Thread: best method of keeping baitfish alive?

Is there any special way to keep spanish sardines or LYs alive in a 5 gal. bait bucket with an aereator? I have tried and it seems like they are going belly up in @ 30 min. or so.

bait bucket over the side(5 gallon)preferably in the shaded area of the pier too or deep in the water the heat is your enemy too I think ....unless you want to do something like Dick did oke1:

ok, so what did Richard do?

[quote author=Fishindave42 link=topic=1786.msg16797#msg16797 date=1344282087]
ok, so what did Richard do?
[/quote]
[size=12pt][font=comic sans ms][img width=720 height=603]http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m596/richman363/PierCart_gen1-1.jpg[/img]

Here’s the link:
http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com...ate-peir-cart/

he has an elaborate filtration system for his large bait tank pictured on his cart above....it was amazing to me when he was explaining it and said it worked real good....did say it was best on the shaded side of the shelters on the oct. especially this time of year....my bucket with holes let down in the water is good enough for me when there ....so maybe Dick will chime in if he is back from Alaska yet....lucky guy....I hope he is slaying the fish too!!!!! :fishing: :headbang:

IMHO a 5 gal bucket is NOT big enough to keep any spanish sardines alive for morethan a few minutes.
A 5 gal barely keeps 5 adult LYs alive for any length of time.

Maybe a wider pail (like a 10 gallon trash can) would do better?
http://www.culinarydistrict.com/tc-10w.html

I have no experience with saltwater baitfish. But I have many years of experience keeping freshwater bait fish alive in the Alabama summers. Baitfish
will die because their water being to warm as quick as they will because of a lack of oxygen. I mainly fish for blue and flathead catfish and keep live
bait in a 10 gal. water cooler with an aereator. I also freeze drink bottles of water and use them in my cooler and add them to my bait tank as needed
to keep the water in my bait tank cool.
When adding frozen water bottles to your bait tank do not over do it. Watch the way your bait reacts to the cooler water. You can tell by the way they
act if they are comfortable. Do not add more than you have to. When one bottle melts and they start looking stressed remove the spent bottle and
add a new bottle.
If you get the water to cold they will die of shock when you use them.When they hit the warmer water and the whole point is to have "live bait".
If you don't have frozen bottles of water add some bag ice. The clorine in the melted ice is not near as bad as the hot water on your bait.

Rolling livebait well, with not just aeration, but filtration too... Madness :bow:

I would have been inpressed enough with that blue holding tank on the back of the rig to hang off the pier, but the cart is very impressive.

It's nice but an absolute pain in the a$$ to pull up.