time to acclimate them to it slowly. When heat of summer gets here, I only use aerator in minnow containers. I never add any new water.

On a "Good Day" it doesn't matter how you hook em or if there dead or alive !!

Some clear water lakes you can get by with jigs most of the time,but a muddy water lake I like to use minners because of the vibrations they can put off and the crappie can pick up on those, adding some color, like a chartreuse bead, or blade or use a jig and minner, jig a roadrunner, anything to put off some vibes and a color to catch there attention.
Bandits work best of stained water, but real muddy water I think the crappie
have a much harder time locating to lure....just my thuoghts on the Bandit and muddy water.
Guy's that pull Bandits on Sardis have more success than say Grenada or Arkabutla becuse its a little less muddy.

crappie cowboy