pictures of my bait cooler and tank set up

You guys asked for it….so here they are! These are the two things that get me thru a hot summer of flathead hunting. Bait cooler has the previously mentioned Super Fish Saver installed in it, which pumps water up into the spray tube continuously. I put on a good SeaLink 12V plug and added about 10 more feet of wire, so I can have it in the back of the truck or trunk of the car and have it running, keeping the baits fresh.

In all the years I’ve used it, I can’t recall ever losing a bait. As long as that thing is running, it can be 100 degrees out and I still won’t lose bait.

Here’s my bait tank.

This sits on the north side of my garage, so it’s always nice and cool. I have an aquarium dual air pump pumping air into it nonstop. You can get those at WalFart for $10 or so I’m thinking. I just run the air hose down to the bottom and have it secured with some straps that are screwed into the tank, and they seem to do real well. I did have a rotary aerator, but it froze up on me, so if I get some time, I’ll take it apart and see if I can get it running again. The water agitation it provides really helps out.
You can see the PVC pipe I put in the back of the tank. I put some fittings on there so you could attach the garden hose to it, and drilled some holes in the pipe so I can let the water drip, or really let it pour in. This is done with the red handle that I put inline.
I can keep goldfish, bluegills, bullheads and minnows in there for weeks at a time. I lose a few here and there, but this tank really works well.
If you’ve got any questions for me, just let me know.

God Bless You!!!!! This is even coming from a walleye guy. It took me 10 years of marrige to get a beer cooler in the garage. Any advise on how long until I can run the bait operation next to that fridge?????

John

I hope you don’t have to wait another 10 years to get a bait operation going!! I fish a lot of walleye too, and so this keeps my leeches and minnows as well. At one time, I did have this whole operation inside the garage. I just ran a garden hose off the drain on the bottom and ran it out the door, and then I had another hose going into the garage. I could aerate water inside the garage and keep it totally mess free.
Good luck on getting a tank set up…you gotta have it!!

So in the big tank do you have a pump running back up to the garden hose fitting to recirculate the water? Or do u just have an aerator going with no recirculation.

B- I was just kidding. I envey you guys that have this stuff going on. I can always keep my leeches and minnows in the garage if I need to. I just don’t have the set up you guys do.

John

Here is my *old reliable*.. well.. until the bullhead goo burns out a pump once in a while. They last for years with anything other than bullheads.

anoter angle

No problem keeping a ton of bait *super charged*.

Brian, Dave’s portable model is an upgrade of yours…he has a rod-holder attached!

I did chuckle when I saw that.

Great post.

I used a cooler with wheels also.. makes it much easier to move around any hard surface… not good for loose sand.

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Brian, Dave’s portable model is an upgrade of yours…he has a rod-holder attached!

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Yup, I saw that….I have work to do!

Don’t worry Love2Fish…I got ya. But hey, I had to cheer ya on….better get that tank set up!

On my tank, I don’t have any regular circulation. I just let it bubble. When things really start poppin, I change the water more often, or I’ll actually just leave the hose on and let it drip in there when it’s really hot out. That delivers my nice cool well water to the tank and keeps the fish happier.
I did buy a pump though, but have yet to use it. Looks like it’ll get clogged up a lot. But it’s one of those pumps that yard enthusiasts use to run the water in their little ponds they have in their backyards and such. That’ll definitely circulate some water. I just haven’t tried it yet, but might this year. The air bubbles alone seem to do a good job, but you still gotta change the water every so often.

Pond pumps are the only way to go if your going for recirculation on a big tank. The bullheads will clog the smaller ones up and eventually fry them… especially fresh caught bullies.

Bubble pumps work well for large quantities of bait too. Keep extra air stones on hand because the infamous bullhead goo will clog the stones also, just switch them out with clean ones regularly.. let the clogged ones dry out and clean them with a brush.

The more air you have, the more lively your bullheads will be. The recirculating pump by far exceeds the air level out of bubbler pumps. If I have 4 dozen fat bullies in my tank and stick the bait net in… The bullheads often start jumping out of the water! Its hard to get them on the hook when they are that lively, but they kick more on the hook.

Brian, I’m green with envy! I love that bait tank set-up.

Question for you and Dave: how do you guys deal with water changes? Specifically, I’m wondering about the effect of municipal water treatment chemicals on the baitfish.

I’m an old aquarium fish guy. Used to commercially breed angelfish in my younger days, so I know a bunch about fishkeeping. When I would change water (almost constantly) I would either let tap water sit in the open for a couple of days, or add “dechlorinator” to eliminate the treatment chemicals.

