Portable Live well advice

[Malek_Nyghtson]

Hey Malek welcome to the site that's a crazy story a 64lb catfish is a monster must have been a lot of fun to bring that one in!
I have fished for catfish before in the delaware near phila and trenton. We like to use chicken livers but I guess the live bait will bring in the big ones.
The best success I had was fishing at night or at the end of day. Do you fish at night or do you think it matters? Thanks for your post and sharing the info.

Yeah it was alot of fun bringing that monster in at the time it was bordering on frustrating due to holding a rod with metal parts in the air during a severe thunderstorm with tons of lightning the rain was not coming down in buckets I believe they were using giant garbage cans . caught that one during the day actually when I target flatties I tend to fish all night from about 6 to 4 am this has been the best times for me I have caught them first thing in the morning before the sun comes up as well a guy over at xtreme catfishing said " Small flathead (10 lbs. or less) are prey and feed in areas and during times that will avoid large predators. Large flathead are almost completely dependent on the weather (cold/storm fronts) to tell them when to feed. Sometimes an unnatural rise or drop in water level will trigger a feed. Occasionally, an annoying bait placed to close to a resting giant gets eaten. My biggest flathead always come during a storm. This is just my experience ....... during Spring and Fall. Also, I've read several flathead tracking studies and they all either ignore or under-appreciate the significance of weather in a catfishes behavior." which is my experience as well if there is a front moving in or leaving you will have a better chance to catch them a guy I used to work with told me they sit and watch the weather channel for a certain area in maryland and when they see a front moving in or going out at the same time the tide is either coming in or going out and a full moon helps they grab their gear and go with very little notice last time he came back with over 200 lbs of blue and flathead fillets so what they do definitely works. I know the weather affects them but I do not know the science of it. i throw out what I know they like to eat and wait for them to find it.

now I have heard of some weird stuff that works like for channel cats best formula I have ever found is 1-2 lbs chicken livers half cup minced garlic and 2-4 cups of strawberry Kool-Aid throw this all in a lock-n-lock (you do not want the lid to accidentally come off) set it out in the sun for 3-5 days then when you put it on the treble take a strip of nylon and wrap it around it to hold it on. must have a strong stomach to use this stuff after about a week it resembles some kind of primordial ooze, but it is very effective. during the spring and fall I catch the most flatheads as they do not eat quite as much during the summer when they spawn not sure of the truth of this just a personal observation of recent years. the best bait for flatheads is always alive and kicking threading them on the line works the best as it keeps the bait alive longer than hooking them I use a 12" dollmakers needle for threading larger bullheads on the line then I snell the circle hook to ensure it will not come off flatheads tend to attack from behind so having the hook back by the tail makes sure you grab them. if I don't thread them I hook them behind the dorsal fin. sunnies and blues work well but they give up fighting to get free to soon white perch and bullheads fight tooth and nail to get free for hours on end and make alot of noise and splash around which of course attracts the target fish.

i spend many hours researching what may work better than what I have been using to target the fish I love to catch

[robmedina]

As far as the rambling- well, you are in good company, lets just say that.

I have nothing really to add to help your situation but reading your accounts reminds me of something I saw the other day. I was watching a show called Monster Fish. There are 2 shows with that title. One is with Trev Goudy or something like that and the other is a guy who is a marine biologist- The later one is the one I am referring to. Well anyway, he was down in Louisiana and he was on a local fisherman's boat. They were netting fish. In their catches they got carp and blue cats and bull head cats.
The fisherman pointed out that the flat head catfish is different from the other catfish in that they are predators that lie in wait. As opposed to the other catfish that will search for food by scent. He showed that the bellies were very white and the upper side was brown- sort of like a flounder.
Anyway- not sure if that is entirely true, but thought it was interesting.

