I can tell ya from experience Bob that it never mattered dead or alive with
minnows. When my children first started fishing we used minnows all the
time. The best way to rig the minnows in my opinion was right behind the
dorsal fin and fish them without a bobber, another thing I used to do was
snip a small portion of the tail off. This would make the minnow go crazy in
the water. If they died, we use to real them in erratically sometimes fast
sometimes slow and we would always manage to catch fish.
Once they started using plastics, the live bait went to the wayside. I have
forgotten how much fun it was taking them out with a bucket of minnows.
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
.. .
I used to use minnows for bassing all the time. Usually whatever I could
catch. I actually had a pretty good setup for minnow fishing including a
55 gallon plastic barrel for my bait. Anyway, I was watching Mark Sosin's
Sal****er Journal the other evening and he had an interesting technique.
His bait was dead, but I was wondering how well it might work for large
shiners or or other live bait fish. He slid the hook and line in the mouth
and out through one gill. Then he put the hook in the side of the fish
about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way back so it layed semi flat along the side of
the fish.
When I used minnows for bass I just hooked them through the lips. In most
good bass spots the minnow got clobbered so fast it never mattered how
long the bait lasted, but I was wondering if Mark's method might work
better for those guys who drift and troll big shiners for smalleys in
places like Dale Hollow.
Would the line through the gill damage the gill and kill the minnow
quickly, or would its small diameter allow the water to flow better than a
typical lip hooked minnow allowing it to stay fresh and lively longer?
Hmmm..... I may have to dig out my throw net and go catch some minnows.
--
Bob La Londe
Fishing Arizona & The Colorado River
Fishing Forums & Contests
http://www.YumaBassMan.com
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