Preserved minnows

[b_cdot]

Just curious if ppl have confidence with preserved minnows (saltys) when live bait is hard to find or too far away? The application is for tipping jig heads and jigs with plastics especially this year for the Detroit River and St clair river. I have definitely not been able to build up confidence using them with ice fishing. Live has always out fished them even when my live bait was dead LOL. I'm thinking of giving them a try especially because you lose less of them jigging. Any input or personal experience is appreciated. Thanks

 

 

[buick14]

I have never had good experiences using them personally ...

[porkpie]

I use salted minnows pretty often. I've also used them on the Detroit. Usually we fish a soft plastic with a minnow head on the hook. It works great. For perch I hardly ever use anything other than salted minnows. If your Stillwater rigging them live bait is hard to beat, but for active jigging all your looking for is the smell of meat!

[fishindevil]

I have used salted minnows in current for years for walleyes and many years ago lake Ontario at the pickering nuke.....some of my biggest fish I have caught have been with salted dead minnows......hell yeah they work...

[GBW]

Many years ago I had a med/lg fish tank in my garage just for minnows (keeping within my legal limit) and if I went out there and some happened to be dead I salted them and they still worked for me.

*edit* to add

How to: http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/general/how_to_make_salted_minnows.htm

Edited April 2, 2017 by GBW

[misfish]

I have used salted minnows in current for years for walleyes and many years ago lake Ontario at the pickering nuke.....some of my biggest fish I have caught have been with salted dead minnows......hell yeah they work...

 

 

Yup. I use them all the time. Easier to carry around then live.

 

Use them for ice fishing all the time . Ya, live might out do them, but they are my stand by go to bait for my tip up or even just loading a small treble hook and letting it lay on the bottom for a whitie.

 

Use to use salties for browns when I fished the 4 sisters. Was the bait of choice, for most guys. Most times we would put 3-4 small pin heads on a single, for those light bite days. When they were on, we would use a single 3" one. When they took it, they were on. Miss those days.

[smitty55]

I've caught piles of Lakers in Quebec behind a gang troll on salted Emeralds. No more of that though now with the new regs.

A guy I know swore he could catch more on salties than live minnows behind a gang troll. He had some secret technique that he wouldn't divulge. I still have no prob using them on Charleston as usually the bait shop is still closed when we get there.

 

Cheers

[smitty55]

Here's my hint of the day for preserving minnows. Some background first. In my case for the minnow to be properly threaded on the leader behind the troll the minnow has to have a firm belly but if you use too much salt the gut shrinks up so much it doesn't work, so it's a delicate balance to use just enough salt to keep them from freezing solid, but not so much that they dry out. Plus you want the minnow straight so it tracks well. I got pretty good at it as every year in winter when Serge had his biggest ones I would buy up to 250 and salt them for our yearly Kipawa trips and other QC fishing. Can't get Emeralds in the summer. First I would give them a good heavy overnite salting. The next day I would drain them well and then lay them flat by the dozen between sheets of uncoated butcher paper ( I still have tons lol) and a light coating of coarse salt over the minnows. Then into heavy ziplock bags for each guy and stored flat in the freezer. Worked pretty well, but is was for a specific technique, although I would throw a used one (no lips left) on a jig for Pickerel the odd time.

 

So back to preserving, Serge had many years back told me a story about some guys from Quebec that would buy a big order from him every winter. No live bait in QC so these guys dumped all the live minnows in a dry cooler and added a jug or two of -45 windshield washer fluid. Said it worked great.

 

So around 6 years ago I decided to try it. Wth right? Well wouldn't ya know it it works freakin great. Minnows are firm and still nicely flexible in the freezer so they never freeze solid. I put the live minnows into the fluid for a half hour. They live longer than I figured. I take them out and lay them out all purty and vacuum seal them. I think they might last forever lol. I have used 2 year old ones that were still ok.

Most fish like salt and I'm a big believer of that when it comes to Greys. What I do now is unseal them in the morning and put them with coarse salt in a zip lock on ice. I like to think it still works as an attractant that way.

 

This is the only pic of them I have of them. It was after a freezer cleanup lol so these were at least 3 years old. The bit of liquid in the bag is turning brown. I bet they would still have worked from the look and feel of them. I mean the tails still look perfect.

 

 

 

Cheers

[Joeytier]

Here's my hint of the day for preserving minnows. Some background first. In my case for the minnow to be properly threaded on the leader behind the troll the minnow has to have a firm belly but if you use too much salt the gut shrinks up so much it doesn't work, so it's a delicate balance to use just enough salt to keep them from freezing solid, but not so much that they dry out. Plus you want the minnow straight so it tracks well. I got pretty good at it as every year in winter when Serge had his biggest ones I would buy up to 250 and salt them for our yearly Kipawa trips and other QC fishing. Can't get Emeralds in the summer. First I would give them a good heavy overnite salting. The next day I would drain them well and then lay them flat by the dozen between sheets of uncoated butcher paper ( I still have tons lol) and a light coating of coarse salt over the minnows. Then into heavy ziplock bags for each guy and stored flat in the freezer. Worked pretty well, but is was for a specific technique, although I would throw a used one (no lips left) on a jig for Pickerel the odd time.

 

So back to preserving, Serge had many years back told me a story about some guys from Quebec that would buy a big order from him every winter. No live bait in QC so these guys dumped all the live minnows in a dry cooler and added a jug or two of -45 windshield washer fluid. Said it worked great.

 

So around 6 years ago I decided to try it. Wth right? Well wouldn't ya know it it works freakin great. Minnows are firm and still nicely flexible in the freezer so they never freeze solid. I put the live minnows into the fluid for a half hour. They live longer than I figured. I take them out and lay them out all purty and vacuum seal them. I think they might last forever lol. I have used 2 year old ones that were still ok.

Most fish like salt and I'm a big believer of that when it comes to Greys. What I do now is unseal them in the morning and put them with coarse salt in a zip lock on ice. I like to think it still works as an attractant that way.

 

This is the only pic of them I have of them. It was after a freezer cleanup lol so these were at least 3 years old. The bit of liquid in the bag is turning brown. I bet they would still have worked from the look and feel of them. I mean the tails still look perfect.

 

 

 

Cheers

That's a new one for me. I'll have to try that next winter, dead minnows still allowed in winter months here.

 

Saltines work excellent for walleye, but it can really depend on what you're using. There's some store bought salties I've seen that were waaaaay oversalted and dried up, which would be pretty ineffective, but once you get half decent at making your own, they work excellent.

[dave524]

I've heard of preserving minnows and cut bait using laundry blueing, the blue windshield washer fluid probably gives the same colour.

[bigugli]

Love using salties. WIth fewer shops having minnows available, I always have a supply on hand when travelling.

[b_cdot]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Good stuff!