Frozen Shiners

Wanted to freeze some shiners for LOTW. What is the best way to pack them when freezing?

Salt them down with canning salt. 2 cups salt to a dozen minnows, let sit in the fridge for two days, pick out the minnows, and put them in 2 fresh cups of salt, pack in gallon zip-loc bag. No need to freeze.

I’m hoping this question doesn’t make me sound stupid, but even if it does, hey, we’re (at least I am) on this site to learn from others. So…

I’ve never heard of kept shiners before and I’m intrigued. How do you go about fishing them the next time out?

Dan wrote:

I’ve never heard of kept shiners before and I’m intrigued. How do you go about fishing them the next time out?

These shiners are used for bait and bought from a bait shop.

No I realize that, sorry I maybe wasn’t clear enough. I’ve fished live minnows before but never dead ones, so I was just wondering what you put them on (jig, etc.) and how you fishing them (presentation, etc.).

You can fish them as you would a live minnow. Dead bait under a bobber, on a jig, on a spinner. I bring salted minnows to the bwca almost every year.

Puddle-
thanks for the info.
grabbed it for my files!!

When going to the bwca, I put the minnows in a zip-loc with a small amount of salt. This is just for carrying less weight. The minnows have already lost most of their moisture. They will rehydrate some when put on the hook.

I’ve frozen suckers for dead-baiting before by just sticking them in a ziploc bag and putting them in the freezer before packing in cooler. They are a bit slimier when thawed so you would only want to put 3-4 per bag so you can just take out what you are going to use and leave the rest on ice. They didn’t lose any noticeable amount of firmness and had no problem staying on the hook.