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Does anyone have any advice on how to keep minnows fresh after a trip. Lately I have been catching minnows on my trips out and then bringing them home and freezing them to use for future trips. When I get them out of the freezer they are mushy and can barely stay on a hook. I have heard mention lately of curing them with salt and wondered how this is done. Any advice or other methods for keeping minnows from going mushy would be appreciated.
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I haven't tried them yet, but when I froze them they looked promising. First off, be sure to keep them on ice all day long after catching them. I took mine home and after rinsing them and letting them dry off I put a layer of salt (coarse salt without iodine) in a cottage cheese type plastic container, then I put a layer of minnows on top of the salt, then I put a layer of salt over those minnows and repeated the process until I had minnows to the top of the plastic container with a layer of salt on the top. I refrigerated them overnight, and when I openned the containers I was surprised to see the amount of water that had been drawn from the minnows. I then vacuum sealed them (without rinsing them off first). Like I say, I haven't tried fishing with them yet, but they sure looked like they would be much tougher than the ones that are merely frozen without curing first.
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Thanks for the reply Kent. Do you think rock salt would work or do I need to go buy some non-iodized salt?
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I have been advised that it should not be iodized, so look on the package and if it isn't iodized you should be good to go.
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I agree with Kent on keeping them on ice while fishing. But I haven't had any problem with then going mushy. Here's how I save them. When I get home I lay them flat side by side, cover then with saran wrap (plastic wrap) and stack them in the freezer. In about an hour I get them out place them in the vacum bags suck the air out and put them back in the freezer. Once in a while I will get a mushy minnow in the pouch, but I can live with that. I have to admit the salt thing is interesting. Let me know how it works out will Ya Kent.
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Will do but it will be awhile, one can get the fresh ones these days. Got 74 last night but they were all those ugly chubs. Where are the red shiners hiding these days?
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Why I thnik those shiners are the favorite food of the new and improved Cutts. I mean they are are easier to see and the quality of fish at the Berry is improving faster than I expected. Now if the Bows in there take off like they use to be Man O Man.
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I'm wondering if this process of salt/freezing will work with Cisco. They also get mushy and are hard to keep hooked when thawed.
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It should help, but I have found that thawed cisco will stay on a hook far better than thawed red shiners or thawed chubs.
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].. Thanks for saving us the guess work..