Minnows ?, If you use them ....

[Fishsniffer]

How do you hook your minnow ?

[finsfurfeathers]

Off a dropper through the lips, on a bottom hook through the back. Most times though just tipping a piece on the end of a jig or spoon. Are there any other ways?

[Macsauce]

Through the bottom lip and let him swim around freely!

[avgefisherman]

I hook them through the back just passed the dorsal fin on my tip up.... that works for me.....

[Fishsniffer]

Sometime's I hook them through the dorsal fin But most of the time I like hooking them through the tail, They stay nice & lively.

I used too lip hook them . I find the action when tail hooking them is the way to goo.....

[Bayliner]

I always get Jerry to do it for me.

Thats some good advice Dan.

[Beachcomber]

There is a clear spot just above the but hole that I aim for. I gues it could be considered the tail. you get great action and the minnows seem to live longer when hooked there

When tipping them for jigging purposes, I go right through the back of the head (skull). Its the hardest part of the minnow and they tend to stay on longer

[Brucewayne]

I was fishing for crappies one day, when a older guy beside me filled his pail, one after another, I said to him what am I doing wrong ? He said here take my pole and hole and he took my pole and fished my hole. I still pulled in zero fish, and he put 5 more fish on the ice with my pole. He laughed walked over to me, and took my minnow off then took the hook and put a fresh minnow on hooking it through dead center of the eyes. The minnow stayed alive very lively for a long time. I do this sometimes for perch, but if your jigging, better have extra minnows

[true canadian outdoors]

Hooking any kind of minnow through the tail keeps them alive longer and when in the water they are more lively then hooking through the lip

[iceicewalker]

A qwuestion I've been trying to figure out as I've tried several ways. The perch just suck them of the hook, p*&^ me off. Or they wriggle off. But two methods here I haven't tried. Thanks!

tight lines and hard water

[Longshank]

All methods work, some better than others.

For tip-up fishing, I prefer hooking minnow thru clear section near tail........without hitting any of the backbone..

For single minnow presentations, I like to just put hook thru skin in front of dorsal fin.this creates a very active minnow, but you have to watch for bites as it can be ripped off easily.

One thing not mentioned here is to wet hands before handling minnows....and to ensure water changes done regualrily..so minnow are lively and do not expereience shock when put into lake etc.........this is most important and most often overlooked

[npetersen]

When we were out on Saturday, I noticed that our bucket of minnows looked much more lively than the others. Ours were swimming around while the rest had them sitting at the top and never even added an aerator.

Just before we started fishing, I put in a couple of scoops of slush into the bucket to keep the water cold and also added some water from the lake. I believe this helped. We brought home the leftover minnows and I added them to a 5gal tank in the garage with some others we had and maybe only lost 5 by the next day (mostly because they got stuck on the intake for the filter).

[Fishsniffer]

Great idea.... It's always best to use Lake water for minnows ! Tap water will turn them belly up very fast because of the chlorine in it . Nick the minnow master @ truecanadian outdoors taught me that for the up coming weekend I have planned up North . Knowing me I probably would have used tap water Would have had a lot more jigging to do .....

[kendt]

I prefer the eye method. It wont kill them but they cant see so it puts them in panic mode. Sometimes you can feel the minnow going nuts when a fish is near. The minnow can sense the fish but cant see it and it freaks out to try and get away

[Fishsniffer]

I may have to try the eye method . loll Little harsh but I will go for it