[Malek_Nyghtson]

The fisherman pointed out that the flat head catfish is different from the other catfish in that they are predators that lie in wait. As opposed to the other catfish that will search for food by scent. He showed that the bellies were very white and the upper side was brown- sort of like a flounder.
Anyway- not sure if that is entirely true, but thought it was interesting.

yes Flathead Catfish are top level predators and they eat any other live fish that happen by that will fit in their mouth which is why it is illegal to introduce flatheads to a body of water that they are not native to they completely take over. one thing most people do not know about the flatheads that differ from every other catfish is that besides being the better eating fish in comparison they have a small triangle of belly meat which we refer to as the bacon and is the best meat I have ever tasted on a catfish it is located just below their head and it is worth the hassle just for that one lil strap of meat. yes they lie in wait most of the time they do go out and actively hunt when they get hungry but for the most part they just wait for food to swim by. as far as characteristics of a flathead they are olive,dark brown or a sandy yellow color with a wide flat head looks like a shovel and their tail it more square compared to the channel cat to see a good comparrison of the two check out this http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/catfish/biology.html


since this thread has apparently gone off track I will ask again if anyone knows of a good recirculation pump for a livewell or a way to filter it before it gets to the pump so they do not clog up I have seen some that have big filters around them but they are way over what I can afford ranging from 200-400 bucks and yes I know you get what you pay for and the words "good" and "cheap" do not belong in the same sentence so lets forget cheap I am looking for affordable lol

[bababooey]

Malek you did some good research here. My perspective comes from having a boat livewell. That is much different than your situation because I am able to recirculate fresh water which makes it a lot easier to keep bait alive.
For the conditions you are fishing you seem to be very thorough in your investigations so I would suggest you research urea content of various baitfish and try to experiment to see which species produce more. Also which species are hardier.
For instance you use bullheads maybe they don't excrete a lot of waste. Small bait like killies seem to excrete a lot of urea so that is why you want a continuous flow of fresh water or keep them out of the water on ice. Since your system uses the same water I would think the urea content would be important. You could also think about changing out that water 5 gallons at a time. Only you would know which bait fish are more hardy and which ones aren't. The urea content should be a deciding factor in how many fish you can keep in the cooler at one time.

[bababooey]

Also as you said the aerator would be key to making your system the best it can be,

[bababooey]

I did a quick seach and it seems you are right a lot of stuff out there is junk.
I liked this one from cabelas because it has a min of 3/4" hose and goes up to 1 1/2". The worst enemies to these pumps are fish scales and accumulated slime and debris so the bigger the hose the better.
I like cabelas because of their guarantee.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabel...:referralID=NA

If you try it and don't like it you can ship it back no questions asked. Can't beat that.
As for the battery if you are a serious fisherman I would look for nothing less than a 12v system. There are quite a few batterys nowadays that are lighter in weight. Good luck hope this helps.

[Malek_Nyghtson]

I did a quick seach and it seems you are right a lot of stuff out there is junk.
I liked this one from cabelas because it has a min of 3/4" hose and goes up to 1 1/2". The worst enemies to these pumps are fish scales and accumulated slime and debris so the bigger the hose the better.
I like cabelas because of their guarantee.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabel...:referralID=NA

If you try it and don't like it you can ship it back no questions asked. Can't beat that.
As for the battery if you are a serious fisherman I would look for nothing less than a 12v system. There are quite a few batteries nowadays that are lighter in weight. Good luck hope this helps.

I shop at cabelas when I can closest one is an hour away where as BPS is only 15 mins away I do like this model and thank you for pointing it out to me as for being a serious fisherman well lets just say my wife got into fishing just so she would have a chance to spend time with me cause when I am not at work or sleeping I am out fishing if I am not out fishing I am on my puter looking up places to go fishing or researching anything fishing related.

[robmedina]

I am sure you probably have already seen this but just incase: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fishing...September-2012

[Malek_Nyghtson]

Malek you did some good research here. My perspective comes from having a boat livewell. That is much different than your situation because I am able to recirculate fresh water which makes it a lot easier to keep bait alive.
For the conditions you are fishing you seem to be very thorough in your investigations so I would suggest you research urea content of various baitfish and try to experiment to see which species produce more. Also which species are hardier.
For instance you use bullheads maybe they don't excrete a lot of waste. Small bait like killies seem to excrete a lot of urea so that is why you want a continuous flow of fresh water or keep them out of the water on ice. Since your system uses the same water I would think the urea content would be important. You could also think about changing out that water 5 gallons at a time. Only you would know which bait fish are more hardy and which ones aren't. The urea content should be a deciding factor in how many fish you can keep in the cooler at one time.

i have considered this and have seen several designs from other people where they put 1 or 2 in line cartridge filtration units in place to assist in removing the debris and keep the water clean or even adding a couple extra hoses where I could drape them into the water where i was fishing one for intact and one for return then cap them when in transport (which is when they usually die on me) what are your thoughts on using small solar panels for helping in keeping the battery charged will it work or a waste of money?