Minnows Dying

I'm buying minnows and when I get to our fishing spot I put them in the water. They quickly start to die off. Is the water too warm for them?

yes,

could be thermal shock if you are putting them in 90 degree water out of
70 degree water.
Mix the bait house water 50/50 with lake water for a few minutes
before putting them in lakewater..

Mo

Buy one of these,..Marine Metal Products 5-Gallon Bucket Lid with Aerator at Academy, about $12.
put it on top of a 5 gal bucket,..works great.
I have one in my boat, keeps minnows alive for days. Keep the water freshened,
We usually get minnows in a plastic bag filled with oxygen. I fill the bucket about half full with
lake wated and put the closed bag in the water for 10-15 minutes, then put the bag water and the lake water together.
That and the Aerator will keep them alive a long time. When on the water I'll change the bucket water a couple times
in 8 hours of fishing,..works great..jim..

Jigs man...jigs...

Send TBox a PM! He can tell you how to keep them alive!!

I would keep them in an aerorated plain 5 gallon bucket, fill the bucket with lake water and then set the Minnow bag in the bucket to let the temperatures acclimate. Since it's hot, you might drop a frozen bottle of lake water in there to cool them down. They should keep all day this way.

Thermocline has set in on most lakes meaning oxygen is in the top 15 ft or less of water. If you're dropping those minnows down about 20+ ft, you may be going below the available oxygen. Minnows will die in about 10 minutes or less. There won't be any fish at that level either.
And what Mo said could be the problem also.

My wife and daughter use the minnows the most. I will still use them though. I'll throw one line out with a minnow and work a road runner with another. I have an aerator and an old tin minnow bucket (my grandfathers, the kind you only see in antique shops or a Cracker Barrel wall). Batteries had died on me. I didn't even think about the shock. My wife has an aquarium and she does the something similar to what Jim Sr said when she buys new fish. We usually fish shallow, bank or dock fishing, so depth isn't our issue. I'm inclined to think it was the shock.

Since we usually bank or dock fish does anyone use jigs with a bobber? How would you work/present it? How often would you change jigs?

Thanks for all the help/advice.

If they ain't biting on jigs, they ain't biting...

My jigs never die.

Engall live bait boxes work great

I've been told that a temp change of more than 10 degrees will kill them. We used to try to keep them alive by dropping ice in the water. Never worked. I'mean like the posts above, my jigs never die, I don'the need an aerated minnow bucket and when I'm done I put them back in the box for the next trip.

I've been told that a temp change of more than 10 degrees will kill them. We used to try to keep them alive by dropping ice in the water. Never worked. I'mean like the posts above, my jigs never die, I don'the need an aerated minnow bucket and when I'm done I put them back in the box for the next trip.

pm sent

It happens this time of year.

You need to have an aerator, and if your still having issues, I would add ice to help the water carry oxygen, BUT if you do add ice then you need to use some form of water treatment... Please Release me is a great product that will help keep the fish a live and will treat the water to remove the chlorine from the ice. You wont want to change water, since its treated, and the Please Release me will also help with removing the ammonia that will build up.

We have been doing this for years on the Bass fishing side, and the minnows are no different. (that's why you get blue water from the bait shop) Just have to be a little easy on the ice, so your not shocking the minnows.

BINGO capt.

PM sent

Thermocline has set in for sure but it's usually much deeper than 15 ft and changes frequently . (25-30 ft on average) Also, most people will have their minnow bucket tied off right beside boat and not drop it down to deep water...just fyi.
Adding a little ice to keep the water cool and a cheap $7 aerator from Walmart in a 5 gallon bucket helps a lot.

Crappie Time 8 time World Champion (See Crappie Time on the WFN U-verse 1679) says sometimes they hit minnows and sometimes they only want jigs so he uses both is how he became 8 time Crappie world champion Sunday we went and me and my son used jigs only. We got skunked. The people fishing minnows were pulling them out lefty and right. So I try and not be stubborn.

I want fish - that's all!!!

Engle Coolers version of the bait bucket sucks! I know I spent $80 on one- big mistake, it's now just a cooler - went back to the Cool Bubbles Minnow Bucket and have yet to have an issue. Just make sure the water in the bucket is close to the temperature of the water your bringing them out of the bag in that you buy them in. Like the others say stick the bag in the water and let them get acclimated before you pour them in, or drop in a small amount of frozen ice to cool it down. The small 8 ounce plastic water bottles are the best as they are small and won't drop the temp down too much and kill them.

Marine Metal Products 5-Gallon Bucket Lid with Aerator at Academy, about $12. Good deal..

I've heard of putting a cap of peroxide in em will keep them going longer.

Float your bag and let them acclimate. It's just like an aquarium. The more fish you have in a small container, the more oxygen will be removed from the water and the higher the ammonia will climb. Hot temps will speed it up even more.

If you are using a floating bucket, lift it and drain most of the water then let it refill with fresh every so often to help keep those levels constant.

Aquariums at home have temp regulated by your home conditions, they have aerators to provide oxygen and chemicals to remove ammonia.

Ok, I've got plenty of five gallon buckets. I'll use two, one to keep them in and one to let the chlorine dissipate. I'll get this Marine Metal 110-volt Air Bubbles II Pump from Acadamy or Amazon and just keep it in the house. When we go fishing I'll move them to my grandpa's minnow bucket or carry one of the buckets. I may get the lid Jim suggests, tired of paying too much for D-cell batteries. Thanks for all the tips guys.

I freeze bottles of water and add them to my minnow water helping keeping things in check and it works for me if I'm using them

slipcork and jigs. save money for beer

i'm 66 and just found out about slip corks on TFF...what a gr8 thang 2 use...corse, 2 dang hot 2 fish now...ben 2 LBJ the past 2 weeks and can't ketch a dang perch...pityful

Use the same technique on other species

I know what you mean I bought some yesterday and try were dead before I got to my spot. but still used them and still caught a few I just had to fish them like a jig....