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Thread: Keeping Bait?

  1. #13
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    For salt, can you use the same salt you would use for a saltwater aquarium? What concentration (PPM or SG?)

  2. #14
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    Quote Originally Posted by McQ View Post
    You do need a round tank, bait will swim against flow and not kill themselves running into the corners. A constant re circulating flow is the best around 500 GPH for 20 gal., the scales will stay in a pile right in the center ( try not to get them floating through the tank, will get in bait gills and choke them ) Do have some sort of large drain cover, a cylinder type of screen, or a small plastic water bottle drilled with a lot of holes, so dead bait can not clog and overflow tank... you should have an automatic float type bilge, because we have flooded our boat !
    Keep the tank covered, out of the sunlight, and gently remove dead bait, they will kill the live ones over time.
    With all that said, if you can keep Shad (alewives) alive, you will put a lot of fish in the boat.... Good Luck
    Very good advice....put this in the ground and put a lid on it and you got a bait holder...chuck

  3. #15
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    Avon, IN Maysville,Ky Columbia, Ky
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    I bought a FRABILL airated minnow bucket. It was pricy at $40. It more than paid for itself over the last 2 years. It is a small insulated 8 qt cooler with the quite airaetor. I can leave 100 crappie minnows in it overnight and then fish all day without losing a single one. You can check it out at Cabellas or BassPro.

    I would think you could make the same thing and buy the airator.

    http://www.cabelas.com/fryprod-0/pro...7398.uts.shtml
    http://www.basspro.com/Frabill-Min0%...52837/-1008697
    http://www.frabill.com/bait-care-man...tion/1404.html

  4. #16
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    A refrigerator, a Styrofoam or Styrofoam lined minnow bucket and a tropical fish tank air pump and bubble stone works quite well for me keeping croppie minnows alive at home.
    I'm fortunate enough to get to fish a couple times a week and have very few minnows die between trips...I have kept them alive this way for a week or two and they seem to last quite well during the fishing day also. The frozen water bottles sounds like a great idea for those long fishing days.

  5. #17
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    Has anyone used one of the electronic oxygenators that produce pure oxygen? I use a cast net for shad in the river. They last for a couple of hours in the cold, but summer and early fall they dont last 40 min.

  6. #18
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    Quote Originally Posted by know1 View Post
    This might be a dumb question, but where do you get the original water for the bait bucket? Does it come from the water you purchased with the shiners?
    Yes. It'll be blue from the additives the bait shop uses to make them live longer. I can tell you from experience that changing out that water is an effective way to kill all the shiners The suggestion about frozen bottles of water is a good one. It's important to keep them cool, so they'll require less oxygen, but you don't want to use ice because of the chlorine in tap water. As far as keeping them alive in the bucket, the colder the water the better. Thing is, if they're in really cold water, but the water your fishing is warm, they'll die on the hook pretty quickly, so it's a trade-off.

  7. #19
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    Quote Originally Posted by Duayne View Post
    A bait bucket is fine for shiners, but I wouldn't plan to keep shad in them for long. A livewell will work for shad when it's colder and as long as you trade out the water often. Adding some shad saver, water softener or pickling salt will help keep them hardened and from stressing as much. If they are swimming into the corners, they probably won't last long. I've done it before but each time is a bit of a gamble.

    Also, I have seen several boats that have totally filled with water because they put shad in their livewell, left the aerator on auto and the shad swam into and clogged the drain. You can get around that by having a screen installed over the upper drain.

    One time, it was a brand new Ranger bass boat. Found out it was the first time in the water. Stuff is floating all over the place and water is filled all the way to the top. It's not a pretty sight at all.
    I know a guy that did that. I drilled 4 small holes in the top of my live well over flow drain and threaded some stainless steel marlin wire leader making an x near the top of the over folw tube to kee[ shinners from getting clogged in there. Been there for years and the stainless wire never rusted.

  8. #20
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    . myself along with a handful of other guides on cumberland have stopped using recirculation pumps and found the scales dont come off shad nearly as bad anymore. i have a 30 gallon round "keep alive system" tank . i use the flexible aerator infusers and lay them on the bottom of the tank. a general guideline for alewives/threadfins is one handfull of salt per 30 gallons, a a couple teaspoons of shadkeeper and i gradually adjust warm water to 75 degrees, if the water is colder than that i just dip it out of the lake and fill my tank. if i am catching gizzards i double the salt. i can keep bait very lively for a couple of days as long as i keep the water cool, after that they get a little weak on the hook. a round tank will prevent baitfish from gathering in the corner and avoid stressing them. a round 5 gallon cooler with a baitsaver aerator will keep shiners all day if the water is right. good luck

  9. #21
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    What are you doing for ammonia and basic filtering? I've modified my 30 gallon greyline slightly and use a charcoal felt bag for an aquarium biofilter system. Two layers of cut felt, one layer of foam, then the biofilter under that. Or have you found with the keep alive you don't need any filtering? Are you using a smaller pump (with less heat and water pressure)?

  10. #22
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    hey duayne , there is no pump that pumps water, only an air pump, no filtration, thus no current for the shad to constantly swim in stressing them and knocking the scales off as they rub the sides of the tank and each other. just heavily oxygenated water. the shad keeper water conditioner takes care of the ammonia. for 25 years we worried about pumps, filtering and the right amount of circulation, seems odd but thats what was causing alot of problems to begin with. another guide researched this and did the footwork, i cant take credit for it, but it has made life alot simpler.

  11. #23
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    Is it aquarium style type pumps or some of the newer oxygen generators? No filtration? Not even for gizzards?! Holy smokes!!

    I know air pumps help remove carbon dioxide so I'm guessing that's the route you are taking. Any clues as to the model of the defuser(s) you are using??

  12. #24
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    Re: Keeping Bait?

    Quote Originally Posted by Duayne View Post
    Is it aquarium style type pumps or some of the newer oxygen generators? No filtration? Not even for gizzards?! Holy smokes!!

    I know air pumps help remove carbon dioxide so I'm guessing that's the route you are taking. Any clues as to the model of the defuser(s) you are using??
    I was going to go the O2 generator thing until I found out they will not work in any type of saltwater.
    Also I have read that when you freeze water that the chlorine is gone thus making straight ice ok to use. I have not confirmed this fact, anyone else heard this?

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