Glass Minnows

GLASS MINNOW BIO

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Anchoa mitchilli
AKA: bay anchovy, majua, rain minnow

PROMINENT FEATURES:

Glass minnows range from Maine through the Gulf of Mexico in great abundance. They are easily recognized by the fact that they are transparent with a broad silver stripe down the side and are seldom over three inches long. There are a half dozen species but no one but a fishery scientist would care to describe the differences in them.

USES:

Glass minnows are a great chum material when used whole, cut or mashed. A favorite chum used to entice inshore type fish and snappers. Cut them into small pieces with a pair of stainless scissors and drop a steady stream of the pieces overboard into the current. You can do this while you are slow trolling but we think it is more effective to chum from an anchored position into the current behind the boat. You can use the same pieces for bottom chum simply by dropping them overboard in your chum basket and letting it sink to the bottom to disperse it where you are fishing. To entice your target fish to your bait and not over feed them, you can also just place the frozen block of glass minnows in a mesh bag hanging over the side of the boat and let them thaw and drift in the current. This is effective, but you use a lot more minnows than you do by cutting them.

Fishermen in the Florida Keys use the glass minnow to lure yellowtail snapper by mixing the whole or cut minnow with sandball chum, dispensing them using a chum bag, or tossing in handfuls of the mixture.

PACKAGING FORMS:

Whole fish in a 5 lb box