Has any one used preserved shiners, just for the heads, for tipping spoons? Just wondering how they compare to a fresh minnow. I am assuming that fresh would out fish preserved but thought I would get some feedback any way. The ice can’t get here fast enough!
Nate Riddle
Hard to beat a live/newly dead minnow head.. I have tried a lot of things , including believe it or not tiny pieces of pickled herring with noticible improvement in the bite. I also seem to do well with the frozen minnows I forgot to take out of the vehicle the night before, but it seems like the bite is always a little bit better with a live/newly dead one.
We use frozen shiners up on LOTW in the winter and I don’t get the sense that doing so costs us any fish but they are HECK to keep on the hook if they warm up even slightly. I’ll gladly pay a little extra for fresh dead / alive for that reason alone. But I don’t think preserved / frozen will cost you any fish if that’s what you have to use given you’re only using the head and the bait is in constant motion.
We fish the English River in Ont. Canada and bring in about 5 gallons of frozen shiners in the spring and fall respectively. Walleyes seem to enjoy the offering. We do use a pickiling salt when using them so they don’t break apart as easy. I can’t say they work alot better than plastics but it is another option.
Never thought of pickling salt what a great idea since the main problem is the flathead falling apart..
James do you have to use a two hook set to keep the frozen shiners on or just a single fin hook?? I can’t tell you how much this would save me $$$$$$ in wasted shiners if I can get this to work. I’ve used frozen flatheads, but I guess I never tried dead frozen shinners for tip -ups.. Weird that I’ve tried pickled herring , but not fresh frozen or dead shiners.
I talked to a guy this summer that goes up to canada every year in may/june timeframe. He buys some shinners, suckers, and crappie minnows and puts them in gallon ziplock bags and puts pickling salt on them and freezes them before he goes. Im not sure if he puts them on ice when he travels up to canada but when he gets up there and the packages unthaw, the minnows stay firm, Something with the salt keeps them from turning to mush. He says they always do really well keeping them on there hooks and they catch alot of fish. But who doesn’t in canada.
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