It’s winter now and really easy to keep bait fish alive but summer’s coming again

All shiner/minnow dealers, Private, State and Federal fish hatcheries are the real expert live fish keepers and live fish transporters, fingerlings, shiners and bait fish, most fishermen know this.
If you want to improve your bait keeping skills, pay close attention and learn how the real professionals keep live fish healthy because their job depends on their ability, equipment and knowledge how to keep fish alive and healthy for long periods of time - months. There are reams of great information a click away on the net, but you got to click it to discover the professional fish keeping information – Google “keeping live bait fish successfully,professional opinions” and then do it.
Ronnie Capps knows all about this, he’s a professional fish keeper and bait keeper.
The pro fish keepers know that keeping bait alive and healthy is as simple as livewell oxygenation and livewell ventilation (changing the livewell water occasionally to eliminate metabolic waste produced by the fish) livewell water year round, even in the hottest hostile summertime conditions.
Keeping bait alive and healthy does require great livewell water quality skills, especially maintaining minimal safe oxygenation and knowing that minimal safe oxygenation does not really mean plenty air, aeration (O2 is not ambient air}. The pro's never chill their transport water with ice for vey good reasons, they just know better than that. These pro-fish keepers also use inexpensive non-iodized salt to aid in osmoregulation and Amquel or equivalent to neutralize toxic ammonia and that’s really about all there is to being really successful.
It makes no difference if you’re keeping bait alive and healthy for weeks at home, in an ice chest or transporting bait from Jacksonville, FL to Key West on a 10-12 hour road trip in an ice chest, oxygenation and ventilation is the magic to keeping baits alive and healthy in captivity.
Chilling bait with ice in a livewell in the summer does retard metabolism and decrease the metabolic O2 demand of cold blooded fish, but you know what happens when you hook up that nice cold bait and toss it into that hot summer water… do you really want slow lethargic baits on your hook that won’t live long in that hot summer water on the hook… Serious Temperature Shock is always predictable, especially going from cold water to hot water in a blink of an eye is a real killer.
It’s winter now and the water is cold. You can keep shiners alive in a goldfish bowl now, no problem. But, summer is coming again insuring hot environmental water and all live baiters know exactly what that means!
That means great fishing and big problems keeping bait alive. That aggravation will last 4.5 warm months.
Merry Christmas, keep warm and be happy. 2018 is going to be a Great Year!

Thanks

I have no problem keeping minnows alive all year long. I have a deep freeze wired up to a digital thermostat that keeps the water temp at 55 degrees. Also there is an aquarium air pump with two ports plumbed with clear hose to a 12 inch air stone. Just add water some rejuvinade ( turns the water blue and removes chlorine ) add bait and your ready. S for on the water fishing. I just simply use a 5 gallon bucket with water from the bait tank. Freeze 4 each 2 liter bottles of water. When the weather gets hot just drop a frozen bottle in the bucket. When they feel like they are getting warm or they are coming to the top of the bucket replace the bottle with a new frozen bottle. It works great for me but its just my 2 cents.

Modified freezers/refrigerators work great.

What kind of water heater do you use in your freezer during the cold, freezing winter months to keep the water warm @ 55 F?
I wondered for years what actually happens when those baits in that nice cool 55 F water are hooked up and tossed into that 90 F Summer water. Now I understand what happens to that bait. It’s called “temperature shock” and the shock is much more deadly when bait goes from cool chilled water to hot water in the summer, especially when the bait is on the hook.

I heard this tip directly from a Rejuvenate salesman at a fishing tournament last summer in a private conversation.

*Now if you really want to save a 100’s of dollars over the rest of your life, instead of buying the high dollar blue colored Rejuvenate, go down to your local feed store, buy yourself a 50 lb. bag of cattle salt for $5.00, then go to Wally World or any local convenience store and buy a small bottle of “green” food color dye and a bottle of “yellow” food color dye ($1.23 per bottle) and add the food color into your bait tank water. The color combo of green and yellow make the color “blue.” Different mixtures of green or yellow change the shade of blue, chose the shade you like with every drop of color.

If ammonia or chlorinated water could become a problem, a small bottle of Amquel eliminates all these problems. One teaspoon of Amquel/10 gal water does the trick…Amquel is cheap, works immediately and extremely well plus 1 bottle will last years. An extra teaspoon full of Amquel won’t hurt a thing either, a little insurance so to speak if you feel more comfortable spending a few extra pennies for insurance.
Add more Amquel, salt and food color when you change the water in your bait tank and save bait and save money for a new rod, reel or trolling motor.

I like your modified freezer for stationary home bait tanks.

Ya'll have a Very Merry Christmas today.

I have a 30 gallon aquarium set up in a storage shed. Summer temps can be 100 Plus. Hot air in this range pushed through an air pump will make the Water temp too hot ... The solution can be simple,, take a small foam ice chest with a hole big enough for the power cord to pass through and put the air pump inside. Run the air line through the same hole to the Aqu. air stones. Frozen gal jugs or 2 litre bottles placed inside cool the air and keeps the water cooler. I keep less than 15 gallons of water which makes it easier to catch the minnows with a net. Rain water is used to replace what evaporates or in the minnow pail .... Pet Smart has Chlorine eliminator for a few bucks and last all year --- when you see several minnows die change the water

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Originally Posted by Fish on Line

I have a 30 gallon aquarium set up in a storage shed. Summer temps can be 100 Plus. Hot air in this range pushed through an air pump will make the Water temp too hot ... The solution can be simple,, take a small foam ice chest with a hole big enough for the power cord to pass through and put the air pump inside. Run the air line through the same hole to the Aqu. air stones. Frozen gal jugs or 2 litre bottles placed inside cool the air and keeps the water cooler. I keep less than 15 gallons of water which makes it easier to catch the minnows with a net. Rain water is used to replace what evaporates or in the minnow pail .... Pet Smart has Chlorine eliminator for a few bucks and last all year --- when you see several minnows die change the water

