Cat Tip of the Day: Bullhead Bait Tank

[Shack]

OK, they should be working now. Sorry for that guys!

Click Here If You Want And Scroll Down!

[River Runner Z]

i just found an old cooler on clean up day drilled hole through it and put the areator hoses through and mounted the areator to the back this keep them cool for about 4 to 5 days with out changing the water and then i have one set up in and old laundry room wash tub with a plexiglass cover and a filter system this work great cause i have them in my garage and it empty into the grass i release it through a plumbing valve easy to exchange the water also this year i will have my back yard pond to put bullheads suckers and creek chubs in that i made last year with the plant and areator system it should work nice

[riverrat56]

Shack, I almost built that exact same thing today, with out ever looking at your pictures.

It will be this weeks project....

Question to everyone with bait tanks, during this time of year, do you worry about keeping the water cool? If so, do you just add frozen bottle of water?

I'd like to be able to keep about 3dz bullheads an a dozen or so suckers/chubs.

[aanderud]

I keep my tank in the basement next to my furnace, water heater, and water softener. It's really not all that big (50-60 gallons) and I think the 60-something degree air in the basement is much better than the temps in the garage. My basement is finished and carpeted, other than the furnace room and the bathroom.

I will never again buy a plastic "rubbermaid" type container, because even with a wooden reinforcement, I had a crack and 40 gallons of bullhead-pee-[PoorWordUsage]-whatever water in my basement carpet early last year.

[SteveD]

I'd like to be able to keep about 3dz bullheads an a dozen or so suckers/chubs.

You shouldn't have any trouble with the bullheads but I've never done well trying to keep suckers during the summer hot season. Suckers die easy. If you try to keep 3 dozen bullies and a dozen large suckers together in the same tank you may not have much success. That is too many fish and I'm willing to bet the suckers won't survive. If you are doing daily water changes you might succeed but don't miss a day or you will have suckers floating belly up.

[riverrat56]

Alright, I'll just keep the bullies and get suckers on an as needed basis.

[Gordie]

I took my tank one step farther this time by adding air from my aircompressor with a trickel of air into the tank(old freezer) funny thing is I forgot to air up one night and lost my bullies about 20 of them but I hade a coulpe dozen small shinners in there and they stayed alive I also lost a few fathead minnows and yet the shinners a swimming strong. the air sure does seem to put life into the bullies I need to find a monster airstone. I also have a 40 gal barrel buried in the ground as replenishing water in hopes to cool off the water in the tank. I'm going to try one of those adjitator like the bait trucks have on them I will run it on a timmer.

[beavflick]

i will be making one tomorrow i am done with the 29gal aquarium and the 5 gal pals thanks for the tips and lay out

[Jeffreyyy]

wow! I am so not hardcore lol

[Gordie]

Its all a matter of time

[BenjamIncredible]

Great ideas guys - now from the bait tank to the portable bait tank. Picked up one of the portable B.M.S.'s (Bait management systems) from Gander late last year. It seems to do a great job keeping bait alive for much longer than any foam bucket, and being an aerated lunchbox style cooler doesn't hurt either. However, I got to thinking how much better it would be hiking with something a little more hands free. I'm thinking of picking up a 4 gallon backpack pest sprayer, the one with the wide open sealing top, and running the battery operated aerator from it. Looks like it would be a painless conversion and stands on its own.

[Borch]

Well I'm contiplating adding a bait tank for bullies and maybe redtail or creek chubs for fall fishing. I came across a small chest freezer that'll hold about 55 gallons of water although I'd never have more than about 45 gallons in it. Is this going to be big enough for holding 3-4 dozen bullies or chubs?

Also the freezer is a working freezer. So I'm thinking about options for keeping the water cool when the temps warm up. I've considered changing out the thermal control, picking up an adjustable thermal control override unit or just plugging it into a timer and running the freezer 10 minutes every 90 minutes or so.

Any thoughts?

[Gordie]

That freezer should work fine Borch mine is a bit bigger and Mine isnt a working one. I run air from a compressor into it to aid with O2.

With yours you could always let it freeze up if you get the ice fishing bug lets say in August

I often wondered if a timer would work to help keep the water cool I'm sure it would work.

[Borch]

Well I've had my new bait tank set up for about a week now. It's a little smaller than I had planned on but should work for my purposes. I didn't want it using up too much floor space. Holds 30 gallons of water and it set up with an external 3 stage filter system and I installed a small valve and hose for changing out water. Drains 5 gallons in just a couple minutes from the bottom of the tank. As the weather warms up I'll plug the freezer into a timer to keep the water cool as it's a working freezer and I was able to work around the refridgerant coils. Very quiet system.

Here's few pics.

Now I just need to get those bullies out for a swim in the river.

[aanderud]

Nice setup, Borch! I think the refrigeration capability is a key aspect of keeping them healthy throughout the dog days of summer. That and your filtering. I have no filter on my tank, I should probably upgrade that, would make my frequent water changes less frequent, I would think.

[Loose]

Speaking of the water cooling feature, any one done any experimenting with how much a temp difference a bullhead can take before it affects them?

[Larry FlatCaster]

In what way? thats one of the reasons they are preferred.... because they are not affected by conditions as easily as other baits out there.