Quick question about bait. I’ve got a small aluminum boat with a 18 gal. livewell how long will blue backs live if I use a bubbler and frozen water bottles to keep the water cool. The livewell is also square. I have two 20 Gal. Bait tanks just wondering if I could get by without using them. Thanks
Fogman keeps bait in his livewell. I’m not sure what type of aeration he uses, but they seem to do very well for him. There are a lot of guys on the site who can offer better advice to you than me. Good luck.
Sure. You can keep 4-5 dozen herring alive in your 18 gallon live well for a days fishing. It’s all about keeping the water at a comparable temperature to the water the bait came out of, a cup of water softener salt, and adequate aeration. The Marine Metals 12 volt bubbler I use does a great job in my 30 gallon livewell and would do great for you. Be sure to scrub sides of your well and rinse out with fresh water at the end of every trip.
The idea that you must have a round bait tank is a complete fallacy. The bait men use square tanks and holding pools:smiley:
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Its all about perspective… You can “get by” with lots of things but if you want to increase your probabilities, then you have to do better things… You can catch stripers with dead bait. You can catch stripers with a live herring. You might even catch a big striper on a herring…but if you want to increase your probability of catching a big striper, put a big slimy gizzard shad on that hook, man! lol. Its spring time and the cows dont want to waste their energy chasing little baits. They want to eat a big whopper gizzard shad and leave that chasing to the little fish…I wouldn’t recommend the baitwell for 8-10 inch gizzards, especially for what you have to travel, pay or throw the net to get them…but I’d try it if its all I had…I used lots of effort to fish with some gizzard shad this past weekend but I caught three fish in 30 minutes that were bigger than anything weighed in our last MSC tournament…
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If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
Thanks for the help. I got the tank I was just seeing if I could get by without using it. I’ve never used gizzard shad so let me ask how many would you put in a 20 gal tank. Another question if I were going to fish Clarks Hill this weekend using gizzard shad what’s the best technique to use . Down line , free line or both. And last I am guessing you can put blue backs and gizzard shad in the tank together. Thanks
I would have to agree with Woody in that if using 8-12 inch gizzards, an 18 gallon livewell is too small. However, mine is 30, and I routinely keep baits of all species and sizes with my setup without a problem. Then again, if I were catching and transporting large bait, I would use a standalone tank with filtration due to the bait not being purge/cured out. Filthy water is the worst thing for any bait.
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And then, about two years ago, a friend of mine caught a 36 lb striper in Murray on a shiner about as long as your index finger! I posted the photo on the MSC board.
10-4 on the shiners. Back when my father-in-law was still alive, we’d sometimes take small tuffie minnows with us when perch fishing. One day I put the last and smallest tuffie on a gold hook in 38’ of water and a 9 lbs. striper didn’t let the minnow make it to the bottom. What a fight on 4 lbs. test line! All I could do was follow the fish with the trolling motor for a long while to keep from being spooled.
Like I said, its all about the probability and what gives you the best chance at your intended outcome… sure i’ve caught some big fish on herring, and bucktails, and spoons too… but I’ve caught a lot more on Gizzard shad, especially this time of year…as far as how many per gallon, it depends on the size of the bait…and you can fish the gizzard shad longer on the hook so you don’t need as many as with herring…I have a 50 gallon tank. I transported 15 dozen in it for an hour to my house, mixed baits 5-12 inches long…just experiment and see is all i can suggest…
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
I love putting some large baits in the spread. If they get slammed, you know you’ve got a decent to great fish on. My problem is finding the time to go and try to catch large gizzies or to drive all over creation to get to a bait dealer that has them.
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