keeping fish alive

[turkeyfootnc]

I'm supposed to go on a fishing trip this weekend. I would like to transfer a few crappie that I catch out of the lake into my pond. The problem is I live 2 hours away from the lake. My questions are, since I have an aerator that runs off a 12 volt battery, will that keep the fish alive until I get home? Also, how many crappie would be too many to put in a 48 qt. cooler full of water?

Thanks for the help.

[Eager Beaver]

I'm supposed to go on a fishing trip this weekend. I would like to transfer a few crappie that I catch out of the lake into my pond. The problem is I live 2 hours away from the lake. My questions are, since I have an aerator that runs off a 12 volt battery, will that keep the fish alive until I get home? Also, how many crappie would be too many to put in a 48 qt. cooler full of water?

Thanks for the help.

An aerator won't do it, you would need a recycle pump to recirculate the water in the livewell the aerator has to have new water which exchanges from outside. One suggestion would be to fill the livewell with water and add a bunch of ice and make the trip as fast as you could. I do this in the hottest temps in the summer and can transport about 45-50 fish this way.

[driller]

It all depends on the temperature of the water. In cool weather you could possibly haul 3 dozen fish or maybe a few more in a 48 quart cooler that far if you hurry.

Do a search on fish tranquilizers. They will help a lot, as will a hand full of rock salt dissolved in the water before you add the fish. Also, you might want to pick up some "foam killer" to stop the slime from the fish from "foaming" up the water and depleteting the oxygen level.

Best bet----get the phone number from you r local bait dealer for his supplier and talk to them.

[stumpbumpers]

I'd throw'm in the live well a go to the house, the heck with all the hassel. If they die, clean'm and eat'm. If they live, cool beans. That's what I do

[dmbutler47]

I looked at some things at Academy Sports yesterday, not sure how they worked exactly, but i am lookig for the same thing sort of, i have no live well in my jon boat and want to keep the fish alive, check a sporting goods store out, they have several things that run off batteries that will help along with cool water

[gabowman]

It's getting to where 12-15 crappie in a 48 qt. cooler and some begin turning sideways after 3 or 4 hours of fishing now. Dont think they'll survive the ride that far without dying now. Maybe using a larger bait tank?!?

[Billbob]

eb said it all put ice in the tank but not to much

[Moose1am]

I use a 48 Q cooler and have kept some crappie in it for days. About 3 days for a few crappie. Less than 10 crappie.

I used a portable 12 volt battery pack to power the thing and one of those water pumps aerator that I got at Walmart. It runs off 12 volts. It has a plastic tube that's about 12" long and shoots water downward from the top of the tube. It has suction cups on the bottom on the pump.

You could cool the water with water bottles that are frozen. The ice inside the bottles will keep the cooler water temp down and not contaminate the crappie water with any chlorine.

Remember that crappie are prolific breeders and can overpopulate a small pond rather quickly. They could all not grow and become stunted for lack of food.

eb said it all put ice in the tank but not to much

[jigsbydirk]

i have kept 8-10 crappie alive all night in a five gallon bucket with just a minnow bubbler on numerous occasions, so i would not worry about transporting them two hours, just be sure the water is cool.

[slabbandit]

Jigsbydirk is exactly right! The cooler water holds oxygen better just don't try to put to many in a small area. I read somewhere when studying about keeping minnows that water starts loosing its good oxygen saturation around the mid 70 degree mark.

With a large enough area for a small amount of crappie and cool water a good minnow areator pump should easily make a 2 hour trip.