Minnows

[Ed Michrina]

I went for a drive to check out the marinas and minnows at the bait shops. hear is what I got for a $3.00 a dz. first one at lake side the second one at Salfridge bait shop both had pin size minnows.

Lakeside Sad!!

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/4763PC110008-med.JPG

Salfridge Worse than sad!!!!!

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/4763PC110001-med.JPG


This is the avg. size of the minnows in both.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/4763PC110007-med.JPG


I would avoid both until they start shelling out some good minnows for hard earned cash. To top it off they both gave a poopy count of minnows for such a small batch of minnows. ::: lake side did have bigger minnows for 3.50 a dz (COUNTED) what a joke.

I think there idea is for us to go in and buy 3 or 4 dz minnows to fish a half a day. that's $12.00 for 4 dz. or $14.00 for large minnows. heck you can almost buy a yearly dnr pass, to the ramps for that price.

Looks like I'm going to have to get in touch with gone fishing (John) and find out where he get's them by the gallon. With the cold weather I'm thinking I could get a bubbler (I have an extra) and a aquarium heater (already have one) and a Big cooler in the garage! They will go all January.

[shadow7663]

I bought 2dz today at the bait store across from crocker launch 3.00dz and looked about the same as yours I had small and medium size! Thats it.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/533/8201minnows.jpg



EDIT: my crappie love em though ED!....lol

[johnny white]

cabelas is always great for minnows both size and count (their dozen is usually about 24!) - luckily for me i am just about 10 miles from cabelas

[Ed Michrina]

John I'd be borke if I was that close to that store :lol:

[neil duffey]

anglers and archers on 23 mile... 3 to 4 dz easy as their "dz" and good size... just take a huge net and fill ur bucket basicly. good folks runnin that shop... i personaly dont like the service i got at selfrige... and the minows sucked. not harty at all.

[LandonSenk@ameritech.net]

I live in bay city and I pay $1.00 for about 24 minnows at a party store near my house. The bait shops around here dont give as many as the party store. I cant believe 3 bucks for a dozen minnows!

[Ed Michrina]

thank you landonsenk. I think the bait shops are full of s*** around here. I'm not sure if everyone will figure that out until the up the price of BIG worms to 3.50 a dz.

Thats it, I'm getting my throw net out! Next outting will be for bait

[Houghton laker]

It seemed like I always got a descent amount from the party store at the corner of shook and Jefferson......I haven't been there since Icefishing though!! Oh Yea....Did you guys catch anything today????? I went shopping around at Gander mt.......and I am going off to Cabelas tomorrow....Mostly picking up stuff for my son and Wife! :lol:

[Jacob Huffman]

My dad lives in Saginaw and he goes down to the boat launch on the river and seigns his own minnows when the weather permits.I went with him a couple of times and we got nice minnows.It only took about 1/2 hour and we had bait for the whole day.We even found a nice little drainage creek that had blues in it for the walleye.

[shadow7663]

It seemed like I always got a descent amount from the party store at the corner of shook and Jefferson......I haven't been there since Icefishing though!! Oh Yea....Did you guys catch anything today????? I went shopping around at Gander mt.......and I am going off to Cabelas tomorrow....Mostly picking up stuff for my son and Wife! :lol:have fun shopping for your wife and kid:p

my self I did not even get a nibble out there today....lol oh well there is always next time

P.S. You can shop for me too if ya like I can call you grandpappy.......:lol: :lol:

[Radar420]

I live in bay city and I pay $1.00 for about 24 minnows at a party store near my house. The bait shops around here dont give as many as the party store. I cant believe 3 bucks for a dozen minnows!
One of the bait stores in Cadillac used to sell minnows for 86 cents a dozen. I think they may have upped the price to a 1.00 but there was usually 3-4 dozen minnows.

As to the bait stores around LSC, I alway like to check out the bait store right at the entrance to Metro, especially if the kid is working the counter.

[plugger]

When my son was in high school he fished tip ups alot and buying a dozen pike minows every time he went was not in the budget. He kept any minows he had left in a five gallon pail in the garage with an arerator, the trick is to keep the water changed every couple days. to avoid thermal shock he would keep a pail of water for the next change in the garage to temper. Every time he changed water he refilled a pail and put it in the garage to use the next time. He adjusted temperature by moving the pails closer or farther away from the house wall, minows seemed to keep best when they would form a skim of ice inbetween water changes. Some of the luckyier minows got to go fishing several times, even the minows that were hooked went back in the bucket and almost always lived to fish another day. The fewer the minows and the smaller the minows, the longer the duration between changesg

[Ed Michrina]

Plugger good stuff :) . I do the same but never thought of moving the minnow storage closer to the inside wall . thanx.

[The Whale]

A "Birdbath" heater, 110V, ($32.95 at TSC) keeps a 80 gal. cooler of minnows between 35 - 45 degrees. One foot above the cement floor in an uninsulated garage. ;)

[Ed Michrina]

Hmmmm If my fish tank heater won't do the job this winter. I'll give that a try. See I wouldn't have thought of a bird bath heater. This is why I love this site.

[neil duffey]

another advantage to having a second pail ready days in advance for the changing of the water... the chemicals in the water such as the chloriene and floride and such will evaporate off and not harm the fish... iv kept an aquarium for some years now and that is the best way to insure a healthy fish.

[Zakker]

I live in bay city and I pay $1.00 for about 24 minnows at a party store near my house. The bait shops around here dont give as many as the party store. I cant believe 3 bucks for a dozen minnows!
Hey, where abouts is this place? We usually fish the mouth of the river. Could use a closer place to buy minnows. :confused:

[MiketheElder]

We have been filtering our drinking water for years with one of those filters that fits on the end of the faucet. Filtered water in the minnow bucket works very well. I've kept minnows alive in a styrofoam bucket for a couple of weeks in the winter. The only time I drink straight tap water is in a restaurant. I even take a bottle of filtered water to work every day.

