Keeping live bait alive

Started by JasonGotaProblem, May 26, 2021, 07:33:38 PM

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JasonGotaProblem

New personal record for freshwater bait, I have golden shiners from Sunday still going strong in a bucket in my garage. Just gotta change the water every day. But with FW that's easy i just use distilled.
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.

handi2

I fish the hot Florida waters too. You must keep something in the livewell for the shrimp to hold onto. Slow moving water is good too. Some have used an old potato sack to do this.

When I fished the bridges an old cooler with a homemade aerator works great. Now they make aerator kits for that.

Keith
OCD Reel Service & Repair
Gulf Breeze, FL

oldmanjoe

Quote from: JasonGotaPenn on September 17, 2021, 06:38:48 PM
New personal record for freshwater bait, I have golden shiners from Sunday still going strong in a bucket in my garage. Just gotta change the water every day. But with FW that's easy i just use distilled.
??? ??? ???   Don`t you have 2 bait pens in your neighbor hood ?
Grandpa`s words of wisdom......Joey that thing between your shoulders is not a hat rack.....    use it.....
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 Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.   Alto Mare

JasonGotaProblem

Quote from: oldmanjoe on September 17, 2021, 07:19:25 PM
Quote from: JasonGotaPenn on September 17, 2021, 06:38:48 PM
New personal record for freshwater bait, I have golden shiners from Sunday still going strong in a bucket in my garage. Just gotta change the water every day. But with FW that's easy i just use distilled.
??? ??? ???   Don`t you have 2 bait pens in your neighbor hood ?
Not quite. Lot of gar in there, I haven't much in there thats smaller than a bass or bigger than a minnow. Plus there's overgrown grass and other aquatic plants from the shore to about 30-50' out. I lose 2/3rds of my hookups trying to get them past the grass line. Trying to net anything there is a fools errand.
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.

philaroman

oh, put some sting/bite-proof pants on & wade out...  or, is it too cold  ???

...or, cheap float-tube (even inner tube) tethered to the bank, where the cooler is hidden in the shade   ;)

JasonGotaProblem

So new developments, I kept 7 golden shiners alive for 8 days in a bucket a bit smaller than a gallon. By changing the water (store bought distilled) every other day and feeding them betta fish food pellets.

I then upgraded my setup by getting a 5-10gal aquarium filter and hooked it up in my garage on a 5 gal bucket. So far the water is crystal clear and the fish i haven't used yet seem just fine on day 6.

These seem to be hardy lil fish. My record for shrimp is 14 days but the super cold weather at the time had helped with that. Maybe I'll beat that record with shiners.
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.

Dominick

Quote from: JasonGotaPenn on January 07, 2022, 04:29:10 PM
So new developments, I kept 7 golden shiners alive for 8 days in a bucket a bit smaller than a gallon. By changing the water (store bought distilled) every other day and feeding them betta fish food pellets.

I then upgraded my setup by getting a 5-10gal aquarium filter and hooked it up in my garage on a 5 gal bucket. So far the water is crystal clear and the fish i haven't used yet seem just fine on day 6.

These seem to be hardy lil fish. My record for shrimp is 14 days but the super cold weather at the time had helped with that. Maybe I'll beat that record with shiners.

That seems pretty mean to use them for bait.  Keeping them that long and they are pets.   :D ;D  Dominick
Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.

thorhammer

Aeration is as much important to shiners as the fliter- dont have time to write up all my efforts on this, but it's fact- it both oxygenates and cools the water. Without getting too deep into aquarium science, consider getting a mother tank that you keep running- a plastic tote, cut off drum, whatever- and keep at least one critter it at all times. This keeps the nitrophagic bacteria going in the filter, which break down waste ammonia once the tank has cycled (there will be an ammonia spike around 15-20 days, then the bacteria will reach saturation in the filter bed and start to break down the ammonia, providing there arent too many baits or too much food).  If you use the bait then turn off everything, the bacteria will die off and you'll have to start all over. Consider a separate pump and spray bar / aerator head. In my neck of the woods, large shiner minnows are $35 per pound, and it's a 90 minute round trip, so i put a lot of energy into keeping them once I have them. I've kept them for as long as three months thusly, with minimal food. You can get an ammonia test kit at petsmart or wherever, which will help you with water changes (always a good idea) in a larger vessel.

