Live minnow fishing

[jackopup]

Its not the done thing nowadays
But there was a time you could empty
a pool on the TWEED with Salmon
using the minnow
with a barrel weight down its throat
attatched to 3 size 16 treble hooks
The bait was & STILL will be lethal
No Small fish ever took the Minnow
It was Only fish worth taking that
took the Minnow

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by Paul_Murphy

I've been told that minnows are a very good bait for Chub as well. My local river is absolutely plagued with them, but when ever I have used them I've had no joy. I guess there are to many tro choose from for the bigger fish. I have read that freezing the minnows and them using them later on in the winter may bring out some fish when other options fail.

Hi Paul,

Chub and Perch love minnows but It can be a little like presenting a pin in a haystack sometimes if there are too many of them about especially if you don't present them properly.

NB. I remember when I was wading in a crystal clear stream trotting pieces of flake and small pieces of sinking crust after large Chub; I dropped my bait just in front of me and a large shoal of minnows immediately started attacking my piece of flake as it sank and suddenly a huge Chub that I hadn't seen before darted out right up close to my legs after the minnows and it totaly ignored my flake which bounced along it's nose and along its back. I should have tried changing over to a small minnow as bait but I didn't have much time left and there were so many minnows about It may have been fruitless anyway.