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I went to white river yesterday to try and catch a few crappie and I didn't have a temp gauge because I went with a buddy in his boat but I could tell the water was really cold from the snow run off . Anyway it was like the water was killing our minnows . You could put a minnow on and within a minute or two it was hammer dead ? Been fishing my entire life never seen anything like that but I normally don't fish alot in the winter. Anyone else ever experience this????
The water temp in your minnow bucket needs to be about the same as lake water temp. It sounds like they went into shock because the lake water was cold. Try freezing a water bottle and put it in the minnow bucket if the water from the bait shop is not cold.
x2 i am with billy !!!
theysaid
Try trading a can or 2 of river water in the bucket every 5-10 minutes and get the water close to the same temp. 3-4 changes will minimize the temp shock.
This bait shop on the way to phillips county (around Elaine) used to sell minners that were dead. Guy always said "thems dormit minners" but we didnt have nuthin else so we took em and ran.
just learned something too..rotfl
^ +2 thanks for tip
your minners need to be aclimated to the water you are dropping them into, sounds to me the water in you bucket was either cooler or warmer than the water they were being dropped into.
Dead minners ain't always dead minners.....
I bought some one time in an 'air bag' and put them in a cooler with ice block. Didn't go for a few hours......finally left for the lake, an hour drive. They were all 'dead'.......... Put 'em in built-in minnow bucket partition of livewell anyway.......(no way to get any others anyway)........and in a little bit most of them were alive and well. Some DID actually die, though. Not sure what that's called, but it happened.
I call it frozen in time, they slow their motabalism down to a near stop. Cold blooded critters can do that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckrub
had the same experience with putting minnows in my cooler once but almost all come back in the warmer water just never had it happen the other way. I should have added some river water to the bucket sounds like.
Rapid temp change can shock fish causing death. The Shad are die'n in some lakes right now because of the ice run off. Water temps were 39 to 40 today with small Shad flitter'n on the surface. As they start die'n and slowly sink they can cause a feeding frenzy! Fish we caught were stuffed with Shad today from picking off easy meals of Shad!