I have been looking at buying one of the dannco kits to be able to drop into my livewell for this time of year. They seem to be pretty good by themselves, but I think I need to add something to allow the urea and other junk to filter out of the water in order to keep the bait alive longer in this heat. I bought 4 dozen herring last week one day and split them up between both of my livewells, but still by the end of the trip I probably only was able to use 18 of them to fish with. I added ice and kept the water cool, but it still wasn’t enough. I have a “bubbler” in both livewells that usually keeps them aerated well enough in cooler weather, but they died quick last week and the water looked stained and just stunk after about an hour.
Are any of you guys using anything to filter out anything other than scales, or is that all I need to do?
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
We only use our livewells to hold fish in the colder months because all three of our livewells circulate the outside water therefore there’s no need for additional filtration and/or aeration … Otherwise we use a Grayline tank that has two pumps and a three stage filter … We almost never (knock on my skull) lose bait in that tank
… it’s my Wife’s fault we HAVE to fish !!!
2005 Sea Pro 2100cc / Yamaha 150hp 4-Stroke
I’m trying to avoid buying a bait tank that I’ll only use a couple times a year. I can buy the dannco kit that just suction cups to the bottom of my livewell and it will circulate the water and add oxygen, but I was wondering if anyone knows how those triple stage filters work or what kind of filter media is in one so I can build my own and incorporate it into my livewell. I just plug up my livewells and use the water from the bait stores.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
They sell sponge filters for aquariums that you can hook your aerator up to. You can also use Prime to remove ammonia or maybe Fluval Ammonia remover from a aquarium store. You could also do a homemade filter out of PVC pipe. Look it up on youtube. But I’m not sure how it would fit in your tank. Sometimes you just get a fresh batch of herring that have not purged. Did you buy the bait at the launch? I think sometimes that bait is caught a few hours before selling. Starting off with fresh water with salt will be a lot better than using the water from the baitman’s tank. When I had time I always prefered going to the Metts (or whatever it’s called now) landing and using river water. It’s cold and full of oxygen.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
Thanks, steelytom. I didn’t think about an aquarium filter, that opens up a whole bunch of possibilities. To answer your question, I never buy bait from the ramp, usually I get mine from better bait, but this particular day he was out and I stopped at lakeworld and got some from them. I don’t want to say anything negative at all about their bait, it was just my livewells were not good enough to keep them alive in the heat, but I’m trying to improve that.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
The three stage built into the Grayline is simply a fine filter (I use regular quilting batting), a course filter, and a charcoal bag … I replaced my charcoal with Fluval Zeo-Carb …
I use a 350gph canister filter system on my 250 gallon tote tank and I have had Herring in there for weeks …
Shouldn’t be any reason why you couldn’t hang something on your livewell to filter the water out, but it may not be as easy as you think …
I never get my water from the bait shop (any bait shop) if I can help it … I always preload my bait tank and/or livewell and salt it myself … I have well water at the house so it comes out of the tap right about 62 - 65 degrees and once I run the pumps for about 15 minutes it’s plenty oxygenated …
The time you spend at the house getting it all ready you will make up at the bait shop not having to fill your tanks …
If you’re adding water and/or ice while on the water make sure it’s not chlorinated … a lot of people miss that fact and the bait suffers for it …
Danco makes the stand up filter for this application. I know several people who use it for oxygen and filtration and do not have problems.
Joby