Minnows: Size Preference and where you buying them at, and how you hooking them?

I fish with minners about 75% of the time in the spring. Just curious where the others are buying, what size you prefer and how are you hooking them. I will list my preferences below.

Arkabutla: Where I'm buying Tadpoles, size mediums (with occasional larges)

Sardis Upper End: Sports Corral, medium

Sardis Lower End: Tadpoles

Enid: Tadpoles

Grenada: B's Grocery or Lakeway (Grenada has the perfect size medium minners)

I know you see a lot of Tadpoles on my list, I'm aware of the other bait shops around Butla, Sardis and Enid. I'm not running a Intensive Care Unit for minners nonono. The way I see it, when I buy them they are working for me, not the other way around. Can't spend all my time pumping them full of air and feeding them ice water all day, no sir.

I prefer to hook them thru the lips or behind the dorsal fin when using a bobber. When trolling I prefer to go thru the lips or occasionally thru the eyes. Also, anyone here fish the Big 4 with rosy reds and if so do crappie eat them up?

2nd time I had to type this, when I hit submit last time it said to please login and I lost it (weather probably), I copied this time so hope it works.

Snubby, we have tried Rosie's on Enid and Grenada with no luck but that's not to say it wouldnt be the ticket on a certain day. We use them at Washington with good success.

Single poling I hook them under the dorsal fin....spider rigging I hook them thru the eyes

95% of the time my medium minners from Tadpole's have a 1/8 ounce jig in their mouth. Riggin in the fall I will use large.

Single pole & jig..thru lips...rigging thru lips ..cork..dorsal fin

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Originally Posted by Get-th-dm-net

95% of the time my medium minners from Tadpole's have a 1/8 ounce jig in their mouth. Riggin in the fall I will use large.

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I use the large occasionally this time a year on a bobber. They work well to move towards the structure and putting off a lot of vibration in stained water, only problem with that is they like getting you hung up also Lol. Any particular reason you like the large minnows in the fall? And I do tip jigs with minnows occasionally when spider rigging, but haven't really noticed a big improvement single poling with the same combination.

spider rigging= med. through the lips . jigging never use them .

By the time fall season rolls around baitfish have grown all season and the crappie are seeing a larger foraging baitfish overall. I always fish a larger bait in the fall that just my 2 cents.

I grow bluegill for the fall hook them in the tail and start filling the cooler!!!! Before t star you can have 100 beam per person for bait !!!!! 2-3 inches long by October!!!

What you grow those bream in sharphook? Never thought of that.. and if I read correctly you can carry around up to 100 small bream for bait per man?

100 per person in MS. That would include children and seniors like me!!! I have 2 -1/10 acre water pools for live stock. Only fish in them are bluegill and green sunfish. I feed them scraps or 16 percent fish feed from Moores feed at pontotoc. Put your minnow trap in pool with a handful os feed inside. Bang 2-3 days later bait ready to go. Also stop feeding the fish a week before trapping to increase fish in trap. I can walk out there and the large fish come to the. A I likes cows in the feedlot!! The

Bank like cows

I use #8's everywhere all the time if I can get them. That is considered a medium at Lakeway in Grenada, but a Large most other places. I use the Large at Grenada sometimes and they work!!!! Those are considered a #12 at the minnow farms. The minnow farms do not grade a #10.

#6-Considered a medium most places is a small at Grenada. 1000 Minnows weigh 6lbs. A pound is 13.89 dozen.

#8- Considered a large most places is a medium at Grenada. 1000 minnows weigh 8lbs. A pound is 10.42 dozen

#12- Considered a Trot Line (Catfish) minnow most places is a Large at Grenada. 1000 minnows weigh 12lbs. A pound is 6.94 dozen

Most bait shops buy mixed graded minnows because they cost less. That's why you buy medium minnows most places and they are smaaaaaall. The minnow farms don't grade them as closely so they sell them for less.

Jigflinger is a true expert on minnows and can give much better info than me however. He's hauled billions of em.

