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Salted Minnows?


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Anyone had success with Salted minnows or is it just a wives tale? I was told that bait around VNP is quite expensive and one way to get around it was to buy the biggest minnows you can find a couple of nights before coming up and put them in a big ziplock with a bunch of salt. Then use them as you would live minnows? The gent who told me about it said that he even drops three on a treble hook in about 20-30 feet of water at night near his campsite and ties it off on shore overnight. Said he catches big lake trout each night? Sounds simple enough but too good to be true....

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ME THINK'S SOMEONE IS PULLING YOUR LEG. Bait is not much more than anywhere else as far as I know. You are spending how much on this vacation and you are worried about saving a few cents? Dozen jumbo leaches 3.50, very generous dozen minnows 4.50, 2 dozen crawlers 4.50, gas at a resort 3.80 a gal for premium non oxy, at the pump its 3.25. Why not salt some minnows and compare them side by side with live bait and then give us a report on what worked better...just don't leave your line out unattended as that is against the law not to mention very unsportsman like. Have a good time and enjoy the park!

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Your buddy sounds like a winner. Three things wrong with what he told you. You shouldnt leave your line unattended like that. It is illegal not to mention taking a chance of loosing a nice fishin rod. Using bare treble hooks is illegal (by bare I mean it has to be attached to a rapala, daredevil, or something). Also, I may be wrong on this, but I've never seen or heard of lake trout in the VNP except for maybee Rainy.

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Nam used to be full of lakers. I think a couple of the interior lakes have lakers too. I would have to check the map but I know there are a few trout lakes in the park.

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Ah Ha. Thanks Guys. I wasn't big on the thought of leaving a $700 rig just hanging out overnight. Now knowing its legal seals the deal. The guy that told me about this is even older than me so the chances that he either senile or is talking about something he did 30 years are both pretty good.

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Just a comment on the salted minnows... we use them all the time when we fish in Canada. The whole can't bring live bait over the border thing... Obviously they are not as ideal as live bait but we certainly catch a lot of fish using them. But I agree, bait isn't all that expensive in/near the park. I'd only salt minnows if you had to.

just my .02 Good Luck!

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