What's the latest on the cisco story?

Are there going to be any for the lake trout opener?

If not, what is a backup that people use for jigging?

sammy , we,ve done more than good on sucker minnows, for deadbait shore set ups and smaller one's for jigging. last week of ice fishing i get a few dozen for our spring BW trip. i freeze them in layers in a 6pack cooler and they last much longer than ciscoes do.

Ok, complete noob here when it comes to sucker minnows. Never used them before.

How do you rig them? Normally with the ciscoes I go in the mouth, out the gill, and up through the back.

How do you rig the sucker minnows? What size jig?

Thanks!

hook through the skull , weight , personal preference , wind, . on the opener/may suckers maybe up in the moving water, if your able to get one just a chunk of meat works just fine, i mainly bring suckers in for deadbait set up at camp,(bottom slip sinker) but the smaller one's work fine with any type of vertical jigging, or a piece of one.

OK I am curious as well........never dead bait sucker or cisco fished but read a little about it.

Im not trying to be contentious just trying to understand.......your hooking suggestion goes against everything I have ever learned (plenty of fresh water live bait and lots of salt water dead bait experience). I have always hooked a bait just deep enough so the hook will come out of the bait and into the fish and baits hooked to deep usually resulted in a missed strike. Hooking through the skull seems like it would ensure the hook wouldn't pull out. Obviously it must work for you so please educate me and provide some clarity.

i use to get the frozen ciscoes at the bait stores around grand marais, but they turn to mush too fast, so i went to frozen sucker minnows 4"-7" size years ago. and my group does as good on suckers as we have on ciscoes. on some opener trips in the BW we've dip netted our own suckers(which are #1-#5) and have just cut a chunk of meat out and put on a hook. my deadbait set up is as easy as it gets. #4 or #2 hook with egg sinker up about 18" or so and held up by a baby split shot instead of a swivel . hook through the skull so the point of the hook is up and out the top of the skull.
the hard skull is 1 reason why i like using suckers, a person does need to check there deadbait set up from time to time and recast and the suckers stay on a hook much longer.
in my previous comment i stated i pack 6 suckers in a zip lock baggie with alittle water then freeze them in layers in a small 6pack type cooler and have bait for the length of our trip.
mainly for lake trout in the early spring, but pike also and depending on the timing of ice out we've had some years getting a few walleyes on this set up daily.
going in and out of the rocks in the BW i prefer #12 or #14 mono for my shore set ups and i,ve read some people will cut a slice in the belly and add a packing peanut for floating the minnow up a little off the bottom, all though i have never tried it myself.
a couple of pics of deadbait caught fish.