What do you do to keep bait alive? This time of year I use musky suckers and they are expensive. I live in town so I have city water. Will the city water kill them? Not just for musky suckers…also walleye suckers and shiners in the winter. I do have an 18 gallon tub and aquarium aerator. Any tips?
I use a baitwell pump (Bilge pump) hooked to a spray bar. I also have a timer that runs 30 seconds every 5 minutes.
I have had NO BETTER BAIT SYSTEM!
I put my bait in a cooler. I use a 5 day cooler in the summer when it’s 95 degrees out, and any cooler this time of the year.
Yes them “Musky” suckers are expensive…Us flathead guys buy them (or net them 
) all summer long!
I have no problem keeping well over a dozen 6-13″ baits alive for up to 5 days on the water. Add fresh water as they start to stink up the water.
Oh, if you want to bring them home with you at the end of they day…Just keep them hidden and go home 
PaulK, You are correct in not using city water! The ideal situation would be if you had your own well. Well water is the only thing you would want to store your bait in. I’m fortunate to have a dedicated bait fridge out in my garage. If I change the water every day and keep them in the fridge, they will keep for a very long time. If you have a bunch of leech’s you want to keep, put them in the leg of an old pair of pantyhose and put them in the toilet tank! With every flush they get fresh water! Probably not a good idea to tell your wife though! 
DIRTBALL2 
One way to get the chlorine out of the city water without having to buy chemicals is to fill some pails with your city water, then leave them sit for a day or two. The longer the better. Stirring them up once in a while helps too.
PITA, but it works.
I also do what BrianK does with city water. Leave a bucket or two always sitting out to evaporate the chlorine.
Thanks for the quick advice!
I do have some stress coat fish tank treatment stuff laying around. Has anyone used that to “treat” city water with any success? I’m trying to find an alternative to going to my mother-in-law’s house with every container I own to get well water. Talk about PITA!!!
If i’m in a hurry, which i am often, i’ll fill up a 5 gallon bucket and put my bilge aerator/spray bar in there. That will aggitate and dispurse the chlorine faster (at least i think so). You can also go to a bait shop with a big cooler to get you started.
Just another idea to toss out there, as I discovered it to work for myself, is to just go and consider how all the fish are kept alive at the pet stores. An air pump/oxygen system that can be attached to most buckets or coolers would operate very similar to the store aquariums. In fact, after my two goldfish from my elementary school years died, I utilized the tank to hold my bait! It worked wonders after I remembered to clean it so any diseases my goldfish had wouldnt get to the lakes or keep killing my minnows But in short, you can usually just go to any pet store and tell the fish/aquarium section employees you are looking to store fishing minnows and want to know the most reliable and cheap way to do it. I would guess you can make it happen for a very small amount of money.
Big thing is temp. I have done nothing to a dozen shiners in the winter in a bucket of the water they were bought in and they were good to go, but also on a hot day I would have to keep the bubbler and fresh water 2x a day to keep them OK. I picked up all my bubbler and filter stuff from Walmart, much cheaper than the big fish stores.
110v bubblers work MUCH better then the 12v ones. I’m on my 3rd year with one from Walmart and second year with another I picked up someplace.
The get a minimum of 18 hours of use every week through the summer.
The 12v/battery operated ones seldom last a summer and become very noisy.
Rule of thumb for tropical fish was
only change 10 percent of the water at a time.
Keeps from shocking the fish due to
change in water PH
and change in water temps should be held to 2-3 degrees.
Leave city tap water sit for a day or so to allow the chlorine to dissipate.
How to keep bait alive and healthy in livewells and bait tanks in the summer – VERY SIMPLE and EASY.
1. Oxygenate livewell water with pure oxygen – 100% DO Saturation or greater guarantees and insures safe oxygenation in overcrowded livewells and bait tanks in the summer.
2. Ventilate livewell water – Total or partial water exchange several time daily guarantees elimination ammonia, acid pH, dissolved CO2, nitrites, nitrates and metabolic waste.
Safe Oxygenation requires administration of supplemental pure 100% oxygen in overcrowded summer livewells and bait tanks. The correct dose must be delivered continuously and the volume of pure oxygen delivered must be sufficient to sustain 100% DO Saturation for one pound of live bait or hundreds of pounds of live bait or fish. Greater stocking density (overcrowding) requires more oxygen. Pure 100% oxygen is necessary for live bait and live fish transports. That is why fish hatcheries transport live fish with pure 100% compressed oxygen, none use air, aeration or water pumps to insure safe dissolved oxygen saturations for live transports – never.
Ventilating livewell water requires mechanical aerators and water pumps. Mechanical aerators and water pumps remove dissolved carbon dioxide, acid water concentrations, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, urine and the big chunks of feces, scales and vomit (metabolic toxins and organic matter). Remove dead bait and dead fish ASAP.
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