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All good points. Yes, summer temperatures often reach 100F and even higher in South Louisiana and that is a bait and tournament fish livewell horror every summer. I have noticed over the years that problems keeping shiners alive begins when the environmental water temperature nears and exceeds 80 F (June, July, August and September). A red-nose shiner is fly bait, not fish bait.
Speaking of hot 100F air pumped through an air pump making the water temperature too hot; have you ever heard of those V-T2 livewell air vents? https://www.newproproducts.com/products.html They advertise, “The New Pro Products V-T2 Livewell Ventilation System allows continuous oxygen to flow inside of your livewell and provides a release for heat and other metabolic gasses, which can be harmful to fish.” There are many testimonials from tournament bass fishermen promoting these air vents on their website. Check it out.
Now here’s the best part, a pack of 2 vents only cost $49.99 plus tax and shipping, instillation is quick and simple. Drill a couple holes in your livewell lids and screw on the air vents and all your summertime bait/fish mortality problems are over.
Actually, keeping live bait is really so simple as you know. Maintain a continuous safe supply of oxygen and never suffocate the bait, change the water occasionally and add a little salt and always maintain excellent water quality in the bait tank. Bait dealers that sell shiners every day of the year know how exactly simple it is to keep bait fish alive and healthy for weeks and they make a living selling live bait to fishermen.
Yet, there are still many, many fishermen that cannot keep shiners alive in the summer and until they learn how to do this, of course they will continue to have problems keeping bait alive again this coming summer, 2018.
You'all have a great New Year.

I have camp on Caney Lake in North Louisiana and use 55 gal plastic drum and pump lake water in 24/7 with dual aerator running all time and still have lot of dead bait. Tank is in shady area in boat shed. Any help appreciated. I buy about 2#'s at a time locally. Don't think the are in best of shape when I get them. Look kinda banged up. thanks

You should "condition" the minnows before releasing them into the tank
Place the container that you brought them home in, into the tank, let the container float in the water for several hours. This will bring the minnows to the temperature of your tank and will not "shock" the minnows with the temperature change.:twocents

Flycaster made a good point here - livewell/bait tank hypothermia. Ice is cheap, convenient and will induce hypothermia in livewell water, increase DO concentration a little (Henry’s Law) and reduce fish metabolism and physiological oxygen demand during transport and captivity. Ice is much cheaper than a refrigeration unit, batteries, upkeep, repair, etc.

My buddy, a fish hatchery biologist shared this information with me last week about water temperature stress when transporting live minnows/shad.

Temperature shock stress is a secondary stressor for all live bait fishermen, especially in the summer and hot environmental waters. Minnows/shad experience extremely high stresses when captured (netted), boxed, handled and transported in hot, harsh summer conditions.

Keep in mind that minnow and shad live fine in their natural summer environmental water every summer in shallow hot lake water – their steady-state environment vs a high stress transport environments in bait tanks and livewells.
The first and most serious water quality stressor negatively affecting live minnow/shad, transport/captivity is hypoxic bait tank/livewell water…. this is acute and chronic livewell suffocation.

Temperature shock is a 2 edged blade that cuts both ways… the temperature stress is less traumatic when bait fish go from warm/hot water to cooler water (iced livewell water).

The temp stress is more serious with many negative side effects when the bait is nettet, handled, hooked up, going from chilled bait tank water to hot summer environmental water.

Reducing transport water temperature in an aerated bait tanks is more comfortable for minnows in the summer when the environmental water is near 80F and higher. Cooler water does hold a little more O2 when aerated and any increase in O2 is better than what Mother Nature provides for bait tank water in the summer.

High stressed minnows/shad being transported do suffocate quickly in the summer when the bait tank is overcrowded.
How much good will chilling summer water do when there is no bait in the bait tank using mechanical aeration? Add live bait and O2 level drops proportional to bait load, more bait consumes more O2.

Aerated bait tank, fresh water, sea level barometric pressure; NO live bait in the bait tank water consuming oxygen:
85 F water – 7.7 PPM DO – O2 Saturation 100% ---- NO bait in the water
80F water – 8.1 PPM DO – O2 Sat 100% ---- NO bait in the water
70F water – 9.0 PPM DO – O2 Sat 100% ---- NO bait in the water
65F water – 9.5 PPM DO – O2 sat 100% ---- NO bait in the water
59F water – 10.2 PPM DO – O2 sat 100% ---- NO bait in the water

Add 1 or 100 live minnows or shad and dissolved O2 is consumed. DO and O2 Sat falls proportionally to increased biomass when additional live baits are added to the bait tank. Add more bait and more O2 is consumed and O2 concentration and saturation drops.


For fish hatcheries, their optimal transport (bait tank/livewell) O2 saturation is continuous 100% DO Saturation whether the transport water contains 5 minnows/shad or 10,000 baits.

The biggest summer bait tank/livewell water quality problem is low oxygen, suffocation is deadly for fish minnows and men and it happens quickly. Chronic suffocation takes a little longer to kill, we see this with lethargic red-nose baits piping, scales sloughing off and baits stacking in the corners of square and rectangle bait tanks and livewells.

Minnows and shad will not stack in square corners of bait tanks and livewells IF the water quality is safe and saturated with dissolved oxygen.

Looking at the big picture of keeping, transporting minnows and shad in the summer, most fishermen are pretty happy with their live bait quality and survival in the summer, ice, chemicals, etc.