Hooking a frozen minnow?

[Jay845]

I struggle hooking frozen minnows to jigs. They constantly fall off/apart.

What technique do you use?

[DiabeticKripple]

through the mouth and then up behind the skull.

it sits horizontal in the water this way and looks natural.

i also have good luck just going through the eyes.

you can bite off a bit of another soft plastic and stick it on the hook after the minnow, it helps hold the minnow on the hook while jigging.

[Coiloil37]

Couple of things here.

Thaw the minnows out, no point hooking them on frozen stiff.

Some minnows are mush when they’re thawed out as a consequence of not being brined before they were frozen or because of multiple freeze/thaw cycles. If a baitfish isn’t dehydrated slightly prior to freezing the water expanding will rupture the cells and give you mushy bait. If you find minnows like that go buy some elsewhere. There is a fix for mushy bait but you landlocked guys don’t need to know about it and most of you wouldn’t do it anyway.

As eluded to above put the hook in the mouth but take it down the body and bring it out the back far enough down that the jig head ends up in the minnows mouth. The line can be pulled back on the eye of the hook so it hangs horizontal so the minnow looks natural.

Often I like to tap the bottom with the jig head and when you put the camera down there it looks like the minnow is foraging on the bottom. When a walleye takes it they often hold it in their lips without committing. From watching them on camera your best bet is to feel the take, drop the rod tip and wait for about one second then set the hook. After they grab it sideways in their gob they then inhale it and a one to two second pause is just about right to get them before they swallow it.

[stob]

Great tip on the soft plastic to help keep the minnow on...I often use a piece of balloon

[58thecat]

Some people thaw out their minnows and brine them so they are much more durable.
I go through the eyes out into the mouth and up behind the head.
When the eyes are turned on they take any minnow dropped down real fast, you just gotta find an active school so electronics and moving around lots is key.
We have sat in our kayaks sooo many times amongst 100K boats with all the finest stuff and we slay the eyes just using minnows. Many times a boat will pull up and ask us what we are doing different,
Catching not fishing.
Minnows are always my first go to for eyes but sometimes they turn off the minnows so it’s plastics and a slow drift bouncing the bottom.
I always say bring lots so you have choices to turn the day into catching.


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[bradvtown]

I go through the mouth also but thawing them is key.

If you're having issues with them falling off check out bait buttons. They work great, I use them to add another J hook to my jigs as a stinger. Much more affordable than buying an actual stinger.

[WayneChristie]

keep a couple minnows in your cheek, that way they thaw out and you can spit the juice over the side and attract more. just like keeping maggots thawed in winter

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

keep a couple minnows in your cheek, that way they thaw out and you can spit the juice over the side and attract more. just like keeping maggots thawed in winter

Wayne, you're a gem!

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo

Wayne, you're a gem!

With bad breath!




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[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Jay845

I struggle hooking frozen minnows to jigs. They constantly fall off/apart.

What technique do you use?

First of all, salt your minnows. Thaw out the pack, dump them out in the sink and let them drain. I usually break them up into two packs after that, to avoid thawing and re-freezing the whole pack all the time. Then, add a healthy amount of table salt and shake the container untill all the minnows are covered in salt. This will keep them from freezing solid, keep them from freezing into one big puck, and toughen them up.

For hooking them on a jig I usually cut the minnow in half, and hook them like a Texas rigged plastic but with the hook exposed. If I'm fishing them on a bare hook I use the whole minnow, and hook it the same way.

[pikergolf]

Best bet is to catch your own and salt and freeze them properly, they are incredibly tough when done right. I fished with an old timer and when he never had his own he would spread the entire bought tub of minnows out in the sun when we got to where we were fishing. After a few hours he would put the dried minnows back in the cooler, he caught a ton of fish on those dried minnows.

[Jamie Black R/T]

In the mouth, out the gill, 1/4 turn then back through the body.

Lays perfectly horizontal and sets the hook back far enough to get the light biters.

Works even on the crappiest of mush they sell these days.

[-JR-]

Just throw some water in the tub of minnows and wait 5 mins .

[elkhunter11]

For use on a jig head, I cut them in half, hook through one end, then the other, point exposed. We get as many bites with half a minnow, but actually hook more.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

For use on a jig head, I cut them in half, hook through one end, then the other, point exposed. We get as many bites with half a minnow, but actually hook more.

This, and the jig/ bait hangs horizontal.

[PerchBuster]

Lots of good suggestions. I have good luck inserting the hook point in the mouth and back out through a gill, then twist the minnows body around enough to insert the hook point through the back. It runs flat and slightly kinked with lots of flash and looks badly injured bouncing up off bottom. Sometimes the natural looking method works better, sometimes this one works better, but it does really help keep the minnow on and the wounded looking presentation often triggers aggressive strikes. If you find they are short striking and biting off the tail I add a 2”/2-1/2” single hook stinger hook stuck back in the tail pointing up and rarely lose a fish. This method helps if your minnows get a bit mushy too. Good luck!!

[Curtsyneil]

Thaw minnows before using. If you are salting your own thawed minnows use kosher salt or pickling salt not table salt. I always hook minnows through the eyes then a quarter turn through the body or spine. They never fall off with aggressive jiggin. Eyes in spring aren’t like eyes in winter they don’t really care if the minnow is natural looking there so aggressively feeding in June it doesn’t have to hang horizontal to trigger hits. Lol if it’s moving there eating it. There’s so many techniques to catch eyes in spring and bait fishing them is the easiest and simple way to catch them but I really enjoy artificial minnow baits for trolling spring walleye but really any jig and tube will do the job. Tight lines to everyone!!

[Fradaburidi]

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

keep a couple minnows in your cheek, that way they thaw out and you can spit the juice over the side and attract more. just like keeping maggots thawed in winter

I actually do keep 2 or 3 maggots in my lips so that I can use both hands to bait the hook. My mouth acts as a third hand.