Live bait question?

[alphaman]

For those that use live bait. Shrimp mullet etc.

How do you keep your bait ALIVE in your live well for the day. Also over night if your keeping bait for the nx day.

Ive noticed that as the day goes by the bait in my live well isn't dead but most are just pilled up on the bottom beside a few swimming around..

How do you get rid of a dead zone in the well and have you ever added salt to your live well?

Thanks

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[jchief]

Pro air system works well for overnight. http://www.basspro.com/TH-Marine-Pro...product/22467/

Also adding oxygen helps

If you are making long runs make sure you stop and allow fresh water into the live well.

Do you have a high speed pick up?

[Montauk17]

Originally Posted by jchief

Pro air system works well for overnight. http://www.basspro.com/TH-Marine-Pro...product/22467/

Also adding oxygen helps

If you are making long runs make sure you stop and allow fresh water into the live well.

Do you have a high speed pick up?

X2....also adding ice to the water helps

[alphaman]

Idk. Lol i have the pump and a recirculating pump

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[swamp snorkler]

Add ice cubes every so often to keep the temps down.

[meaux fishing]

mine constantly recirculates the water, plus it is insulated so my bait always stays alive. If Im storing it over night I just use the recirculate pump

[latravcha]

During the heat of the summer you can add ice. The cooler the water the more oxygen it can hold. Make blocks from rain water. I try not to use ice made for tap water. You can also freeze water bottles and throw one in every now and then. When it is really hot you want to circulate your water every 30 minutes.
Another option is putting an additive in the live well. I would use products similar to these when I fished bass tournaments.
http://www.thmarine.com/products/New...U2-Pro-Formula

[aquaholic]

I keep croakers alive by leaving live well pump on all the time. I don't recirculate water. Fresh water all the time. Shrimp are harder to keep alive

[alphaman]

Originally Posted by aquaholic

I keep croakers alive by leaving live well pump on all the time. I don't recirculate water. Fresh water all the time. Shrimp are harder to keep alive

Gave me an idea. Well maybe ill do this. I can add a pipe to make an over flow drain in my live well. As of now my drain is on the floor of the live well.

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[alphaman]

Originally Posted by aquaholic

I keep croakers alive by leaving live well pump on all the time. I don't recirculate water. Fresh water all the time. Shrimp are harder to keep alive

If u leave the pump on how does the water drain?. U must have an auto bilge pump in the floor.

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[AceArcher]

A oxygen infusing system with regular changing of the water / adding some ice in a sealed container is probably the standard.

a little trick that i know works real good for shrimp are to put a net / piece of carpet in the livewell... it allows the shrimps to hold on to something rather than constantly fighting the current. They conserve energy and thereby live longer.

Also be real careful to ensure that the bucket / whatever you use to store the shrimp in has no contaminants in it.. put shrimp in a bucket that i had once a long time ago had some gas in... thought i cleaned it out real good... they were all dead within an hour even with water changes, ice in soda bottle, and air pump running.

From what i have read about people keeping shad alive to fish for freshwater stripers (small shad are almost insanely hard to keep alive) it's important that you aereate, and keep a flow of fresh water moving in the bait tank... but the flow must NOT be to heavy.. at most 1 to 1 1/2 mph flow so that the baitfish do not tire and then build up acid in their muscles (which is what happens when they die from "stress")

[jchief]

Alpha, look in your live well. There is a drain on the top of the livewell up against the console by where the water comes in.

You should have a drain plug or a tube that goes into the drain of the livewell.

[jchief]

http://img.wholesalemarine.com/media...-150-DP_lg.jpg

[alphaman]

Yes I have that plug. And if forgot about the drain up there.

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[BROWN FIN]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

Add ice cubes every so often to keep the temps down.

Put it in a zip lock. Ice contains chemicals that could kill your bait.

[Gerald]

Another thing that will "kill" your bait, is have too much in the live well. This is especially true for Shad.

After you put a bunch of Shad in the live well, they will regurgitate and you need to have a really good recirculation rate to "re-fresh" the water or they will start to die quickly.

If all you have in your live well is a drain hole, here is what should help. Get a piece of PVC pipe that will fit tight into the drain hole. Cut the pipe so that it will be a what height water level you want in the live well. Now drill a bunch of 1/4" dia holes in the top of the pipe. For the top of the "overflow" pipe, there needs to be something covering the end to keep your bait from escaping down the drain pipe. I drill some very small holes and use a fine wire to "fence" off the pipe to keep the bait in the live well.

.

In my new boat [a year old now], the drain and overflow connections are smaller diameter than my other boat. This restricts the amount of water that will drain out of my live well. OR....limits me to how much "fresh" water I can add to the live well to keep the bait alive.

Maybe in the future, I will address this to improve my live well water flow. I use this pipe in the overflow outlet. When I tired it in the drain hole, a redfish can knock it loose and drain out all the water.

[BROWN FIN]

When I have to put my boat on the trailer over night I fill 2 5 gal buckets with raw (lake) water. Keep the buckets in your house or camp to keep them cool. When I get home I add one then add the other about 8 hrs later.

[breambuster]

A tablespoon of peroxide. Google it