keeping bait fish alive

[chomponthis]

lately ive been fishing with live bait. my problem is they die too fast all i have is a bucket to keep them in and a arerator box. i was just wondering if u guys know any good ways to keep them alive longer?
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[tubeN2]

Keeping an aerator in the bucket is only half of the recipe for surviving long outings.

The other half is to keep replacing the water about every 1/2 hour.[cool]
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[Tarpon4me]

To go along with what TubeN2 said, even that isn't good enough some times. Especially a bait fish like Menhaden(pogeys), they take alot of TLC. For one, just having a round live well isn't good enough. It needs to be a "long sweeping" cylindrical live well. When their nose starts turning pink, you can kiss them good by with in the hour. No square or hard turns is the first trick. Next, like TubeN2 was saying, constant supply of fresh water. The best thing to do is get yourself a five gallon bucket and drill a bunch of holes in it, secure the lid, and attach a rope to it so you can lower it in the water and keep it there so fresh water is constantly flowing through. Something like mullet minnow or mud minnows will stay alive all day in something like a Flowtroll bucket. (the big yellow thing with a hinged lid) Give us more info as to the senario you're fishing, and then we can better help you. (I.E. Peir, boat, bank, etc...)
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[chomponthis]

i fish off of jettys may be ill try the hole in the bucket it sounds like a good idea. im using smelt for halibuts
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[tubeN2]

Out on the west coast, the most practical bait holder is the good ole 5gal bucket. We use Pacific Sardine, Anchovie and Smelt in them. They are good baits for Halibut (east cost Flounder).

Many of the tackle shops sell the little aerators to oxygenate the water. The problem is that those 3 types of bait tend to throw off alot of slime and foul up the water in a hurry.

The holes in the bucket is a good idea. It is a little difficult from a pier though since most of our piers are from 20 to 30 feet off of the water at hight tide. You will go home looking like Popeye when you are done. ha ha. I guess that could be resolved with more holes up to 4inches from the bottom so that there is less water in the bucket when you draw it up.

I was a real Pier Rat for quite awhile. I would end up using a Minnow Trap. That would draw more bait into it and the water would always be around it when I dropped it back.

My minnow trap subs as a chum bucket too when I am out on a boat. I can put my frozen chum block in it on a slow troll.[cool]
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[Tarpon4me]

That's actually the trick, a whole lot of holes. If you ever walk down a peir on the east coast, you'll see 20 or 30 ropes tied to the railing. Those are 5 gal bait buckets with holes drilled in them. I made one out of a blue 50 gal drum one time, just to use for keeping Menhaden alive. Even that wasn't bad pulling up. If you put enough holes in it, the water is drained out before you even start pulling it up good. Just make shure the side you tie of on is the side the wind is blowing towards. (helpful Hint)[cool] Atleast on a peir, or else your bucket will go under the peir and get tangled up on pilons. Also make sure that the holes you drill compliment the size bait you're using. If you're using larger bait, drill less holes but bigger holes. If the bait you're using is small, drill lots of little holes.
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[tubeN2]

That is such a good idea. I guess you can teach an old (salty)dog new tricks. I just hope that others will benefit from this as well.[cool]
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