Brian, your hose inlet makes me think that you’ve got well water so you don’t have to worry about dechlorination. But Dave, you live in town….how do you deal with your water changes?

Before I kept bullheads at home, we had city water installed…the city forced us to cap off our well. Man I wish I had well water now!

On my protable tank I just use a bubbler too…and just change the water…infact the portable seldom comes out of the boat when I’m guiding. The reason I went with a bubbler only (I did have the 12v pump) was because the pumps do heat up the water and I had too many go out on me. They are both annoying as far as noise goes.

For my bait tank, I’ve found that my commercial bubbler will hold around 150 bully’s comfortable, but when i added the “pond pump”, I can keep 300 bullys quite well…and for a very short period (two days) up to 400.

I found out the hard way that if I try keeping more than 150 with just the bubbler, the little guys slow way down and eventually go belly up. Now if I had well water….

Thanks for posting Brian, it’s good to see multiple ways on how to skin a cat..so to speak!

I pull the plug and drain about 85% of the water, and refill with tap+declor water. Bullheads are pretty tough, I dont have any problem with them dieing with water changes and I dont wait for the water to sit. I dump it and the declor(aquarium drops) in.

The 1st couple days are the most important on water changes. If you dont keep on top of it, the pump can/will clog.

I take my tank with while fishing most of the time.. I generally change out some water when fishing.

My largest obstical is a clogged pump or intake screen. That can burn out a pump quick, and if gone un-noticed, it will heat up the water and leave you bullhead wine in a day or so when its hot outside.

If a person plans to have a large number of bullheads on hand, its best to have them in a seperate tank for a few days with bubble pumps and let the burping get over with. Once they get that over with, the water will stay decent for much longer. Any recirculating filter system with bullheads is a joke, although, they can be installed on the water intake to run city water directly to the fish.. tose filters are a bit spendy, but are available at minnow tank dealers. Either way, an alternate source of aireation is neccessary because you are not going to run your tap 24/7 and like your water bill.

How much does a pond pump heat up the water?

I have 100 gallon tank in my basement. The air temp in the basement never gets above 70 degrees, even in the hottest months. I have well water but don’t want to run it 24/7.

I’ve just used bubblers in the past.

Last year I kept a dozen bullie in a 5 gal bucket with a frabill bubbler and 6 inch stone. They lived for 2 weeks until they got used for bait. They were as livley as the day I got em from Moore’s bait. It is much easier to take care of a bubbler and stone than a pump and filter.

Aquajoe has his bullies in a little palace and feeds them well. He got them when they were little 5 inchers now last I heard they were 9 inches. That was less than a year ago.

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Brian, your hose inlet makes me think that you’ve got well water so you don’t have to worry about dechlorination. But Dave, you live in town….how do you deal with your water changes?

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Thanks man, glad you like it! It’s very nice to have, no doubt about it.

And you are correct….I do live out here in the country, so I have my own well putting fresh water into it. The biggest thing I have to worry about it temp changes. If I put new water in there and throw some fish in there right away, sometimes that’ll shock em dead because it’s so cold. Other than that, I really don’t have too many problems.

You guys that use air stones I have a tip to get a little more mileage out of your stones.

If you have an air compressor take your rubber tip balloon filler and force compressed air through the stone. It will blow the goo right out.
Word of caution!!! Wear safety glasses while doing or don’t look at the stone, It shouldn’t blow but you never know.

What do you use Larry?

How much does a pond pump heat up the water?

You know, I don’t recall it getting warm last year. I’m going to attach a thermometer to the inside of my tank this year to monitor it closer…last year on the hot days I just stuck one in before I changed water for the heck of it…no..I don’t keep a log.

The first year I used the de cloriniser stuff and I do have city water. Last year I never used it. I had a few bh’s die…but that always happens.

Boat is put together…now it’s time to clean the outside surface rust of the bait tank and giter ready!

Make sure to check for any stray eels

Ps

For anyone following this thread using it to make a bait tank with an old chest freezer…take off the lock unless it’s outside…then keep it locked…there might be a law for that…but either way it’s the right thing to do.

Opening a chest freezer for bullhead and finding something else…may leave a mark.

It that to protect against kids or eels?

Either way that is a good idea!

Raccoons or FW?

I better clarify the FW part as I don’t want people to think I am saying something I am not. I mean, didn’t the FW open the freezer looking for come frozen meat and veggies and find bullheads once?