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Bait Supply - How much, What kind, & Where


MNCPRGUY

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Heading up next weekend for the first time. Can someone suggest what I should bring for live bait and where the best place to get it is? I'll be coming from the metro area and staying in a 4 person sleeper for 48 hours.

Suckers, shiners, fatheads, crappie minnows? How many?

Thanks in Advance,

PJ

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Hillmans right in Waskish has everything you need, and they can advise you on what type of minnows to get. I've got that same question too, guess we'll have to wait and see what the curent report is when we get there.

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Two of us last weekend picked up 6 suckers, 1 scoop/dzn shiners, and 3 scoops of fatheads for 2 full days of fishing. We split the suckers to a second bucket. Should have done the same for the shiners.

It was more than enough for us. One sucker was used on a tip up, a good amount of the shiners died, but the fatheads kept going strong. I would forget about the crappie minnows.

We iced maybe 40 walleye each, lost several, and missed something good on the tip up just to give you an idea for the amount of bites we got.

I had the same questions while standing in front of the tanks. confused Good luck.

If you're going out close to Waskish, hit the Minnow Station. We went out the south shore so we stopped in Kelliher.

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Isnt there bait in kelliher? Are they decent on prices? I am going up the 26 27 28 and also need bait , how many fatcheads do you think we would need between 2 of us?

thanks

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StLoui-man

According to my calculations you will need 41 fatheads, 5 shinners, and a pair of choppers. Seriously look up a couple posts to Wanderer's post there were 2 of them fishing.

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I think you forgot to carry the one, I came up with 51 fatheads, 5 shiners, and three choppers. (I don't know where you are going to put the third one, but it's going to be cold this week, so you can figure that out!)

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I guess how many fish you catch or lose will dictate how many minnows you need. And don't forget to save room for the auger extension or not.

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IMHO the fatheads catch fish as well as anything on URL....pike, walleyes, crappie, perch, they really don't seem finicky....some years ago, we bought shiners in Blackduck, along with some suckers, and a mix of crappie and fatheads...we RAN OUT of fatheads and crappie minnows....didn't catch a single fish on suckers or shiners....now I know that there are shiners in the lake....and I know that there are suckers in the lake....but, fatheads and crappie minnows have always seemed to work the best.....don't know why, maybe Kelly P or Johnny can explain it, though......I give way to their expertise.....Also, another recommendation, bring plenty.......there are few things worse than RUNNING OUT OF BAIT WHEN THE FISH ARE HUNGRY.....we have had several occasions when we had to run back to shore while the remaining guys are using discarded tails and recycled heads on a pack of hungry crappies or walleyes....I'm not trying to sell bait, but if you spend the $$$ to get there with your equipment, an extra $7 of bait isn't a tragedy!!!! JUST my TWO CENTS worth!

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"....but, fatheads and crappie minnows have always seemed to work the best.....don't know why,"

My thought is that the chubs live longer on the hook and give more action.

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Two or three years ago, two of my sons and some of their friends were in one of Kelly's big houses, and I was in a neighboring one. When I went over there in the morning, one son was wandering around outside and the rest of the crowd were sleeping wherever they had fallen. The Crappies had moved in at sundown and at 2am they had run out of bait. They fished until 3am using minnow tails, pieces they pried off the ice, and the chunks that the fish had coughed up. There's no place open at 2am to buy bait, so don't cheap out on an expensive fishing trip by shorting on bait.

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We usually stop in Blackduck, big scoops of minnows and good advice. I usually have four bait buckets, one for suckers, one for shiners, and the other two buckets get a scoop of fatheads and crappie minnows in each. Thats for two guys for two days. We're there to drown bait. And we don't run out. When it gets slow then we try something different, bigger, smaller, try a shiner, etc. By the second day I have a pile of dead minnows that would make a sushi bar proud. And hopefully we also have some walleyes, crappies, and maybe a pike in the bucket. smile

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

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