That Time of the Year Again........Live Bait

I can always tell when it's time to bring some live bait with me Crappie fishing. As the water heats up and competition between thicket Crappie wanes I like to transition to larger live bait offerings for bigger Crappie. Not liking trolling and not a huge fan of casting (I will do it at least) what I do find relaxing is watching a float. That slow descend into the depths then triggers a flip of the pole tip to sink the hook into a fish. The next part is feeling the weight afterwards also the type of fight, when you know it's a Ketchn Potato Chip Crusting Crappie.

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When it's time to shutdown my live bait tank for the season I always clean the filter media of both the Koi filter and the water return bucket pictured here. The 2gal bucket has permanent air conditioner filter media cut and stacked inside and holes drilled in the bottom so the returning water gets filtered again before falling into the tank. I clean out the tank itself well too but no detergents are used. After everything is dry the equipment is stored till the beginning of summer.

The best filter I have found for refilling the tank that really works is the Boogie-Blue Plus filter. Amazon sells as well as others.

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This is the filter system I use. I have used this for 10 years now, just wash, rinse, repeat year after year. Once you buy one that's it.

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BioSmart 5000 | Atlantic-Oase

After mixing the filtered water with Finer-Shiner the system is allowed to run for a few days before adding the live minnows to be sure no chlorine is still in solution.

This year I'm looking at buying Flathead minnows from Anderson Farms, the same farm we wrote about in the Hatchery to Hook article in Crappie Now magazine. Once I receive the minnows I will follow up on this thread.

Good stuff!

It looks like this is happening, the writer wants to be here when the minnows come off the FedEx Truck so I'm sure a outdoor article will follow.

So taking one of our members to post to heart and having a need for a charge of live bait for my tank I decided to order 4 pounds of medium Fathead minnows. I normally buy Golden Shiners but decided to try Fatheads again because I can get silver colored ones from I. F. Anderson Minnow Farms Shop - Anderson Minnows

They ship your orders on Mondays & Thursdays for Overnight Delivery. On their website is requirements for a great head start point in Minnow care long term. We are going to do a article on how the Minnows arrive, unpacking them, acclimating them to my tank, water treatment practices, water filtering, aeration, feeding, transporting, and fishing techniques. More on the way.

Besides in the house I wish I had a place that would stay cool enough to keep minnows.
I bought a 2 pack of inline filters before selling my camper. I'm set up for tent camping for a while.
walmart had 2 pack on clearance for $8, I got another one. Ask son if he wanted the other 2, nope.

The bucket filter is easy to make. Break up lump charcoal in small pieces, not dust and pillow stuffing. Fill the bucket about half full of charcoal and top off with stuffing. Lots of 1/4" holes in the bottom. No metal in the water, copper and brass are the worse.

I had a large filter mounted on my 55 gallon minnow barrel. I added PVC house siding so water would return to the barrel since the filter is made for flat surface.
Aqua-Tech Ultra Quiet Power Filter for Aquariums 30-60 Gallons - Walmart.com

I cut a 2 liter drink bottle almost in half. Lot of 1/4" holes drilled around it. Filled with pillow stuffing and a fountain pump in the middle, taped back together. The hose went to a fridge with a homemade coil and returned to barrel to cool the water. Couldn't store drinks in fridge after that, too warm, not cold. I moved the coil to the freezer section, melted everything in the freezer. I couldn't keep water below 70 degrees on 80 degree days. The barrel was sitting on a raised covered back porch/deck outdoors, house facing north.
110 GPH Submersible Fountain Pump

The Minnows arrived today on schedule and in fantastic condition.

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Anderson Minnow Farms shipped my order of 4 pounds of Minnows in a heavy duty insulated box Overnight Priority FedEx.

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I unloaded the bag of Minnows and placed the entire bag into my tank so the Minnows could acclimate to the temperature completely before cutting the bag open releasing the minnows.

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I used a digital instant read thermometer to check the water temperature of my tank to get a idea of how long to wait before releasing them. Since we were about 15 degrees cooler in the tank we waited 40 minutes or so for the water packed with the minnows to cool down. They are packed in oxygen so you don't want to cut the bag open too early. Cooler or warmer water can shock your minnows killing them. Be patient, give them plenty of time to acclimate.

