I've never had a problem with my baitwell. It has a timer that changes the water frequently. Maybe yours is malfunctioning. Whether you use the bucket or small cooler, you will need an areator and it helps to occasionally put some crushed ice in there. It keeps them cool and adds oxygen at the same time. If using the same water without changes, most bait shops sell some stuff for bass tournaments that guys ad to their water to help keep fish lively.

 

I personally am not concerned about keeping them alive. I keep them on ice so they stay "crunchy/hard". There are times when the minnows get stripped so fast that I start cutting them in half so keeping them alive is really no big deal for me. Just another option..........

 

Here is the set up Ive been using forever. I have a lid to cover the gray bucket when traveling. I have a wire I plug into the boat for powering the aerator or you can use batteries. I put my ice blocks between the two buckets & a ice block in the white bucket where i put the caught perch. I use a smaller bucket 2 gal. once we start fishing put some lake water in it & scoup some of the cold minnows from the cooler bucket into it as needed & put it on the boat floor, I always have fresh minnows.
I have that aerator running as soon as I leave the bait shop & add more water into the bucket when i get down to the lake. I have used several different kinds of aerators over the years with good results. MrEdd

 

mr edd,what brand aerator is that?
most of the ones i've looked at so far have the very small air stones at the end of the hose.that one is alot larger.

 

Jeff,
get one of these- http://www.magicproducts.com/aerobait.htm Cabelas' and Hiway bait has them. Quiet, insulated, good battery life. I love mine.

 

Shines sells a large, flat air stone that puts out more fine bubbles than any other I have seen. The finer the bubble, the more total surface area which is the key to transferring oxygen into the water.

 

I use the 14 gal. keep alive tank just bought a new aerator for it from cabela's
great for shad and shiners

http://keepalive.net/index.html

geowol

 

i use an igloo cooler with a bilge pump attached to a hose that runs into a piece of pvc tube secured to the top just before the lid. drill 1/8 holes, about 6 of them for a pvc piece 8-10". this has kept bait alive all week and runs off a 12v battery. cheap to make and very reliable. great for large bait such as bluegill,shad,chubs,shiners,goldfish. if u want i can send u a pic to see how its put together.

 

in my opinion the water temp is key especially on warm days .i freeze empty water bottles and change them out periodically throughout the day. i just use a 5 gallon bucket and a frabill aereator i bought at wally world .ive kept shiners alive for 3 days just using water changes and ice bottles along with the areator.

 

About the ice. If you buy it,it prob has clorine in it. Will kill a cooler full of Minnows in a heartbeat. Freeze your own from well or rainwater.

 

I use the Frabill Aqualife bait station. Basically a large bucket with an insulated foam insert, aerator, and pump. Does need to have ice added in summer, but this time of year can keep the minnows alive for a weekend...

 

this is what i'm considering.but i do have a bunch of good clean 5 gallon buckets so i can use one with a frabil aerator.
i wish i could find one of the fittings this set up uses on the cooler.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...4&_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/search/search-box.jsp.form23&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

 

The air stone in the photo is a frabil airstone -- you can get it for about 5 bucks at any gander in the replacement parts section for the bait buckets. We use the frabil aqualife... no fuss, best bait bucket made IMHO.

You can get many of the parts you need for that other setupo at any pet store or aquarium store near you.

BUT, if I had a live well, I'd want to use it. It could be an easy fix... OR you could just add an exterior bubbler and an ice bottle to it if you didn't want to mess with it. Why drag an extra cooler on board if you don't need it....I like to be a minimalist, but sometimes doesn't work out that way.

If you want advice on repair shoot over to the iboats forum and see if any of the guys there can give you advice on fixing the well. I've always had good luck with repair tips over there too.

 

http://www.marinemetal.com/mmpweb5.html
I have had the same one of these in the 5 gallon size for over 20 years now.
They are quiet, only draw 3/4 of an amp, produce lots of oxygen and to me are second to none. Most of the headboats and charter boats use these as well.
Only drawback is they are 12 volt.

