Cheap minnow option

Ok yesterday I fished with minnows for the first time this year. I plan on doing it more, but it is pretty expensive.

Who has figured out a cheap way to keep large quantities of minnows at home for extended periods of time?

Keep the water cool, aerated and filtered... You will still have some loss.

Get a MINNOW trap and catch your own.

Is there any place down here that sells by the scoop? I quit using minnows because I refuse to pay 2.99 for 12 minnows counted out. Up in MN you buy minnows by the scoop, 2-3 bucks a scoop and 50+ minnows per, I don't know why it's so expensive down here.

To answer your question, Jig Man has it right, get a big cooler or fish tank and keep cool water aerated and most will last a couple of days.

Since I haven't fished with minnows in years but may start crappie fishing again I have a question.......isn't the zebra mussel law (dump all the water from your boat at the ramp) a problem as far as keeping minnows?

That's a good question...I'm guessing as long as you keep the receipt where they were purchased you're good to go.

The east Texas minnow mafia set's the price's .

I could be wrong, quoting how you remember the regs rarely goes well but I believe if you are transporting live bait on the way to go fishing, you need the receipt from where you got them. Once you're done, all water drained and nothing goes home with you.

I've caught them in my minnow traps for years and have never been asked where I bought them from. I use them only on my lake or from the same water I am on though because I understand the biological concern. Just gotta invest in a 1/4 inch mesh cast net and catch your own or about 4 minnow traps for a good outing. Keep them in an aerated tank just go back to the same water you caught them from. My cast net paid for itself by the 5 the outing. Plus it just helps to become more aware of the water you are fishing.

Live fish, including personally caught live bait, cannot be transported from the water body where the fish were caught in or aboard a vessel in water from the water body where the fish were caught. Personally caught live bait can be used in the water body where it was caught.
Transport and use of commercially purchased live bait in water while fishing from a vessel is allowed, provided persons in possession of the bait have a receipt that identifies the source of the bait. Any live bait purchased from a location on or adjacent to a public water body that is transported in water from that water body can only be used as bait on that same water body.---- These are the regs from Parks and Wildlife. Just adhere to these and you will be fine.

I used my above ground pool. I never could keep the algae out of it anyway.

Long time back I had a 50 gallon poly drum that I cut halfway and filled with rainwater. I would catch minnows in the creek behind my house with a single minnow traps and would always have a couple dozen to fish with. I used a cheap aerator and kept the drum outa the sun so the algae growth didn't get too bad. Fed them flake food twice a week and did a 1/4 water change 1 time a month with other rainwater I had saved. Used a siphoning tube to get the gunk out and had no problems with die off more than a 4-5 minnows a month.
I live on the lake now so I just keep in the water. This would be a good option if you don't live on a lake.

I do it all the time. I buy minnows by the pound at the wholesale dealer in Lewisville. I put a pound in a 3 gallon container in a refrigerator on my dock. (Garage would work) I put an aquarium aerator in the fridge. I have a ice chest with a 12V aerator attached to use in the boat. (Put some frozen water bottles in to keep them cool.)

Will keep them for a week.

Call me if you need more info.

Where is the wholesale minnow dealer in Lewisville?

Google "Live Bait Outlet of Lewisville". They are off of Valley Ridge blvd and N Mill St. like 5 mins from the Lewisville fishing barge. Cash only. $15/lb at least last time i went that is what it was. lots of variety of live bait (large/medium/small minnows, sometimes small bluegills, goldfish, etc)

If you can use a throw net and get some shad in the 2-4" range they will out fish the minnows. I caught a crappie and he spit out a 4" shad so I thought what the heck I put on my jig head in the mouth and out the top of the head and I caught 5 crappie on that shad before I got bit on the other rods with minnows. Just wondering is there a trap you can use to catch shad?