# How do I order minnows?



## KingDarius (Mar 7, 2012)

Ok so I am new to fishing and have never gone to a bait shop for minnows. How do i order them? By the dozen? Do they come in a bag? I was going to put them in a cooler filled with water.

Please help. I actually want to go out today but I dont want to look like a dope at the bait store where they can be unfriendly at times.


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## Jim (Mar 7, 2012)

Small bucket with a lid(with holes on top) will work, usually by a dozen at a time depending how long you plan to go out.

Something like this:






A Bag will just be messy.


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## fender66 (Mar 7, 2012)

+1. Whatever you do...don't let them tell you that you have to keep your worms warm by keeping them in your mouth. :shock: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: 

Good luck. Let us know how you do....and welcome to TinBoats.


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## Loggerhead Mike (Mar 7, 2012)

They usually come in small/medium ( Crappie minners ) or large and by the dozen

A cooler works good. I keep mine in the livewell or in a bucket with holes bank fishing to keep the water fresh. They don't like getting hot


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## Captain Ahab (Mar 7, 2012)

They sell them by the pint and quart here

Scoop a pint full (w/ out water) and that is what you get

Some of the shops sell them each, by the dozen, etc. Just ask how they are sold when you go to the bait shop


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## fender66 (Mar 7, 2012)

Captain Ahab said:


> They sell them by the pint and quart here
> 
> Scoop a pint full (w/ out water) and that is what you get
> 
> Some of the shops sell them each, by the dozen, etc. Just ask how they are sold when you go to the bait shop



He asked about minnows....not bourbon. :LOL2: 

Pints??? Never heard of that.


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## Captain Ahab (Mar 8, 2012)

fender66 said:


> Captain Ahab said:
> 
> 
> > They sell them by the pint and quart here
> ...




That is how they sell the Killies we use for flounder. They are super hardy and many people will just keep them on wet newspaper over ice - they stay alive for days that way.

We had one "overwinter" in the bilge of the boat (boat was on a trailer) lived there for a few months


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## fender66 (Mar 8, 2012)

Captain Ahab said:


> fender66 said:
> 
> 
> > Captain Ahab said:
> ...



That's amazing. I've never heard of a Killie? Then again, I'm just a Mid Westerner. :roll: I've learned something new today. My weekly learning quota has been fulfilled. :mrgreen:


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## KingDarius (Mar 8, 2012)

Man you guys are funny. Thanks for the tips. I ended up just getting come crawlers. Caught two nice perch in about an hour on a crazy windy day.

I actually bought a live well aerator for a cooler that I have. Will I need to bring the cooler inside? Or do they put them in a bag? Im just wonder how people do it with live wells attached to the boat...


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## 00 mod (Mar 8, 2012)

We buy large minnows by the pound!!!! :shock: :shock: But we will ONLY fish with live ones, so many get wasted before they get bit!

Jeff


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## fender66 (Mar 8, 2012)

KingDarius said:


> Man you guys are funny. Thanks for the tips. I ended up just getting come crawlers. Caught two nice perch in about an hour on a crazy windy day.
> 
> I actually bought a live well aerator for a cooler that I have. Will I need to bring the cooler inside? Or do they put them in a bag? Im just wonder how people do it with live wells attached to the boat...



You'll need to bring something in for them to put the minnows in.


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## spotco2 (Mar 8, 2012)

Down here we buy them by the dozen. Most folks just use a minnow bucket of some sort. There are tons of different designs and I don't really know if any are better than others. Search GOOGLE for them and you can see what I'm talking about.

Most folks that use a bait tank in their boat just use a 5 gallon bucket to pick them up inside the store. Some stores will let you use their bucket. Also if your friendly with the bait getter, they will usually put a few extras in the bucket for ya.

Add 1 oz of table salt per gallon of water and 1 oz of water softener or bait saver if you plan on being out for several hours or more or if you have any left over and plan on going back out in a few days. The salt, softener and filtered aeration will keep them alive for weeks.


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## Gramps50 (Mar 8, 2012)

fender66 said:


> +1. Whatever you do...don't let them tell you that you have to keep your worms warm by keeping them in your mouth. :shock: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


So that is where that slimmy feeling in my mouth is coming from when I'm fishing. :lol:


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## LureheadEd (Mar 17, 2012)

Use the aerator !!! I bought 4 dozen yesterday afternoon, didn't have my bucket with aerator and had them put in a small cooler...An hour later when I got home 22 were already dead...


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## gouran01 (Mar 17, 2012)

+12, also, switch bait shops! If they don't wanna help a new (and probably repeat customer) out with a lil friendly info, they sure as heck don't want my business!


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## shallowminedid (Jan 1, 2013)

for long car rides or hot days ill take a soda bottle like 3/4 full of frozen water n throw it in with them keep them off the top for a while


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## bcritch (Jan 5, 2013)

Captain Ahab said:


> fender66 said:
> 
> 
> > Captain Ahab said:
> ...



That's how we do it when flounder fishing.... Small cooler, bottom covered in ice, wet towel and then throw the killies on top. They live all day


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## freetofish (Jan 5, 2013)

OK, here is what you do... find you an older metal minnow bucket... next go to a junk yard and find a fan motor out of a heater from a car or truck... cut the length of the blades down to fit inside the hinged lid of the minnow bucket...If your batteries are easy to get at, run a line to the hot side of the battery and with an alligator clip, hook it up being sure nothing is touching the blades..if the fan motor has 2 wires coming from it you'll have to run two wires. one to hot and one to ground. My bucket had a rim on the lid that the fan motor sat right down on or you could fasten it on somehow. when you want to put some oxygen in the water just hook up the clip for a couple of minutes. be sure its easy to get the motor out of the bucket so you can get at the minnows.... We used to do that a lot while going to the lake... fixed a place in the back of the truck where we could hook the wires up to the tail light wiring and every so often you would turn the parking lights on to give the little swimmers so air....... worked great.


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