Personal bait shop

[Guest]

I just got my very own bait well set up in the basement tonight. I got 40 gallon tub with a bubbler in there. Its the happiest bait I've ever seen. What are some tricks to keeping em kicking? Its cool, dark and damp down there. Other than that, what else is there?

[Guest]

I'm guessing in less you have a filter you will have trouble with your bait dying as the annonia builds up.

[LaVoi]

Bigguns, last summer I had a bunch of minnows that I had caught in a local stream so I decided to put a 100 gallon stock tank in our basement and see how well they would keep. All I had was a small aerator that is designed for 20-60 gallon aquariums. I put them in there in June. I probably lost about a dozen in the first month, and then from there they started to die at a quite faster rate. But come the end of August I still had about a dozen left, and then the last one finally died in September. Keep in mind this is during the hot summer months. I don't think you would have a problem. I never had a filter, I just made sure I changed the water at least once every five days or so. Once they started getting a little skinny (late July) I put a small amount of crumpled up dog food in there. But then I had to change the water more often because of all the dump they were laying on the bottom. Good Luck-LaVoi

[Surface Tension]

The best you could do is what the bait shops do. Fresh cold water sprayed onto the surface and a water level drain. If you have a well and dont have to pay a water bill this works. The drain should be daylighted outside. Sort of like a livewell.

With the setup you have now, the dark place will grow Bactria. Give the tank light and algae will grow instead of Bactria. Better yet underwater plants and light will give you less algae. What you have is an aquarium. You must balance plants and light along with the amount of minnows you have.
Or you could do none of the above and change the water every few days along with a good air stone for your pump that will put more oxygen in the water.

[This message has been edited by Surface Tension (edited 12-09-2002).]

[Guest]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, only on this sight can I sit down and enjoy a good conversation about minnow dump
Man, do I love this time of year............

My minnows always seem to die in the tank I have in the garage, surely do to the heat of the summer. Is there any cheap, efficient way to cool a tank in the summer?

[Steve Foss]

Cool your tank in the summer? You guys got way too much time on your hands. Price you pay for tank and the junk to go with it, not to mention the hassle, sounds like what you really want is a hobby, or pets or something.

Buy bait, keep it alive until the fishing's done, then chuck it. I vaccuum pack and freeze some summer minnows in case I'm short ice-fishing and need some minnow heads. If you garden, you can toss the minnows around your plants, and whatever the coons pass up will fertilize your stuff.

If you can't bring yourself to kill minnows when you're done, I'm sure the local humane society will take them off your hands. I can see the newspaper ad and photo now: "This is Amber, a spayed golden shiner abandoned by a mean fisherman. Amber obeys basic commands, is litter trained, and needs a good home."

[vern]

For me it's tough to get bait after work & still get to the lake for the prime time bite. That's why I sometimes keep bait in the garage. I've never kept them for months, but I've kept small supplies on hand for a week or so & they did very well with an aerator. The cooler the water the better the minnows will do, so putting them in the garage with an aerator might be the way to go. I keep them in a large cooler. It helps keep them from freezing & in the summer it keeps them cool. I've added ice a few times to help keep them cool in the summer. You might want to add some de-chlore to the water before you freeze it. I've never kept them long enough to worry about feeding them. I do like the idea of freezing minnows for winter walleye fishing. I've got to start doing that more often. Vern

[This message has been edited by vern (edited 12-09-2002).]

[cwmn]

I keep bait every winter in a 5 gallon bucket with a old aquariam filter pump. I can usually keep crappie minnows for about a month to a month and half. Fat heads don't live as long, maybe 2 to 3 weeks.big shiners live for a week. And once I tried to keep suckers, they died over night and it took me a month to get the stench out of the basement.
I don't feed them, just change the water when it won't stay clear.
So I usaully buy a couple of scoops every month and a half and they keep just fine.

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Have a good one!
CWMN

[Crappie Kid]

Just an old aquarium pump and an inline charcoal filter in a five gallon pail kept in the garage works for me. So far I've kept two scoops of crappie minnows, a dozen rainbows and a dozen large suckers for 3 weeks with no fatalities. My garage stays just above freezing. It is insulated and attached to the house. No food.

[Matt D]

There's just a few big things to keeping minnows:
1) Temperature
2) Oxygen
3) Ammonia
4) Food (long-haul consideration)

Temp and O2 go hand in hand. Cold water holds more dissolved oxygen. Plus, it slows down metabolism so fish don't need as much O2 to survive. Ammonia will build up over time as the fishies do their thing. Get an ammonia test kit, and some chemicals to reduce it when it gets high. Food's self explanatory. Fatheads (aka Chubs) and "crappie minnows" (they're all the same species folks, just different sizes!) keep very well, as their very tolerant of warmer temps, lower O2, and ammonia. But... keeping those things in check will help make sure you've got bait for the next trip.

