Thread: keeping minnows alive?

If I'm going to stay that many days I like to use the floating minnow buckets or a floating net to keep the bait alive, works well for me!

If your not going to leave your boat in the water where you can leave the buckets or floating net tied to I leave em tied to docks or in near by brush out of the sun, if you keep them in an ice chest just keep em in the shade and add ice to keep water cool from time to time and an aerator is a must if it's during hot weather !

What greg said !!!!!!!! !

My cooler that they ride in in the boat does fine, main thing is to keep the water fresh, if you are pumping plenty of air temps aren't near as big an issue. Got a 50 quart cooler and can hold a couple pounds of minners for a while.

Get a can of Bait Saver and add some to the water. If you have 110 volts available, get a bubbler from the Walmart aquarium section. A 2 stone is not much over 10 bucks. If the temps are hot, frozen water bottles will help. A big styrofoam cooler really works well.

Also, if putting them in a cooler, fill the cooler with water and leave the lid off for a couple of days, prior to putting the minnows in to allow any chlorine (if your water source is city water and not a well) in the water to evaporate out of the water.

I use the aquarium treatment and just put it in, add water, add minners.

I use an RV water filter to put water in a cooler. No chemicals needed with the filter as it removes the chlorine and most other contaminants from any water source. You can get the RV filters at Walmart. I use a medical oxygen bottle with an oxygen diffusing stone and a pediatric regulator set at 1/32, or 1/16 for 2-3 pounds of minnows for 4/5 days at a time. You can dip stale water out of the cooler with a small bucket, and add lake water back to keep the water fresh if they don't have running water near your boat to use the filter with. An air bubbler will also work, but the oxygen is better because it doesn't run off your battery. You can get an inexpensive power inverter and run a 110v aquarium aerator from your boat, or you can use the 12v models. The 12v models just don't last as long as the 110's.

BTW, set like I said, a medium size medical oxygen bottle will last about 4 months if only used on weekends.

This setup is what most of the tournament guys are using. They also keep their tournament fish in the oxygen so they are alive and hardy at weigh in. I have 3 coolers set up this way. Two are 60qt Cubes with retractable handles and wheels, and the other is a 110qt cooler I got at SAMs Club, and it has a sliding handle and wheels. Put the cooler in the boat or truck and fill with water. I put a floating minnow bucket in my cooler for the minnows so they are easier to catch. :-)