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Originally Posted by sharphook

100 per person in MS. That would include children and seniors like me!!! I have 2 -1/10 acre water pools for live stock. Only fish in them are bluegill and green sunfish. I feed them scraps or 16 percent fish feed from Moores feed at pontotoc. Put your minnow trap in pool with a handful os feed inside. Bang 2-3 days later bait ready to go. Also stop feeding the fish a week before trapping to increase fish in trap. I can walk out there and the large fish come to the. A I likes cows in the feedlot!! The

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I get my feed and other supplys etc. at Moores in Pontotoc too

I think the big minnows taste better but the small ones are less filling

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Originally Posted by Speck

I think the big minnows taste better but the small ones are less filling

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They all eat good with a little hot sauce :biggrin

BRM hit the nail on the head. Don't know how true this is for all the minnow farmers, but, three I checked with last week are saying they are out of minnows.They say Louisiana has been buying all they can load.

So why is it some bait shops have minnows that ain't no good? I get some that die quickly (even with aerator and ice) and are soft and mushy and there scales flake off easily. Is this just a different species of minnow or are they just sickly? :dono

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Originally Posted by Snubbys

So why is it some bait shops have minnows that ain't no good? I get some that die quickly (even with aerator and ice) and are soft and mushy and there scales flake off easily. Is this just a different species of minnow or are they just sickly? :dono

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All shiners are the same species. The ones you speak of are indeed sickly. This condition can be caused by several different factors.
1. The fish were left in the seine too long and got hot.
2. They weren't properly conditioned prior to being sold. When the farms seine minnows and place them in a vat they heavily salt them. Usually about 100 pounds of mixing salt per 1000 gallons of water. This causes the minnows to purge themselves of the feed that was used to draw them into the sump where they could be caught. The farms try to keep them in salt water for at least 24 hours. Sometimes this isn't possible if the customer makes their request for early pick up.
3. The hauler doesn't keep them at the proper temperature or doesn't use salt. Salt is very important. It is very beneficial to the minnows. It cleans the minnows out. It promotes slime growth. It helps helps harden the scales. And it relieves stress. Fish farmers buy salt in 50 pound bags, several pallets at a time. It's their best insurance.
4. The bait shop is not keeping the water quality up. Just because the water is blue or green doesn't mean
water is up to snuff.
5. There are two chemicals that can be used.
1. Better Bait. Turns water blue.
2. Finer Shiner. My personal choice. Turns the water green. While both chemicals are manufactured by the same company and have the same basic ingredients, the Better Bait is intended for soft scaled fish. Finer Shiner is intended for hard scaled fish, such as shiners.
No amount of air make up for bad water.

Important note. The salt is mixing salt. Non-iodized. Regular table salt will kill them.

Thanks for the information jigflinger, very interesting. I think next year I will start using a minnow tank at home and keeping them myself instead of stopping at bait shops a couple times a week. If I get good minnows I can keep them alive 3-4 days with aerator and adding ice to my minnow bucket every now and again. But there are several places that sell those sickly minnows, they are usually belly up in 4 - 6 hours not matter the care you try to provide.

Thanks for the Info about the Salt ---- Can sea salt be used as I keep some in a 30 Gal Aquarium. I use Amonia Neutralizer a few times a week, Expecially if foam starts to appear, and feed them every other day. The food is for Tropical fish. I usually keep about 10 gallons of water in the thing so Using the small dip net is effecient

As long as sea salt is not iodized. I buy livestock salt at the co-op. Seems I remember someone saying pool salt works. Just read the lable.

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Ammonia neutralizer works. But, a change of water would be better. You don't need to feed minnows any more than every 7 to 10 days. Too much feed is what causes the ammonia and foam.

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I forgot to tell you. When adding salt, always mix it real well in a bucket of water before you add it to the tank.

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Originally Posted by Speck

I think the big minnows taste better but the small ones are less filling

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Them large minnows (Shinerdines) will fill you up quick. I like em packed in mustard best, but they still taste a bit fishy. I'm gonna try salting them like Flinger said next time!!!!! [emoji23][emoji12]

One more thing. DO NOT let Blackfish bring the minnows. Went to Butla with him one time and he brought #20 minnows. They slapped the crappie in the head and ate a few small ones. They work like a Falcon on a string. They track down the crappie to eat and are big enough to pull the boat along when you have two on a pole. Very aggressive bait. Two is all I could eat. [emoji12]

Truth be told tho, IF you do catch a crappie with them, IT WILL BE A HAWG!!!
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