Ice Fishing Bait: Keeping Minnows Alive at Fishing Site

Video Transcript

"Let's now to talk about how to keep minnows alive while you're ice fishing. The first thing you want is a good minnow bucket. And a good minnow bucket is typically made of metal, not plastic, so it won't easily crack; has a nice lid, with a clip on the top so it doesn't come out; a good sturdy handle. And you want this minnow bucket to be insulated. This particular one has a section that I can lift out that has drains in it. And the inside of it, as I said, is insulated. Now, what that does is to keep it from freezing while you're ice fishing. So once you have that, when you get to your body of water, typically, the water in your minnow bucket is going to be warmer than the water under the ice. So, what I like to do, is to slowly temper the water in here, so that the fish, the minnows, don't die of shock when you put them into the water. So, I just bring an old container. Simply fill it with water, maybe about halfway to begin with. And then just slowly pour a little bit of this colder water into my minnow bucket, letting those minnows gradually adjust to the new water temperature. This is also a very good method to refresh your water during the day. You know, maybe after three or four hours, you want to pour out a little bit of this water in the bucket, put in some fresh water. You can also bring a portable aerator with you which sends oxygen into the water through bubbles. And these run on batteries. Simply put it in the water for a few minutes, maybe half an hour, then you can turn it off. There's also various formulas that you can buy called catch and release formula. You can add a little bit of this to your water. It turns the water slightly blue. It helps the fish to live longer and be more robust and more feisty on the line when you put them down to catch the big one."