A Minnow Question?

[ZacSpeight]

I'm new to this forum. I hope that I'm in the correct area for this question. It's been a long time since I had fish with minnows. I bought some today, and didn't get to use all of them. I just don't want to throw them away. I'm planning on fishing tomorrow. What's the best way to preserve minnows overnight? Thank you.


Zac

[Slowretrieve]

There are several ways to do this. Before I begin, however, I would like to welcome you to the board.

The first rule is to keep the water cold. If you have access to blue water, use that. I don't even know what it is, but most minnows at the bait shop are swimming in blue water. Even if you get hold of blue water, keep it cold.

Next, if you can't do that and you are staying near the lake and have your minnows in a aerible minnow bucket, tie a long rope to it and leave them overnight in cool water.

Personal experience suggests that if you dump them into your household aquarium, most will be floating in the morning.

I would put them in a cooler and put the cooler in the refrigerator for the night. I think they'll keep that way.

[bigoutdoors]

the blue water is shinner life or shad keeper.it can be found at some bait stores,pro bass or cabelas,its just about what slowretrive said.one thing is you dont want to shock them,and pick up an airator,at walmart or bait and tackel shop

[davetclown]

the blue water is also known as oxigen, it creates oxigen, I use most of the time in the winter. works well in the summer.


keep tap water away from your minnow bucket. It is clorinated and salted depending on what type of water system you are hooked to or what your porvider is giving you.

if you have no treatment systems hooked to the well you might test it, if the fish die when you change the water or just add a cup or two to your bucket you can have some chemical problems in your well... My well has 400 times the leagle sulfate level and adding a couple cups of the stuff to a five gallon pale will kill off all the minow in just minutes.

a combination of fresh lake water and the oxigen pills works well. you can also get a battery opperated oxigenator that hooks to the side of your minnow bucket. It runs on two size d batteries, and if you use duricell it will run for a couple days.

dont feed the fish..... big mistake.,,, if you feed them they go potty in the bucket.... then you get a high mortality rate.

with the two methods mentioined above I have kept minnows alive for two weeks at a time......

be sure to check them and remove the dead ones, they will rot and contaminate the oxigen in the water...

Welcome to our forum....

[charlie]

As already mentioned - TAP water is a killer - you need to eliminate the salts/minerals & other added chemicals - that's what the blue does in bait shops - most shops run a continous flo system to their tanks - some add charcoal filters as well as Polypropolyne Blue - your airaetors just blow bubbles through the water - they do not oxyginate the water - you can add oxytabs and a few ice cubes - this helps - best of all - fresh lake or river water - minnows are not meant to be kept for extended periods in an anglers bait bucket - so if you get a day or 2 out of them - your doing well - yes get rid of the deadies immediately as mentioned they contaminate the bucket.