Dying Bait Can Ruin A Night

Wats and I started Monday evening fishing for bait (gills). We had our share and headed off cattin’. First spot produced a little kitty maybe pushing 3 pounds, and a run and drop.
From there on the night was a battle trying to keep gills alive With the warming water and boat traffic, the basket was taking a pounding, and the gills were working up a swet. We hit a few more holes that normally produce cats. With bait less than fresh and changing in color fast, I don’t believe the big Flat’s even cared to take our offering, also my confidence took a big hit Hard to fish when you do not have confidence in the bait!

I do not have a live well but have seen sprayers and such to convert coolers into live wells. Have any of you used or had experience with this set up for keeping bait lively?
If so or not, what are recommendations? I’m not wasting another night until I have this resolved. I’m coming to the pros for some help……please

Bret

Bret
the best that I have used is the bassperator sold by bass pro shops and poss. cabelas
it converts a cooler into a real livewell, drain and all I used a 50qt cooler and it works great
keep my bait in a bait bag and kept fish can swim at the same time

Bret? Did you peek in my brain???

My bubbler went south on me, so while I’m waiting for Fabril to send out a replacement…I put in a water pump/spray bar type. Left it run for 24 hours..with about a doz bullies in it… Yesterday morning while getting ready to change water…I found…smelled rather, that my bullies had been “par boiled”! Mercy!

If you’re just using a cooler or pail for the evening…put some ice in the water to cool it down and go fishing…otherwise use a bubbler.

I’m not a pro…but it works for me!

Here’s a link to my portable bait tank.

Click Here and Good Luck!

Fresh lively bait…along with confidence is Key to any flatten outing!

I’ve fished with Wats a couple times. He’s just bad luck.

I would take an old cooler, drill some holes on the side near the lid, run some air tubing through them, seal it with epoxy or silicone sealant, buy yourself a portable battery powered/120 Volt aereator (it is cheaper to buy a stationary bubler (purchased from fish store about 15$) and a portable bubler (another 15$). Then to keep the bait cool buy those plastic ice packs that you can fill with water and put into the freezer. These will keep your bait cool and lively for days. When you add tap water to your baitwell you need to add dechlorinator to it. This can be bought for 2$ at any walmart or fish store.

Good luck!

Guess there are plenty of ways to skin a cat, err.. keep bait alive to catch a cat.

Get a cooler with wheels since you’ll be moving it around with water in it. The livewell recirculating pump is by Attwood. Put the pump in the bottom of the cooler and the spray nozzle at the top of the cooler. The pump runs off any 12v battery. I use a deep cycle that I had laying around. You could also wire it to run off your boat electrical system or even splice on a cigarette lighter plug. This keeps the water super oxygenated for a night of cattin’!

I do NOT use this system while at home however do to the water heating up issue. Its not bad but it does heat up over time, say 12-18 hours of continuous use. At home I just bought an aquarium air pump and run 2 simple airstones off of it. That has been plenty with frequent water changes. I’ve got bullies at home right now that I’ve had for 2 weeks. I would say 30 bullies max for this size cooler.

centrifugal pumps….as you have found out, will build up heat. If you leave them alone without water changes, they will cook your bait…even bullheads.

PM ME BRET. STOP BY AND LOOK AT MY SET UP ITS ON YOUR WAY

The bilge pump type recirculators that brian is referring to heat up the water in no time. The livewell pumps that hanson has pictured will slowly heat up the water.. but it takes a long time. These pumps work very well when run off a battery and it takes a long time to heat the water(unless its outdoors in 95 degree weather), but if you run it at home with a 12V converter, it will run about 2 volts more power and the pump will run faster creating more heat.

Heat build up is only an issue on ot days with the livewell pump, the bilge pump type will overheat the water in the dead of winter.

The question on keeping gill’s alive.. the setup hanson showed will work great to keep them alive.. even *supercharged* from all the air.

A bubble pump will keep them *sustaining life*, when you put the bait net in one of these coolers.. even the bullies are jumping like trout.

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I would take an old cooler, drill some holes on the side near the lid, run some air tubing through them, seal it with epoxy or silicone sealant, buy yourself a portable battery powered/120 Volt aereator (it is cheaper to buy a stationary bubler (purchased from fish store about 15$) and a portable bubler (another 15$). Then to keep the bait cool buy those plastic ice packs that you can fill with water and put into the freezer. These will keep your bait cool and lively for days. When you add tap water to your baitwell you need to add dechlorinator to it. This can be bought for 2$ at any walmart or fish store.

Good luck!

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dito… That the same setup I use. Just keep about half a dozen pop bottles in the freezer and you can use them all summer! I usually use my bait up in a couple days but am looking foward do having a bigger tank at home here that can keep a couple dozen and save on running to the pond every other time we go out!

Dave asked me to post these pics of his bait tank set up. So here they are! I’m sure he’ll tell you more about it soon.

I dont need to say more.. it just works well enough to keep the bait good and lively indefinately.

Ok. So maybe he won’t tell you more.

I think he normally uses a smaller gel-cell battery though. Little more portable.

Guess I had to have the water pumping in mine for full effect!

Dave & I run the same setup. I can’t take credit for the design but it works very well.

What do they say about imitation…

I have the round 5 gal beverage serving type cooler with a $5 air pump. When it gets real hot put a 20oz pop bottle in there frozen or a gatorade bottle. It works better than ice cubes. It cools slower and stays cold longer.

Those coolers look big. I can carry 5 gallons for a ways. And the top screws on so it doesn’t spill too bad. Water will dribble out but it won’t dump.

I use a plastic storage tub at home (*currently) with an over the edge aquarium filter. Filter material has been replaced with open cell type foam on intake tube. aka: artificial sponge.

In the boat it is close to what is mentioned here. Though I modified my pump a bit. I axed the silly screen on the bottom of the pump altogether and removed/replaced uplift tube with a few pieces of pvc and garden hose for more flow and less clog. Bullheads, and even suckers, will survive in ambient temps for several hours this way. However, like mentioned before, cooling water will improve odds of victims survival greatly.

* Next plan of attack for the home situation is to get a 150 gallon Rubbermaid water tank (farm stores) for in the garage and a commercial style bubbler. They’re out there, you just need to look for one. And then I believe most of the critters tossed in will survive for a week or two without much attention.

Currently I can keep bullheads in the garage for two weeks without much loss. It does pretty good this way.

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What do they say about imitation…

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I have no idea what *they* say, but I’ll be almost willing to bet you took notice of the new alligator clips and yours will have clips one day soon!

As for the comment on these being big.. yes, they are.. especially mine. I have no problem keeping a good amount of bait alive, or transporting large quantities of bullies in my tank. They can be back to back and survive an hour long trip with no problem.

If I am shorefishing and there is a decent trail, the wheels work to roll it.. it beats carrying it. If its a rough, long path.. I leave the tank in my truck and carry what I need in a floater bucket. If I need more bait I stop back at the truck. If its too far to walk with bait in a floater bucket.. I launch the boat and pull it up on shore at the desired location.. I am getting lazy.

Thanks a ton everyone for sharing your set ups
With the knowlede and pics shared I have a game plan

Bret