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Frozen Shiners

DaveZman14q

By DaveZman14q
in Crane-Kabetogama-Namakan-Rainy-Rainy River Fishing Reports

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DaveZman14q Community Regular

DaveZman14q

Posted
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Heading up to Rainy October 13-16th and want to fish with frozen shiners. Should I stock up now or will there be plenty at the local bait shops this time of year?

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tacklejunkie Veteran

tacklejunkie

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Should be plenty. I wouldn't stock up on shiners unless they are frozen shiners from LOTW itself and not from another body of water.

Should be a good fall and I think I read somewhere on this forum that the shiner population is strong this year

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pushbutton Grand Master

pushbutton

Posted
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Got to ask....why does everyone want frozen? Would think alive would trigger more strikes? Don't keep well, fish want an easy target, they simply don't care...whats the scoop?

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tacklejunkie Veteran

tacklejunkie

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Got to ask....why does everyone want frozen? Would think alive would trigger more strikes? Don't keep well, fish want an easy target, they simply don't care...whats the scoop?

I'm not sure the reason. But, in my experience, the frozen outproduce the live. maybe that will be one of the great life mysteries like the grouse cycle or women

In fact, I don't even jig the frozen shiners. I just put it on my hook and fish it like live bait

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tacklejunkie Veteran

tacklejunkie

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Its been my understanding that as the frozen ones melt, they give off a scent.

Come to think of it, when I put the frozen minnow on my hook and first put it in the water, I've noticed an oil slick forming around it. I've never seen that with live so that may be the reason

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PhilTickelson Contributor

PhilTickelson

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You can get these readily in the area though? I'm going up there soon as well and it would be nice to just have a bunch of frozen shiners in a cooler, a lot less work than keeping minnows alive.

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tacklejunkie Veteran

tacklejunkie

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You can get these readily in the area though? I'm going up there soon as well and it would be nice to just have a bunch of frozen shiners in a cooler, a lot less work than keeping minnows alive.

Keep an eye on these forums but I normally don't have a problem getting frozen shiners up there

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NAMASafetyDirector Proficient

NAMASafetyDirector

Posted
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Frozen shiners will not be a problem this year as the shiners are running in the river pretty good right now. If you read Ballard's resorts fishing report for this week there is a pretty good read on what is going on in regards to the shiner run. And yes, frozen shiners work better than live due to the oils that come out of the bait as it thaws.

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tacklejunkie Veteran

tacklejunkie

Posted
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Frozen shiners will not be a problem this year as the shiners are running in the river pretty good right now. If you read Ballard's resorts fishing report for this week there is a pretty good read on what is going on in regards to the shiner run. And yes, frozen shiners work better than live due to the oils that come out of the bait as it thaws.

My hunch was right. One life mystery solved

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jwmiller33 Grand Master

jwmiller33

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I like using the frozen shiners for sturgeon but when it comes to walleyes, I tend to favor the live ones when available.

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tacklejunkie Veteran

tacklejunkie

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I like using the frozen shiners for sturgeon but when it comes to walleyes, I tend to favor the live ones when available.

Really?

My experience is different. Although I never fished the sturgies up there, it took me about three to four trips fishing both live and frozen to come to the conclusion that frozen shiners outproduced live for walleyes.

The drawback is the frozen to tend to pick up more of the little saugers

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hnd Enthusiast

hnd

Posted
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frozen i think do get hit more often. the problem is if you are getting tick bites where they'll just work their way up the minnow, the frozen shiner is worthless as they fall apart so easily.

fresh shiners give you a few shots at a swing and a miss before you get stolen.

if given the choice, i'd rather use live ones in my experience on the river.

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Northlander Grand Master

Northlander

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I like plastics with and without either. That way if you get robbed on the 1st hit they can always come back for that plastic. I have had many days up there where my hands never touched the minnow bucket.

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  • 2 weeks later...
CRITTER Apprentice

CRITTER

Posted
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I must tell you that this summer in June we had great luck with the frozen shiners. You know, when all the other boats keep getting closer and closer

and your in the middle of nowhere.

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NAMASafetyDirector Proficient

NAMASafetyDirector

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The quality of a frozen shiner solely depends on how it was package initially. I have gotten some that were vacume sealed (big no no) and some that were placed in zip locks and then stacked in the freezer which also crushes them. If this happens they are pretty much junk from the second you thaw them. Best method I have found is to place about 2 doz. in a regular sandwich bad and roll up the loose end gently and place them on a flat surface one layer at a time till frozen. This keeps the shiner whole and undisturbed and they come out looking just like they went in. Much better luck with keeping them on the hook when they are preserved correctly in the begining.

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traveler Veteran

traveler

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You guys aren't salting them before freezing? This year was my first useing frozen shiners, and at first we had leftover ones that we followed a method we've used for preserving minners for the BWCA; live minnows into a heavily salted slurry...leave overnight, drain freeze. They worked great...walleyes loved 'em, and they were tough so they stayed on the hook well, even while jigging.

Then I bought some frozen ones at the local bait shop (not salted, I asked) They worked fine, but were soft and weak, useless for jigging, but with some technique adjustment we did OK with them. Thoughts?

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  • 3 weeks later...
LindellProStaf Collaborator

LindellProStaf

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I was always a live bait fisherman. I always changed water and kept them in good shape. After I moved up here and saw everyone using frozen ones I finally tried them. They work great and are so easy to use. Just put them in my pocket. Also I don't have to worry about the otters cleaning out my bait container tied to the dock...

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LindellProStaf Collaborator

LindellProStaf

Posted
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Also the shiner run provided lots of shiners for bait shops and resorts. No worries. Lots of frozen and live shiners available.

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