Kinda long but this works! Written by Henry P.
Now you’ve got a net full of Pogies. What do you do now? The problem comes in keeping them alive. If just thrown in a livewell they will probably die within an hour. If cared for properly they can make it thru an entire weekend. YES Pogies can live for a weekend in captivity! The first thing you want to do is to put them in a 5 gallon bucket filled with water. Make sure to use a round bucket instead of a square mop bucket. Pogies will always swim in circles. If your live-well isn’t round it might be better to keep them in a bucket with a bubble box attached. If there are ANY corners to the bucket or live-well then the Pogies will continue to swim into the corners and eventually die.
After the Pogies have swam in the bucket for 5-10 mins you should notice the water looks like it has glitter in it and its extremely dirty. Once caught Pogies relieve themselves in the water out of both ends. Not only that but they shed their scales when scared or handled. That’s the glitter you will notice in the water. These scales that have been shed will clog up their gills and they will die. 10 minutes in the bucket and its time to change the water. I keep a second bucket handy and use a small net to dip them out of one bucket into another. The less you handle them the longer they will live. Give them another 10 minutes and check the water again. If its dirty or glittery repeat the same process. Usually it takes at least 3 times to get the water to stay clean depending on how many you have in the bucket. For the first hour check the water conditions every 10 minutes. After the first hour then check them every ½ hour. After the second hour they should be just fine for quite a while. Make sure to keep plenty of air going thru the water. They use up oxygen rather quickly especially if you have quite a few of them crammed into a bucket.
If you plan on keeping Pogies overnight in a bucket then make sure to store the bucket in a cool location overnight. Make sure to check on them right before you goto bed. If there are any dead ones remove them immediately because they will contaminate the water. Check on them again first thing in the morning also. Its also a good idea to change the water first thing in the morning too.
One of the biggest mistakes I see with Pogies is how people hook them. They are a rather delicate fish. I often see people hooking them like croakers thru the back or the tail. That will usually kill the bait within minutes. The best way to hook a Pogie is thru the “nose.” Take the hook and go into the fishs mouth and come up thru a piece of cartilage and out the top behind his “nose.”
One thing i can add to this is, if you have a live well that pumps in fresh water .Crank it up so that it flows good .this will help keep pogies alive longer.