Adjusting Minnows to Warm Lake Temps

Quick question.

This time of year how do you adjust your bait to these warm lake temps? Seems that the minnows don’t do well going from the cold water at bait store to the warm lakes?

My thought is to start using a plastic bag and putting the minnows from the bait store in that then put them in my Engel Bait Cooler. Then when I arrive at the lake I would take lake water and fill my bait cooler up and set in the bag of minnows from bait store to allow the waters to adjust to temp.

What do all of you do to help minnows adjust so when you start fishing they don’t die so quickly… or is about 90 degree surface temps just too warm for minnows.

Thanks in advance.

Minnows when the water is this warm is just a dumb idea. Use leeches, nightcrawlers, or artificial lures instead. Minnows are generally used when the water is 50 degrees or less. 80 degrees is a death sentence when they come from a tank of cold water. Wait until October and then start using them again.

Try salted minnows Irott.

Minnows can be used in the heat, most don’t understand how to care for them. Yes it’s a lot more work and the a.i.s laws have made it more challenging, but I’ve seen it pay off many times. You need to acclimate them slowly and keep them very oxygenated. As the water warms they become more active and require more oxygen. I leave my minnows in the oxygenated bags from the bait shop as long as possible.
I put a reusable ice pack in the bottom of my live well with an old towel on top. Then put minnow bags on towel. You want them cool but not too cool.
Once you’re at the lake take the towel out and fill the live well with the minnows still in the bag. Wait a half hour. Now fill a cooler about half full of lake water, add minnows and the water from their bag. Keep a aerator on them and add lake water as needed.
I’ve had good luck using this system. Like mentioned in a previous post, most guys use other options at this time of year to save the hassle.

Just buy what you’re gonna need for the day and realize half of them will be dead when you hook them on. I agree that frozen and salted can be just as effective. Flipping mess in the boat though.

We’ve been trying to keep minnows alive on fly in trips to Canada for years and never had much luck.

If I had an Engel I’d throw the water from the bag in there and try and add some ice throughout the day. When it’s 90 degrees like this you’re going to lose alot of them though.

When we go to Canada we leave them in the bag and put them in a livewell for the ride out it will slowly get them accustomed to the temp. But yeah they still die they are minnows in the heat. If a day trip I leave them in the Engel and just know they aren’t gonna last long out of cooler.

gim wrote:

Minnows when the water is this warm is just a dumb idea. Use leeches, nightcrawlers, or artificial lures instead. Minnows are generally used when the water is 50 degrees or less. 80 degrees is a death sentence when they come from a tank of cold water. Wait until October and then start using them again.

I wouldn’t say it’s dumb… LOTS of mid/late summer walleye tourneys are won using big minnows. It’s really not hard to keep them alive.