 

The air stone in the photo is a frabil airstone -- you can get it for about 5 bucks at any gander in the replacement parts section for the bait buckets. We use the frabil aqualife... no fuss, best bait bucket made IMHO.

You can get many of the parts you need for that other setupo at any pet store or aquarium store near you.

BUT, if I had a live well, I'd want to use it. It could be an easy fix... OR you could just add an exterior bubbler and an ice bottle to it if you didn't want to mess with it. Why drag an extra cooler on board if you don't need it....I like to be a minimalist, but sometimes doesn't work out that way.

If you want advice on repair shoot over to the iboats forum and see if any of the guys there can give you advice on fixing the well. I've always had good luck with repair tips over there too.

jennis,my baitwell works,just not very well at all.last year during a move, the plug/aerator came loose in the baitwell and we lost most of our minnows out the back.i swore that would never happen again.what i've debated on is capping the top of the aerator plug and drilling ALOT of small holes in it to see if that would be a good fix or not.

 

jeffmo.... that must have been a fun trip. nothing like having a day to fish and no bait!

Your idea may work, I'd still take a photo and shoot it over at the iboats guys. Bet someone over there had the same thing happen to them.

good luck - I hope you get it fixed. if not - there's a lot of good ideas in this thread for alternates. I made a livewell out of an old cooler for a trip to cumberland so I could keep shad alive. Just used an old bilge pump and recirculated the water in the cooler through a pvc tube mounted to the lid. If you want those plans, I'll try to find the one's I used.

 

I made a livewell out of an old cooler for a trip to cumberland so I could keep shad alive. Just used an old bilge pump and recirculated the water in the cooler through a pvc tube mounted to the lid. If you want those plans, I'll try to find the one's I used.

You made a Misfit bait keeper too!!!? He showed me his at the Ohio River a few years back and I just had to have one! (cooler that is)

 

 

^^^^^
that's the same as mine, only mine was red -- just goes to show ya - great minds think alike.

BTW - that setup worked really good for us... wired it thru an old cellphone charger so we could plug it into the cigarette lighter.

 

I'd suggest if you're using a bildge pump to areate a cooler on a daylong perch fishing expedition, have a spare 12 volt battery on board. I had to get q jump by a good samaritan once out of WW on a day when I ran my baitwell pump on auto while anchored. He answered my call to the CG when the battery wouldn't turn my engine over-but would still run the radio.(That was way back before they called a tow service for you instead of coming out to help!)

 

Just take a 5 gal. bucket with lid, drill a 1/4" hole in the lid and get yourself one of those "Quiet Bubbles" Aerators. Run the tube through the lid and into the water. Add ice from time to time (not too much!) Keeps most of my emeralds alive all day....Some WILL die no matter what though...they are not real hardy fish, but dead ones usually work good too. Good Luck!

 

here is mine it work for minnows,

 

if you plan to also use the tank for shad, you'll want to go with a round tank - shad swim into the corners and die. I made one out of a 10 gallon igloo water cooler and a bilge pump that will run off my trolling motor batteries. Will keep shiners alive for a long time if you put some shad saver in the water, keep the water cool and make sure there's no chlorine in the water. The 10 gallon coolers are kind of expensive, the 5 gallon size are more reasonable and are often on sale. My whole setup cost around $60 with the tank, bilge pump, pvc parts, filter and wiring.

 

that is identical to the bait well i have made! that cooler rocks!

 

thanks guys!
this exactly why this is such a good site,the people.
what i decided to do for the trip coming up is simply the setup from frabil that has a replacement lid for a 5 gallon bucket w/ a pump.it's a cheap fix for now and this winter i am either going to re-fit my bailwell(most probable)or rig up the pump to a cooler.
thanks again.all of these ideas always saves alot of time,aggrevation and money.
american ingenuity!