Making salted minnows

[greenboatluke]

I got some minnow cure and am going to have a go at making some salted minnows.

We tend to catch a bunch of minnows early in the season and some go to waste, so I figure if I am getting good numbers, I'd try salting some. Then vacuum seal and freeze to bring home to fish the streams of the Catskills and lower Hudson valley area.

Anybody in the practice of curing minnows? Any tips, suggestions, or tricks are greatly appreciated.

 

 

- GBL

 

Puffer II: 1802 Trophy

Green Boat: 14' 1966 Starcraft

[lineman49]

  I air dry them a bit,  salt them with Non iodized salt by shaking them in a plastic bag than freeze them.  I keep them cold while using them & refreeze left overs for next time . works for me.   I have also heard of guys using the cure products like you would use for curing eggs for fishing.  different colors work better some days.

Edited June 4, 2017 by lineman49

[ontherise]

I pour a cup or two of salt into a small bait bucket full of water and minnows wait until they're dead. Then lightly pack them with more salt in zip bags.


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[greenboatluke]

Thanks for the info.

How long to you leave them in the salt before freezing?

 

 

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[Sk8man]

Luke - You may want to check out the DEC bait regs regarding the use of salted minnows and other bait. the certification process applies to them as well as live bait if used outside their point of origin.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Sk8man

[greenboatluke]

Oh boy! Thanks Les. Will do.


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[ontherise]

Thanks for the info.
How long to you leave them in the salt before freezing?
 
 
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The salt water until dead then I freeze them packed in salt


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[Chas0218]

I checked the regs it doesn't say anything about salting your own minnows only the use of commercially available packages.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Chas0218

[Sk8man]

What it says is that only the bait that is prepared commercially can be used in other waters and even then you need to have the packaging available. Even bait that is certified can be used for only ten days whether dead or alive unless commercially prepared with the packaging available.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Sk8man

[Chas0218]

1 hour ago, Sk8man said:

What it says is that only the bait that is prepared commercially can be used in other waters and even then you need to have the packaging available. Even bait that is certified can be used for only ten days whether dead or alive unless commercially prepared with the packaging available.

Or caught in the body of water it is being used. You can catch your own minnows and use them in the body of water they were taken from. The amount of time they say bait is usable is a joke I have had bait live for over 2 weeks do they think I'm just going to dump them in the water after 10 days?

 

The regs don't specify whether you can use your or own or not. Take it for what's it's worth not sure if they can ticket or not being there isn't a law against it but nothing specifying you can.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Chas0218

[Sk8man]

I agree about the time limit thing it isn't real practical. However you also aren't supposed to dump the unused minnows into any body of water either. Luke had indicated that he intended to salt or cure them so he could use them in other bodies of water and that is what I was referring to. Thus far I haven't seen anyone  even checked for the receipt or date or ticketed regarding the issue but the intention of it is to try to stem the systemic spread of the virus.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Sk8man

[greenboatluke]

The language seems to say that in order to be "commercially processed" it needs to be labeled with 4 items: the packager/processor name, species name, quantity, and curing process. It mentions nothing about having to be bought or sold.
I'll try to copy and paste it when I get some time on the computer.


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[Sk8man]

I think the key to it is "commercially" meaning a legitimate established business as contrasted with an indivdual for personal use or sale. As with most things the state does there is ambiguity in it but keep in mind the syllabus in the store is not the original complete regulation either.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Sk8man

[Frogger]

Yea, this is one legal jumble of words. So it needs to be "packaged for commercial sale" with the other bits green mentioned. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if either need to be out on a body of water listed in the regs that has bait listed in the green list that you took from that day or you bought the bait from a dealer as certified with a receipt. Unless your in the trans route you can't travel over the road with uncertified bait. Im not really sure salting bait not originally certified and labeling them qualifies it as being usable on any water way. That's just me.


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[Sk8man]

One of the things I always wondered is if you were in fact on the water in posession of minnows and didn't have a receipt how would they be able to tell that the minnows weren't from that particular body of water?  I guess the proof would be up to the individual in that instance to prove that they did and that would be a bit difficult for most species of bait. I don't think you can take bait from trout inhabited waters in any case for sale without a bait license.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Sk8man

[Frogger]

Old school CEO's would take a bite of one and say uncertified........lol


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[Sk8man]

Kinda like biting the head off a herring ...

[Frogger]

lol I wasn't going to say it


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[greenboatluke]

Got off the phone with the DEC a little bit ago... good looks and advice Sk8man!
The provision for salted minnows are for people/companies with commercial bait fish licenses. Personally salted minnows fall under "dead bait fish" regulations and can be used only on the same body of water, within the travel corridor just like fresh bait that went belly up.
I was told that this was done because some people were salting in such a way that it killed the viruses and some people weren't effectively getting it done.


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