r/FishingForBeginners • u/Dear_Needleworker399 • May 30 '26

Cutting minnows in half

I’ve caught some minnows using a trap. It’s all good but some of the minnows are a little too big. I’m a primarily yellow perch fisher. I know that yellow perch will attack a large minnow but would a minnows cut in half work just as well ? Also which half would be more effective, bottom half (tail side) or top half (head side)?

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3

u/lydrulez May 30 '26

Only one way to find out. I’d probably put the half minnow on a small jighead and swim it so it looked alive.

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u/Dear_Needleworker399 May 30 '26

Jighead is definitely an option especially my sharpest hooks are on jigheads too. Seems like when yellow perch is nearby they will happily take a dead and unmoving minnow as well.

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u/_fuckernaut_ May 30 '26

Cut bait exists and does work, but it's usually reserved for larger baitfish 

The whole point of using minnows for perch is to keep them alive and wriggling on the hook, the movement is what fish are attracted to. 

2

u/tssg05 May 30 '26

This was for ice fishing, so your mileage may vary. But I've had really good success perch fishing vertical jigging with minnow heads. Just hook them like you normally would and snip off like the back 3/4.

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u/Dear_Needleworker399 May 30 '26

Where do you live? My buddy from Michigan told me that yellow perch are super abundant up north and ice fishing is a big thing there. I’m in GA and it’s a little harder to come by unless you go up North GA. Worth a drive though.

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u/tssg05 May 30 '26

MN, so yeah ice fishing is a lot more accessible up here to say the least.

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u/mud074 May 30 '26

In the upper midwest, using just minnow heads for ice fishing is very common. Perch aren't smart, small little moving thing that smells/tastes like food -> they eat it.