If you folks have the opportunity give these "black salty" minnows a chance... One of our local bait shops here started carrying them and they're a great alternative to shad. They stay alive FOREVER and worth the extra $. They stay hardy enough to avoid the smaller stuff and usually only get eaten by a big pig... I live on Lay Lake on the Coosa... anybody out there from roun here? Kevin
I believe there is a couple of threads on the main board concerning black saltys and what species they are... but for what it's worth here is what I think they are... some sort of hybrid between a carp/drum and some species of goldfish. I heard they are sterile but I'm not real sure about that. Anyway the small ones look exactly like a tiny drum with larger goldfish like fins... I've seen them from 4inchs to the size of a keeper crappie... the big ones are hot right now for guys trolling for big stripe - but at 15 bucks a pound it's sure to make your eyebrows go up! Anyway I bought a pound of the small ones 4 to 5 inches and it got me about 10 or so... Normally I fish primarily for big blues.. and usually for me that means BIG shad... problem for me here on the coosa river (lay lake) when the BIG shad get scarce I can throw for an hour and maybe net 2 or 3 big shad... and then you all know how hard it is to keep em frisky and alive... so these Black Salty's are real nice - because YOU CANT KILL THEM. After that cold front the other day - the cats shut down and wouldnt bite from my pier.. I had one Salty on a circle hook out for 36 hours yes I said 36 hours and he was still breathing when I pulled him out. Before I got my fish basket repaired I kept 10 of them in a frabill bucket for 4 days and not 1 of them died. My last batch I bought I poured directly into my fish basket from the bucket with the blue store fishwater and none died... oh yeah I was reading on the Black Salty website and guess what... They use them in salt water too!! Ok so here's my theory... yeah they are expensive... but if you can just buy a pound or so and get a great bait that doesnt die and keeps you from having to throw for shad... well maybe its worth it... now in all fairness my experience so far is in cold water - water temp here is 59-60 this week... the true test will be this summer when it gets in the 80-90's. I really like this bait... Before that last cold front I hauled in a 38" Blue compliments of Mr. Salty... like I said before they semm to be real swimmers and I havent had a problem with smaller cats molesting them... though I did catch a 3# spot of all things the other day... I'll try to take a pic of the saltys in my fish basket and get it up later tonight. The only store around here that carries them is Mikes on 280 next to Alex City... I think they sell them and ship them on their website... See ya Kevin
I read up on them after reading the first thread. I am inpressed so far and emailed Anderson's farm. Hope to give them a try real soon. Thanks for this info, maybe it will help one of us break our state record...LOL