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Best FISHES,
Matt

[Guest]

stfcatfish,
You must have money to burn!
From May through June it is not uncommon for me to fish 4 days a week take that times 4-8 bucks for bait. There is no way I am going to let those little buggers die if I can help it. Can't afford to!
Too funny I just did my spell check and it changed stfcatfish to standoffish hmmmm maybe the computer knows something

[Guest]

Well, just what I found in experience and not to mention my job. But a cheap way to keep minnows, depending on the type, is to get some cheap ol' filter that has both a charcoal and some sort of polyfil chamber. Seriously we are only talking something that is about 10 to 15 buck since they aren't typically too attractive to aquarium owner. However, they are very functional, and what you need is a submersible filter. Usually the charcoal will sink it. Anyway, the charcoal will help neutralize the ammonia which is the biggest problem with keeping fish. I've found through personal experience to stay away from normal aquarium products like ick stuff or something that claims to keep fish healthy. This is okay when it comes to tropical fish but in my experience usually does more harm than good with bait fish.

So the filter is the way to go and I've kept fish for months during the winter season in a 5 gal bucket, and just putting in some fresh water every now and then. You could also put in "some" limestone rock in the bottom, and it should help with the stability of the chemical balance in the water. However, I'll say now that the limestone is in theory and I've never tried it before. Quick theory is that since limestone is high in Calcium cabonate, it will buffer things like pH, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites... all problem chemicals that build up from fish dump.

So the theory is theoretically sound. Take what you want from it. I've yet to test it out. Maybe this year.

McFly

[Guest]

The best way to keep bait and other fish (livewell) oxygenated is by using the Oxygenator by Aqua Innovations. If you have not seen these yet, you have to check them out, they are awesome!!

What they do is that they create pure oxygen from the water itself instead of using ambient air which only contains 20.9% oxygen. There are no pumps, hoses, moving parts, or noise. They use electricity to separate the hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen breaks the surface and dissapates and the oxygen is too light to break the water's surface so it re-dissolves into the water. They keep the dissolved oxygen content at 98% even under a load of fish. Bubblers can only raise the DO (dissolved oxygen) to 53% WITHOUT fish.

There are two units, one is used for keeping bait alive in a 2-5 gallon bucket. It runs on four AA batteries and can run 5-7 days continuously. You can keep approx a dozen minnows per gallon of water with this unit. The other unit is designed for a livewell, but works very well for keeping bulk bait alive. It treats up to 32 gallons and runs on a 12 volt battery. This unit draws only 0.09 amps compared to 3-4 amps for a livewell pump. They also have a sensor that automatically adjusts the cycle time according to water temperature (runs longer in warmer water) to keep DO at 98%.

These units can be found at Fleet Farm, Cabelas in Owatana, and Gander Mountain. These are the coolest new units to hit the market and are a revolutionary new way to keep fish alive. If anyone has any questions e-mail me or give me a call. [email protected] or 218-825-0096.

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Adam Johnson
www.adamjohnsonfishing.com

[Surface Tension]

Adam thanks, sounds like im going to have to check the Oxygenater out.

[TRZ]

Cheapest way to go is BaitSaver, it comes in a little can cost 2$ and 2 of them last me all winter. it keeps crapppie minnows or fatheas alive for a month or more, and shinners for at leat 2 weeks. just put it into your regular bait bucket and put it in the basement. sounds like it get better results than a areator. also makes bait much more lively.

[Guest]

In the winter time I can keep fatheads alive for the entire season in a 5 gallon bucket. Just change the water everyday and keep the temp. just above freezing. A few will die once in a while. I leave them in the bucket for food. During a short thaw, I found a small crawdad on the ice and put it in the bucket. Kept it in there for 10 weeks. It had an unlimited supply of fish food. I let it go in the spring.
stcatfish- you big meanie. haha. 1 month to go.

[Northlander]

Stfcatfish, Hey buddy making some friends are ya? HEhe. Steve

[Steve Foss]

Hey N'lander, a guy's gotta have a sense of humor, right?

Seriously, I've also kept minnows for awhile indoors. But only in winter. I've got a cold room in the basement with the floor about 40 degrees, and fatheads will keep fine for a week on that floor in a regular bucket, so minnows I buy one Saturday will be OK the next Saturday. Doesn't work for shiners or suckers, though. Those fatties are tough!

As for fishing that many times a week and needing to save the bait to save the cash, I sympathize, but I WISH I could fish that often.

Chiro: Good one on the spellchecker. I've had them do some pretty interesting things. Mine wants to change Chiro to Chimp. Hmmmm. No telling what those spellers will do. But really, it's all in good fun, I figure. No sense taking life TOO seriously, since it's all over so soon.

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-10-2002).]

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-10-2002).]

[Guest]

I looked at those when I was searchign for pumps. The only reason I didn't get that one is because it has to be run on batteries. I'm not gonna change the batteries every 5-7 days. and i'm not gonna put a car battery downstairs and end up charging it all the time. I just plug the pump in and never worry aboutit. But they would be great in my boat.

[Guest]

stfcatfish,
I agree, lifes too short, not near enough time to fish!
Chimp eh...is that why my fingers keep dragging on the floor?

[juggs]

Heck, in the winter I just keep my minnows in the fridge in a small styrofoam bucket. Doesn't take up much space and they live forever. If the misses has a problem you can put them on the porch or some other cold place if they don't freeze. I seldom go through a full scoop of minnows in one ice outing so it's nice not to have to buy more every time out.