Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > Ice Fishing Live Baits and Plastics
Left over roaches and suckers
Kevin23:
--- Quote from: Coachkwj on Jan 19, 2019, 08:09 PM ---You've probably used golden roaches but they were mistakenly called shiners. Shiners are thinner bodied minnows more commonly used as walleye bait.
Just throwing them in the freezer hasn't worked too well. They get freezer burn. Does anyone put some kind of solution in with them before freezing?
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Common shiners and roaches are pretty hard to tell apart when they are young, except roaches will have the orange eyes and orange fins. Otherwise the body shape is almost identical. I think you are thinking of emerald shiners being thin minnows for walleye. Common and golden shiners are really commonly used pike baits across the US
I don't know much about freezing them, I just toss them in my bait tank in the garage and they stay alive for weeks if needed. I would imagine if you bring them inside they will die pretty quick. My bait tank is at 38-40 deg usually. Even a big cooler inside would work fine, just toss a shovelful of snow in every couple days.
maddogg:
The roach is the end of the joint which cannot be smoked without a roach clip.
Coachkwj:
Every bait shop in northern Ill. and southern Wisc. sells golden roaches. They range from 3 to 6-7 inches. If you can even find shiners they are about 1-2 inches. Most shops sell fatheads. Google shiner minnows and golden roaches. You will see the bodies are very different. You are correct that there are golden shiner minnows that are mainly found in the East. These are probably the ones they use for bass in Florida and could even be golden roaches mistakenly called shiners. I have actually caught golden roaches while fishing. I recall reading another thread were someone said the same thing. Caught a huge Pike on one I caught that was close to 8 inches long. The perfect bait. Just need to find a way to preserve them after use. I can't seem to keep them more than a week in an aquarium in my garage. It's heated though.
Kevin23:
--- Quote from: Coachkwj on Jan 23, 2019, 06:29 PM ---Every bait shop in northern Ill. and southern Wisc. sells golden roaches. They range from 3 to 6-7 inches. If you can even find shiners they are about 1-2 inches. Most shops sell fatheads. Google shiner minnows and golden roaches. You will see the bodies are very different. You are correct that there are golden shiner minnows that are mainly found in the East. These are probably the ones they use for bass in Florida and could even be golden roaches mistakenly called shiners. I have actually caught golden roaches while fishing. I recall reading another thread were someone said the same thing. Caught a huge Pike on one I caught that was close to 8 inches long. The perfect bait. Just need to find a way to preserve them after use. I can't seem to keep them more than a week in an aquarium in my garage. It's heated though.
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What? I've never in my life seen roaches for sale in IL, IA, WI, or MN. Just shiners. I catch golden and common shiners here and they are native to almost every state. Roaches are only in europe. In fact Roaches are not even legal bait in Wisconsin so i'm not sure how you think every shop sells them. They are a non native species. You 100% have them confused with golden shiners which are commonly sold and are native to all of the midwest and are all over the USA. Every shop around here that sells shiners sells golden shiners, but there are usually a common shiners mixed in with them. They are not the 1" minnows you think they are, those are emerald shiners and are a totally different family of fish.
If you want to do some research,
Roach Rutilus rutilus (europe and asia)
Common shiner Luxilus cornutus (all of USA)
Golden Shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas (all of USA)
As for keeping your fish alive, you are probably killing them with an ammonia spike. If they are in water warmer than 35-40 they pee, a lot.. pee is ammonia, ammonia kills the fish. You can have 50 aerators going but the ammonia is still going to kill them. You need a cycled bait tank or to keep them near freezing.
Kevin23:
You only need to read the first part really. But here is what the USFW says about roaches. https://www.fws.gov/injuriouswildlife/pdf_files/Rutilus_rutilus_WEB_9-18-2012.pdf
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