How to: Making a portable bait tank

[DarkSkies]

Bear in mind that if you do this a lot you have to figure out a way to use batteries efficiently.
That's one of the biggest challenges I faced, and now I look for aerators which use regular d or c batteries. A car battery is the most efficient. At one time I was using a motorcyle battery as well and found that to be great for an all-day trip. Once you start using car batteries, you want the deep cycle marine battery types. You have to ask yourself what the reward to weight tradeoff is, and if it's worth it to drag all that extra weight along.



Some comments from others:
Those aerators work well I have one that runs for 3 or 4 all night trips with one set of cheap dollar store batteries. I get about 10 more hours out of premium batteries,but can buy four sets of the cheap ones for the same price as one set of premiums,so you get many more hrs. of use for the same money.

I just hang mine on the clips on back from a bungee wrapped around the bucket I use but recently purchased a bunch of five gallon bait bucket lids from ebay with a snap open lid and hole for hose and clip hanger onthe side,

I'm building a new one for bait gathering out of a 120 quart 5 day cooler and a 12 volt extra boat areator with a powerbar style spray bar,can plug it in on the pickup,van,car, boat,camper,etc.

Gonna try to rig it up so that I can flip a valve to either fill,empty or recirculate the water,the idea being to drop a hose in the water and suck the tank full without having to move it by hand then recirculate the water while bait is present then toss a hose out on the ground and flip the valve to empty it,then carry the empty cooler into the garage for storage or till needed again.

[DarkSkies]

Portable livewell kit

This looks like a decent deal. They sell you just the hardware for $19.95. I'm not sure about this though as there is some price confusion, so I can't endorse it yet. Calling the # gives you the kit for $19.95 where ordering it on the website costs $24.95.

Buyer beware,, though it does look like a sweet setup for a decent price.

[DarkSkies]

Buy small coolers for small bait:
http://www.nextag.com/cooler-10-gall...411DA7FCB525BF


or a more expensive wheeled cooler for bigger bait.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/s_10153_1...&OVKEY=coolers


If on a budget, you can find used coolers for little or cheap $$ all the time at garage sales. Remember that if putting herring or bunker into a cooler you need lots of water for each one, or they'll die quickly.
You can only put herring into a round cooler or they will crash into the corners and damage themselves.




Buy this aerator or one like it, Wally World has them a little cheaper:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...9-608f36453f77

Now drill a hole towards the top of the cooler and run the wires through for the bubble maker. I installed a cigarette light plug to the wires to plug into my three way plug for easy in and out of the boat. I also plugged the drain hole so there are no accidents and dead shiners. Mount the bubble maker in the bottom and viola you have a bait tank for well under a $100.00.







*Feel free to post up any tips for the newcomers or pics of your own tanks, guys.

[finchaser]

5 gallon bucket with that mickey mouse aerator will only hold 2 herring ,to transport 12 herring you need at least a 20 gallon well and a 3 to 4 inch air stone which requires a HD 12V air pump.The water should never exceed 60 or they will die. The bass pro aerator will also kill them as the heat generated by the submersible motor will raise water temp to an unacceptable level and kill them. Scales also clog submersible pumps and over heat, clog or jam them.

[williehookem]

Dark, How do you ever come up with that info. I guess we should all learn from you and use google search more.

Nice post thanks

[DarkSkies]

Dark, How do you ever come up with that info. I guess we should all learn from you and use google search more.
Nice post thanks

Yup Willie, Google is your friend.
(I spent about 2 hours on Google yesterday scouting new fishing spots. Clue me in on me a general area and I'll find where the fish are likely to be. Catching them is another issue, though... )

I should start telling members to use the search key here as well, because we do have quite a few areas with some comprehensive knowledge. All ya have to do is hit that search key/button, 3rd from the right on the options toolbar at the top of your screen.

A way to do an advanced search when too many results come up is to put " in front of the term you are using. Sometimes this is too limiting, so it should only be done when a lot of results come up and you want to define it better.

Hope that helps.

5 gallon bucket with that mickey mouse aerator will only hold 2 herring ,to transport 12 herring you need at least a 20 gallon well and a 3 to 4 inch air stone which requires a HD 12V air pump.The water should never exceed 60 or they will die. The bass pro aerator will also kill them as the heat generated by the submersible motor will raise water temp to an unacceptable level and kill them. Scales also clog submersible pumps and over heat, clog or jam them.

This is a guy you could learn a lot from people. The little pieces of advice he throws out are mere scraps from the vast library of knowledge he's accumulated from decades of fishing and learning the right way through trial and error. They didn't have the internet around when he learned this stuff.

He used to keep a whole season's worth of herring in ponds in his yard, back when it was allowed.

If you get a chance to talk to him, ask him what happened the night those temps got over 60, and he and his devoted and supportive girlfriend saved those herring. Great story, maybe he'll share it with us one day...

[rockhopper]

If you get a chance to talk to him, ask him what happened the night those temps got over 60, and he and his devoted and supportive girlfriend saved those herring. Great story, maybe he'll share it with us one day...

Thats when its time to make the pickled herring ha ha, lol.
j/k, thanks for all the tips, good thread.

[basshunter]

What a great read. I'll have to set one up.

[baitstealer]

I had been thinking of using live peanut bunkers for this year and mullet for next season and figuring out how to do it. The container I wanted to use was way to small. Thanks for the info dark and finchaser it was real helpful.