pike minnow questions (suckers vs. shiners)?

[freshwater drum]

so what do you guys think, suckers vs. shiners? my buddy is a diehard sucker man but for whatever reason it seems i get more flags with small to medium sized shiners. i do know suckers seem to be more hadier and easier to keep alive than the shiners. we bought a dozen of golden shiners on sat and about half them were dead 2 hrs into our trip. i had the suckers i was keeping alive from the previous weekends trip and they were still doing fine at the end of the day.

[browning13]

I usually fish with suckers because they stay alive better that shiners. They usually cost less too.

[temp989]

I usually try 1 of each....suckers do seem to live longer though....If I catch a small enough perch ill use that as well thats my frist choice..dont know if its legal or not never had anyone give me any trouble....should turn it into a poll....:D just my 2 cents....

[Fishslayer5789]

I use golden shiners most of the time because they produce more flash and also have softer flesh than a sucker which allows the treble hook to rip out easier when setting the hook on a pike. I've missed a lot of hook sets with sucker minnows because the hook stays in the minnow. But, the thing about sucker minnows is that they usually don't die, even after catching a pike so a lot of the time, you can take the beat up sucker minnow and put it back of the hook and it will still wiggle around enough to catch another pike.

[Wizard3686]

i use shiners when i can get them if not then smelt if i can get them if not then i dont fish. lol

I have never had a problem with shiners dieing. I have some in a cooler that i have had over a month i bought them on the 5th of Jan. Lol yea i know i need to fish more .

I have fished 9 hours in tourneys and have had shiner last 4 hours or more on tip ups. Hardly ever had any die in the minnow bucket while out fishing. Every once in a while i would stick some fresh water or maybe some snow in the bucket to give them some more o2. I have even had a minnow bucket freeze and had to use a knife to chip the minnows out but they were still alive.



Rob

[Can't Touch This]

My findings- Shiners=more flags, suckers=bigger fish

[walleyechaser]

As I see it,my experience has shown that its more dependant on the particular lake being fished (predominant or preferred forage) with perch generally being the absolute bait of choice unless there's an abundance of natural small perch available (Kensinton for example).
Some guys swear by dead smelt and there's no denying their effectivness.

For numbers of pike I'll go with golden shiners (added flash and larger profile) while for larger pike and musky I'll go with the largest Golden Shiners making sure to clip off most of the tail fin to avoid "False Flags".

[Radar420]

I'm a golden shiner man myself. I like using the bigger ones for my tip-ups and I'll save the smaller ones for jigging for pike and walleye.

[nscrfrk]

Can't Touch This is right on...Shiners more fish, Suckers bigger fish. As for keeping the shiners alive it is tough sometimes. I've had the most success keeping mine in a large utility sink with an aerator and a large block of ice,changing half the water once a day. Shiners must have cold,fresh water to survive...learned this from a bait shop owner. I've had a dozen each shiners/suckers since December and have lost 1 shiner and no suckers. Sure beats running to the bait shop all the time

[freshwater drum]

i had some suckers and shiners i kept at home for over a week with cold water and the aerator. i'm complaining about the shiners dying after i get them from the bait store. we do put fresh water/snow in the bucket with them, but have a hard time keeping them alive.