Mike Hehner breaks down a few ways you can utilize minnow baits to catch fish and a few management tools that improve the effectiveness of minnow profile baits.

Minnow Bait Management

As most anglers know, you catch catch a ton of fish of all different species on minnow baits. Although casting is a great option, minnow profile lures can be incredible effective when trolled.

One piece of equipment to improve your trolling tactics is Off Shore planer broads. Planer boards are incredible effective while trolling, because they allow you to get your baits away from the boat and increase the size of your trolling spread. Utilizing planer boards will allow you to get your baits infront of more fish and are especially effective in states that allow multiple lines per angler.

Another tool that can improve your presentation of minnow baits is a snap weight. Snap weights can be used to to get your bait deeper in the water column. They also work great in conjunction with planer boards.

Three-way rigs are another way to presents shallow running minnow profile bait in greater depths. When utilizing three-way rigs you almost always fish directly under the boat. This is a great way to fish stickbaits for lake trout, walleyes, and big northern pike.

The last tool I want to mention is the Storm SuspenStrips. These strips help increase the weight of your bait without effecting the action. These allow you to get your shallow running baits little deeper than normal.

All four of these tools allow you to increase the effectiveness of your presentation and will help you catch more fish on minnow profile baits.