How do you keep minnows alive?

I've had good luck with O Tabs and ice cubes in a styrofoam minnow bucket

Long term, or just on a single trip?
We use a lot of Emerald Shiners that die real easy.
In my boat I wired in a switched 12v. air pump, with a diffuser on the tip of the air hose going to a 7 gal. bucket.
Keeps them alive for a few days if you change water.

If you want to keep minnows alive for any lenghth of time, you have to keep them cool and oxygenated. Look at what the bait shop does. Keep the water moving by pumping it in over and over. In a boat , you could set up the live well to constantly pump water in to the overflow. Its easier to get a Bubbles air pump and use flashlight batteries or hard wire it. I never buy more than I can use in a day.
The best minnows to use are ones you trap yourself.. They are acclimated to the water you are fishing in.

Frabill minnow bucket and ice cubes...

https://www.amazon.com/Frabill-Flow-Troll-Magnum-Minnow-10-Quart/dp/B00FPR27IG/ref=sr_1_16?crid=26DV74DNSCPL3&keywords=frabill+bait+bucket&qid=1554828839&s=gateway&sprefix=frabil%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-16

Also for those without live wells or fishing from shore the floating minnow buckets work well. When I was a kid we would buy sucker minnows for spring lake trout and they would pack them in a plastic bag with water and then fill the remainder with air from a compressor and tie it off with a small rubber ring.

Here's what I came up with.
You're going to love this because I figure you're a handy guy with a lot of outdoors savvy.
Take a old or extra cooler, any size.
Purchase the cheapest 12 volt bilge pump you can find and place it in a corner of the cooler
Run a piece of PVC pipe vertically within 6 inches of the top of the cooler and attach a 90 degree elbow,
Take another piece of pipe into which you have drilled a number of holes 3 inches apart.
Cap one end and attach the other to the elbow.
Run a waterproof power wire out of or through the side of the cooler [sealed with caulk] and attach it to a small 12 volt battery or even 8 D size batteries.
YOU"RE DONE!
Now you have a custom made minnow support system and you can still use the cooler if you just pop the pump out.
TA-DAH!

Heavy duty plastic bag with a shot of oxygen off the cutting torch bottle then in cooler on ice.
I think temperature is more important than oxygen—they’ll keep alive for weeks in winter in pail in garage.
I too have noticed they keep much longer if trapped close to the lake you are fishing in.

This is gonna sound ridiculous but I swear it works. We have coolers with removable trays (wood frame/fine mesh chicken wire) that suspend off the bottom of the cooler. Second tray suspends above that one for a total of two. Throw one of those large cooler packs in the bottom. Place the first tray in lined with wet news paper then a layer of minnows. Do the same with the next tray. Don’t put a ton in each layer. That’s it. No water, no ice, they have lasted days for us doing it this way.(replacing the cooler pack obviously)


They will look dead but the moment they hit the water they instantly come alive. We fished for flounder for years at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay using minnows in coolers rigged this way.

Another bump.

Keep them in a five gallon bucket in the boat. If it is hot I have a Styrofoam minnow bucket cooler that fits in the bucket and use ice in it.

If I'm in for several days beyond civilization I have a bucket I made in to a minnow bucket by drilling the top half and lid full of holes and store it in the water. In the water they get the benefit of plenty of room but when I need them and pull it out I only have to catch them out of half a bucket of water.

I have a bait well in my boat and run the pump as needed to keep them fresh. I don't use minnows frequently between July 1 and the end of summer for the same reasons you ask the question. Crawlers and leeches are easier to handle.

^^^This^^^

ahhh. thats mummichgs ( mudminnows if you are south of MD). they keep ok in your front pocket they are so damned tugh.

I put them in a 48 qt Ice chest. Filled with cool creek water. If it's hot I put a frozen water bottle in with them. If a minnow dies get it out asap.

I bought an Engel 19 bait box. Drop a frozen water bottle into it. Does a real good job for me. Austin Canoe and Kayak sells online at real good discount. Shipped quickly.

Styrofoam buckets are a start. The key is to make sure the bucket is bone dry when you put water in it, and use another vessel to dip the water into your bucket, don't submerge your bucket in the water to fill it. You'll notice that the bait shops always scoop water into your bucket, or fill your bucket with a hose. I don't know why, but the styrofoam buckets keep bait alive for a longer time if the outside of the bucket is dry, and the inside was dry before it was filled.

There are lots of add-on livewell kits available, ranging from a simple battery powered aquarium style aerator. to replacement livewell kits with alligator clip leads to hook to a 12 volt battery. There are also bait buckets available with battery powered air pumps as part of the kit, or are actually mounted to the bucket. There's always the old 2 part buckets where you hang the floating insert in the lake and retrieve a few minnow on an as needed basis.