thorhammer

You can also use a chemical like safestart to jumpstart the nitrosomonas and nitrobacter- will get them going in a day, OR use a water from the bait pens you talk about.

philaroman

#24
Quote from: thorhammer on January 07, 2022, 04:52:13 PM
In my neck of the woods, large shiner minnows are $35 per pound, and it's a 90 minute round trip, so i put a lot of energy into keeping them once I have them.

instead of driving 90 min. to spend arm+leg+nut, find the right still/slow body of water in your area
and research the way Brits/Euros target Roach/Rudd:

I've targetted 6-9" shiners as panfish (finesse XUL bait/float -- tiny terminal tackle under a quill)
way more challenging than sunfishes, IMO & WAAAAAAAY more rewarding, if it's $35 for 3-5
good Spring morning (pre-dawn to 9AM) would easily yield 20+ "3-5 count" shiners,
along w/ bycatch of other cypriniformes that are also desirable as bait (chubs, fallfish, small suckers, etc.)
rare great morning was 50+ perfect soft-rayed bait (sunfish/cat/eel bycatch not counted / discarded)

the main "trick" is, culling via bait sellection -- NO MEAT!!!
veg./starch-based baits are completely ignored by dink predators like bass, perch, crappie
& noticeably less desirable to unwanted omnivores like sunnies & cats
if the carp show up, bait-collection numbers go down, but fun-factor goes up  ;)

thorhammer

Not really any of that around me unless the same driving distance. Netting shad is hit or miss and i have to go a ways for that too...all that's close are bream and perch, and you'll wait a dang long time for a striper bite around a shad school using them as bait. The schools in the open water are too deep and fast moving to net 25-50 feet. Back in the day they were in our cove and could be gotten dependably but thats long gone- the blue cats have proliferated to a degree that has major impacts on the shad. i didnt see but one one my end of the lake the first 25  years I lived here, then around 2000 or something a hatchery flooded and dumped them unto the Virginia river upstream. Now, they're everywhere and 50 lbs common. The WR came from here. Screwed the striper fshing, along with goll maggots in the 2000's an the electronics that are out now.

jurelometer

Quote from: Dominick on January 07, 2022, 04:42:02 PM
Quote from: JasonGotaPenn on January 07, 2022, 04:29:10 PM
So new developments, I kept 7 golden shiners alive for 8 days in a bucket a bit smaller than a gallon. By changing the water (store bought distilled) every other day and feeding them betta fish food pellets.

I then upgraded my setup by getting a 5-10gal aquarium filter and hooked it up in my garage on a 5 gal bucket. So far the water is crystal clear and the fish i haven't used yet seem just fine on day 6.

These seem to be hardy lil fish. My record for shrimp is 14 days but the super cold weather at the time had helped with that. Maybe I'll beat that record with shiners.

That seems pretty mean to use them for bait.  Keeping them that long and they are pets.   :D ;D  Dominick

I am with Dominick on this.   After 14 days you have to start naming them :)

JasonGotaProblem

Wow those prices if I'm reading them correctly are nuts. Down here there's 2 stores that have them. One doesn't differentiate size and they're $7/dozen and one that has 6"ers for $14/ dozen and larger for $17/dozen. And I thought that was high.

I considered settiong up a peoer aquarium but that's the issue. At some point they stop looking like bait and start looking like a Bob or Jimmy or something. Especially to my kid.
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.

philaroman

nah, the longer they "enjoy" your [in]hospitality, the more obligation to attract a proper gamefish
otherwise, they all get the same name: Slacker Freeloadsky, aka Cut Bait

JasonGotaProblem

And the more I think about it, 2 weeks of free food and no predators doesn't sound so terrible compared to what their life is likely otherwise like.
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.