756 
FOREST AND STREAM 
How to Make an Ideal Minnow Box 
A Few Directions Following a Plain Diagram, That Will Settle the live 
Bait Question for the Permanent Camp 
By “Black Bass-’’ 
E VERY black bass and pickerel fisherman 
has had trouble in keeping minnows alive 
during a whole day’s fishing, especially 
in the hot summer months when the torrid rays 
of the sun kill them off a great deal faster than 
they can be used. 
There are pails and pails; some we have to 
cjip over the side every ten minutes or so, others 
we must pump air into at little longer intervals, 
but each one is equally troublesome, and in each 
one the small fish continue to die off despite 
our best efforts, until the majority of us have 
given minnow fishing up in disgust, and chiefly 
for the reason that they can not be kept alive 
for any length of time. 
Numberless times have we run across condi¬ 
tions when we feel sure that had we only had 
minnows with us we should have made a great 
catch of fish, for we had tried everything else 
in vain, and as minnows were the only things 
left to try we naturally came to the conclusion 
that they were the only things that would have 
been successful, and very likely we were right. 
But we did not have minnows with us at the 
time, and why? Because it is almost impossible 
to keep them alive until the time we wish to 
use them. Perhaps we could have gotten them 
there well enough, but we knew it would be 
all sorts of trouble to keep dipping them over 
the side or pumping air into the pail and inter¬ 
rupting our casting every few minutes just for 
the sake of one chance in ten that they would 
come in handy should the bass not be taking 
anything else. 
But suppose we had a minnow box that we 
could place the minnows in and let them shift 
for themselves until such a time as we thought 
was proper to use them, or not use them at all 
and let them go at the end of the day’s sport 
just as lively as they were when first caught? 
Through considerable experimenting we have 
managed to conceive such a box as this, and al¬ 
though it will not help in transporting the min¬ 
nows to and from the body of water to be fished, 
it will certainly keep them alive for any number 
of hours after once arriving there. It retards the 
boat somewhat in its rowing qualities because it 
has to be towed over the stern at all times, but 
even so, should the fisherman be all alone in 
the boat, it will help to keep the boat steady 
while casting down a shore before the wind, by 
acting as a sea anchor and keep the boat headed 
in the right direction. 
Minnows breath oxygen the same as animals 
on land, only in a more rarified form, after it 
has been filtered and thinned out by passing 
through the water. Under the circumstances 
then it stands to reason that if they are put in a 
pail in the boat the oxygen is soon entirely used 
up, the same as it would be in a close room con¬ 
taining several human beings. At first they be¬ 
gin to suffer, get sick, and then, if not relieved 
by pouring in fresh water or pumping air into 
the pail, they die from suffocation. 
In other words, it is a very delicate mixture 
of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen that enables a 
fish to breathe properly, and for this reason, the 
combination being so hard to maintain, that 
minnows do not live very long in a pail. 
The only solution then is to use a box that 
will allow them to live in their natural element 
but at the same time be at hand when wanted. 
Like a great many other things, after experi- 
1— Insert end. 
2— Leather hinge—one on each side of cover. 
3— Leather hasp—to fasten cover. 
4— Cover—or door. 
'—Wooden button or a bent nail. 
6— Tow rope. 
7— Slats to form bottom—over which wire netting may 
be placed if desired. 
8— Plain board side. 
9— Top of box— 7 /% inch pine. 
meriting with a great many complicated con¬ 
traptions, the simplest of them all has proved to 
be the most successful, for the box is composed 
of nothing but wood, tied to the stern of the 
boat and thrown overboard to take care of it¬ 
self. In a way it is on the same principle as a 
well in a boat, but it has the advantage of not 
retarding the boat’s progress so much, and it 
can be used with any kind of a boat. Whereas, 
if such a box is not used one must search for a 
boat with a well in it (rather scarce as a rule) 
or put the minnows in a pail, when the difficul¬ 
ties spoken of are met with. 
Secure two pieces of % inch pine board, 18 
inches long and six wide. Saw off the ends at 
an angle so that the lower edges will be fourteen 
inches in length. Put ends and the cover on 
made of the same material, leaving the bottom 
open. 
Make a door in the top by sawing five inches 
out across the middle, which may be fastened 
with stiff leather as hinges and a bent nail to 
serve as the hasp. On the bottom place small 
strips of wood with the edges a little more than 
an eighth of an inch apart. Do not use wire 
netting unless it be placed on the outside of the 
small strips, as the minnows will fight against 
it and kill themselves. 
In one end bore a small hole and run a heavy 
line through, knotting it on the inside. This 
will serve as the tow rope. 
It is best, if possible, to use yellow pine, the 
specific gravity of which is such that it will al¬ 
low of the completed box, if made after the 
above specifications, to float with just one inch 
out of water, which will give upwards of fifty 
minnows ample room to thrive well in the five 
inches below the surface. 
SAVING THE DUCK HUNTERS’ AND 
ANGLERS’ MUSCLE. 
What the automobile is to land transportation, 
the outboard motor boat is proving to be to the 
duck hunter and fisherman. There is no “John 
Hennery” outboard motor, but none of them costs 
more than the ordinary mortal can afford. Many 
improvements have been made on these motors for 
the coming season and will be noted in Forest 
and Stream’s columns during the next several 
months. 