The filter looks kind of tacky in the kitchen. Luckily we have a first-floor laundry room, where we now have the filter. Looks kind of strange to visitors when we fill the pot for potatoes in the laundry room.

Mike

[William H Bonney]

I have to agree with Radar about the Metro bait shop,, although last year I think they hired some kids from the "advanced" math classes, the minnow counts weren't nearly as good as when they had the "shop class" kids in there. (no offense intended)

[eyecatcher]

I have got the best minnows with the best count a Anglers and Archers on 23 mile. Started buying from them last winter. They are good guys, They dont sell them by the doz its $3.00 a scoop and there put a lot of minnows in each scoop.

[Connor4501]

anglers and archers on 23 mile... 3 to 4 dz easy as their "dz" and good size... just take a huge net and fill ur bucket basicly. good folks runnin that shop... i personaly dont like the service i got at selfrige... and the minows sucked. not harty at all.

:yeahthat: :yeahthat:

[Ed Stringer]

What ever you decide to do about keeping your own bait Ed balance the cost against their performance, buy a sufficient number with out overcrowding their house or the aeration system. These little things will keep the bait healthy, frisky,and sexy. Dont forget put on fresh bait when the the existing bait runs out of gas. Good bait can translate into good fishing. I'm going to try a pure oxygen bait keeper, I'll post results.

[niner93]

I live down river and go to Bottom Line. Last year I believe it was $2.00 doz. and I would always tell them to just give me a Half doz. Perfect size and for a half doz. I would probably get 3 or 4 doz. for me that was perfect for a day out for crappie fishing. They have always treated me very well there and I've had no complaints. If you have somewhere to store them it should be worth your while to make the trip. I'll let you know this year how they are.

[double trouble]

we have seen many people netting lots from the detroit river either from tommy's , the park across the canal, or the st.jean launch almost all year. the riverside marina in winsor nets all their minnows this way.any deep water spot with current or an eddy in the river will produce.might take an hour or 2 but there are some jumbo emralds coming out of these holes.the pier in grosse point should be good too. also gander mountain sells them by the scoop ,not the dozen. good luck and i'll see you out there.also we should set up a system for all members to not dump their leftover minnows on the ice or in the holes and offer them up to other anglers at launch sites.i see too much bait swimming past me especially at selfridge. what do you think? Dan

[Chris391]

Another place to buy minnows is Carlos Party Store at Shook and Jefferson across from 7-11. I cant recall what they wanted for a doz. Its close if you plan on going to Ginos.

[Dead Bird]

what I did last yr was stop by at archers on 23... fill a 5 gallon bucket with a couple few dozen and take what I need on the ice... by the weekend when it was time to let the crowds go crazy I would almost out of minnows... they would last in a 5 gallon pall for a week... I had enough of minnow counting last yr... I will fish with out before I pay 3 bucks for 12 minnows... it is cheaper to use gold fish than pay some of these bait shops... I thougt the idea of a biat shop was that I would pick up a candy bar, six pack, sub, propane, jigs etc. not kill me on the minnows... that makes me think he must really be killing me on the rest of the stuff..

[Iceman1]

Who uses minnows?? Stick to jigs, youll be glad u did.

[Ed Michrina]

Iceman I agree, but the eyes seem to like the jigs with a minnows attached. Also It allwos me to leave one dead rod in the water with the minnow swimming attracting perch. I think minnows have there place. I have been out w/o bait and did well but at times they want meat ;)

[hiddenlake]

If all else fails,let me know and I'll bring minnows from Toledo :fish:

[mallardtone-man]

For me, its always the cotton rd. bait shop. I think its called The Bridge Bait and Tackle? Something that has bridge in it. Coincidentaly, it on jefferson, just north of the bridge. I knew the owners name last year, but it escapes me now. He is a good guy, and will fill your bucket with more minnows than you can use in 1 day for $3.00.

[Joe Archer]

I rarely use minnows because I am usually after perch, crappie, and gills. I stick to jigging spikes and mousies. However, when minnows are absolutely a must, you can keep them alive for DAYS with about 2.5 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket if you keep a layer of snow floating in the water. The snow keeps the water cold, and adds oxygen to the water as it melts. <----<<<

[ImaRedneck]

mallardtone,
His name is Mike and he sure is a grumpy old cuss. Besides that he does give a generous count on the minnows and good advice on where they are biting. I always stop there first. He lets people park in his lot and walk down the canal to the lake.
Redneck

[harsens hunter]

For me, its always the cotton rd. bait shop. I think its called The Bridge Bait and Tackle? Something that has bridge in it. Coincidentaly, it on jefferson, just north of the bridge. I knew the owners name last year, but it escapes me now. He is a good guy, and will fill your bucket with more minnows than you can use in 1 day for $3.00.

James, it is nice the guy lets us park there to go fishing, but his minnows are small. I will admit he gives you a bucket full, but sometimes they are so small, that I cant get them on the hook.

I like Anglers and Archers. You get your money worth there. It doesnt go by the dozen, it goes by the scoop. 1 scoop is enough to last you a whole weekend.

[Tin Can]

Ed I have a couple 250 Watt Heaters from the tanks, you can have one.

Eric

[rip-n-lip]

An 80 gal. cooler?? Holy smoly!!

[Ed Michrina]

Thanx Tin can I have one. Thax for the offer.

[mallardtone-man]

Tin Can, PM sent.