Minnows

[BP338]

We throw a bit of ice in the water. Seems to help keep them alive a bit longer. Someone told me it releases oxygen when it melts? Not sure, but it keeps the water cool.

 

[guywhofishes]

We throw a bit of ice in the water. Seems to help keep them alive a bit longer. Someone told me it releases oxygen when it melts? Not sure, but it keeps the water cool.

water temp vs dissolved oxygen is a thing

 

[tikkalover]

Meh, to each their own.....................Me? I'll just spend $3.25 on a scoop whenever I need\use minnows

 

[shorthairman]

Used to seine minnows a lot with my dad when I was younger. He had a stock tank in the basement. He constantly had a trickle of fresh water running in it and then had an overflow that went down the drain in the floor. He kept minnows in there all year round. Every so often he would throw in a handful of quaker oats. As and added bonus, when he fished late at night, he could throw the stringer in there until the next day so he didn't have to clean fish at 2 AM!

Ahab, thanks for sharing. I have a couple questions...do you have your set up outside? In the garage? also, what do you use for an aerator? I like that idea and I have an old freezer...

 

[Rowdie]

Meh, to each their own.....................Me? I'll just spend $3.25 on a scoop whenever I need\use minnows

I live 15 miles from nearest bait option. Plus quality out of a trap is a real good some times.

 

[sl1000794]

Just remember that if you use an aerator in the summer time, the air that you are circulating thru the minnow bucket is room temp air. If the room is 70° the water will warm to 70° in a hurry. Likewise 80°.

 

[The_owl]

Why couldn’t a guy go on BisMan and buy a used aquarium? Seems simple enough.

 

[NDSportsman]

During open water season just toss a trap in a slough next to a road. Bait it with a little dry dog food and pull it after a few hours. You should have enough fatheads for days.

 

[Rowdie]

Just remember that if you use an aerator in the summer time, the air that you are circulating thru the minnow bucket is room temp air. If the room is 70° the water will warm to 70° in a hurry. Likewise 80°.

That's why a fridge works well. I just put aeration in the fridge too. Plus I rarely use minnows past the middle of June until late September.

 

[Allen]

We throw a bit of ice in the water. Seems to help keep them alive a bit longer. Someone told me it releases oxygen when it melts? Not sure, but it keeps the water cool.

The ice doesn't really have any oxygen in it to speak of, what it does though is lower the water temperature. And as guywhoknowstoomuch showed, water temp and oxygen levels have a great correlation. Cold water sees oxygen levels shoot up really quickly, whereas warm water degasses oxygen.

 

[Lycanthrope]

If you trap your own minnows and arent into breaking the law, if I remember correctly, G&F put limits on how much bait you can have without applying for a bait vendors license, which is stupid if you ask me, but they dont care what I think...

 

[NDSportsman]

If you trap your own minnows and arent into breaking the law, if I remember correctly, G&F put limits on how much bait you can have without applying for a bait vendors license, which is stupid if you ask me, but they dont care what I think...

Yeah its 150, not sure how they came up with that number, something else they pulled outta their ass lol

 

[LBrandt]

If you trap your own minnows and arent into breaking the law, if I remember correctly, G&F put limits on how much bait you can have without applying for a bait vendors license, which is stupid if you ask me, but they dont care what I think...

You can have all the fish you want in your freezer but be careful how many minnows you have. Just don't seem right.

 

[Lycanthrope]

You can have all the fish you want in your freezer but be careful how many minnows you have. Just don't seem right.

Only thing I can figure is its either:
A) a way to make more money by forcing people who want to trap bait for personal use to purchase a license
or
B) pressure from commercial bait vendors that want to decrease the amount of people catching their own bait to increase their own profit

maybe a combination of both... Either way, its not a citizen friendly policy.

 

[Allen]

I believe the impetus for the bait regulation started back in the 70s where people would camp in large groups for a weekend and buy an exorbitant amount of bait. Then come Sunday evening you would have one of the kids go dump the bait bucket before breaking camp.

This helped lead to the introduction of suckers to several small lakes across western ND (Bowman-Haley for one) that would eventually need to be eradicated by rotenone. Nobody liked it when a lake got overrun with suckers and then had to be killed off and restocked.

It's been a while since I've heard of a lake needing to be killed off in ND.


The actual number once was 12 dozen (144) because in theory you bought minnows by the dozen. Of course, with the exception of suckers, and now creek chubs, nobody actually counted them out and we now have the "scoop" as the unit of measure.

And seriously, when's the last time you heard of anyone having their minnow bucket counted?

Reminds me, I need to go buy another trap.

- - - Updated - - -

And yes, the NDGF also needed a way to separate commercial trappers of bait (which I did) and those who did it for their own use.

 

[zoops]

Can't imagine you would ever get dinged for it unless you are trying to sell them. I don't see an issue with it, especially in these days of ANS; don't really want just anybody trapping thousands of minnows and then distributing them all over a region.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Can't imagine you would ever get dinged for it unless you are trying to sell them. I don't see an issue with it, especially in these days of ANS; don't really want just anybody trapping thousands of minnows and then distributing them all over a region.

ANS is a hoax... FAKE NEWS maaan!

 

[MarbleEyez]

What the reasoning for not being able to use Shiner Minnows as a legal bait fish??

 

[NDSportsman]

What the reasoning for not being able to use Shiner Minnows as a legal bait fish??

ANS. That's their reason for everything. We got suckers in 90% of ND waters but we can't use them for bait either because.......ANS. They don't think bait shops can tell the difference between a white sucker and a carp.

 

[MarbleEyez]

ANS. That's their reason for everything. We got suckers in 90% of ND waters but we can't use them for bait either because.......ANS. They don't think bait shops can tell the difference between a white sucker and a carp.

That would be more on the commercial bait supplier than the bait shops itself, not?