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Here is a picture of the Minnow bag just floating around.

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A few minnows died in transit and handling. I started scooping minnows out that was upside down, weak looking ones, and ones I thought were totally dead but when I looked in the net minnows were flipping around so I put most of them back in the tank. Well they recovered. These in the net I just removed are dead as you do not want to leave dead minnows in you minnow bucket or tank, very bad for the live ones.

More to come.

I went to Hernando, MS Saturday, made my way to Brown's hardware. I searched for plastic hose bibbs, only found brass and PVC. They were $3 last time bought. Only hardware store that carried them in my area. I searched ebay and amazon at home, plastic hose bibbs are higher than Brown's brass bibbs with free shipping.
PVC glue might be ok with running water. What about with stored water. I can smell/taste the glue on new PVC service or repairs.
Use aquarium grade silicon for sealing.

What kind of prices were you getting by the pound when you bought them locally?

I hear there's a fish farm near Grenada, MS, haven't checked it out.
Saul's fish farm is nearest to me in AR. A good day trip for a few pounds at a good price.
Think I got 5 lbs of #4 shiners for $20 about 8 years ago when I was setting my barrel up.
Harry Saul Minnow Farm - forage fish minnows, grow trophy bass, fathead minnows

This may help you scout.
fish farms in AL - Search

I like using our local hatchery if possible but wanted to try a order from Andersonminnows.com as a test and for media material. As of today I'm removing 2 deads a day. The Fatheads are tougher than Shiners. To address the question above I was paying $13 a pound for #4's, $15 a pound for #6's. Now I'm paying close to $20 a pound for #4's and more for 6's. The 6's I get at out hatchery are larger than the 6's from Anderson Minnows. Different screens I guess. Where I use minnows the water is very clear so the Fatheads are very close to the actual jig I use, closer than a Shiner.

Hardin's fish farm is south of Calhoun City, MS. Next time at Grenada or close I get a few pounds to use. I'm seeing a few pickle barrels on marketplace, about half of a 55 gallon barrel. They have removable lids. Should be good for a few days camp and fish trip.

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Originally Posted by canebreaker

Hardin's fish farm is south of Calhoun City, MS. Next time at Grenada or close I get a few pounds to use. I'm seeing a few pickle barrels on marketplace, about half of a 55 gallon barrel. They have removable lids. Should be good for a few days camp and fish trip.

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I use to use crushed oyster shells from the feed store in a container with a overflow installed as a filter medium. It worked very well. I had the smallest pond pump Lowes sold down in the bottom of my tank circulating the water up to the container with the crushed shells allowing the water to return by falling from above into the tank with some splash. The falling water allowed ammonia to evaporate into the air helping to remove it from the water. A bacteria grows on the shells that consumes the ammonia & nitrogen added to the water by the shiners. I went to the Koi Filter but my water quality really didn't improve over the oyster shell filter system.

That said you have to expect die off unless you use a ammonia treatment or partial water changes until the bacteria has time enough to grow. Usually 2-3 weeks for a good colony big enough to clean the water.

I worked at a restaurant about 1990 and got lots of oyster shells. At home we would crush and boil them before use. Hard and extra work but free.
Bacteria is in them for a saltwater tank, the bacteria and salt needs boiled out for a freshwater tank.

I noticed the water starting to get cloudy from the nitrites discharged from the minnows. I'm feeding them a palm full of floating catfish food every other day now. The partial water change was forced because I used a old open bottle of algecide in the tank. My bad. I use to be able to buy a Barley based one that stayed in the fridge but it's not available locally now. I'm going to see what Tractor Supply carries for Fish Pond care today.

If your holding tank water starts to become cloudy get right on treating it as the cloudy water has toxins to your baitfish. A 1/3 water change at a time done over several days will tune up your baitfish as you get the nitrites under control.

Regular feedings help the baitfish grow, by buying small baitfish in the spring and feeding thru summer your baitfish grow along with the natural baitfish supply in the wild.

I did another water change today and the tank is looking very good. We should be working on the video on how to tease Crappie with shiners soon.

I have 6 55 gallon barrels, 5 are set up as rain barrels, 1 is set up as bait tank without filter or pumps. Each has a 3/4" tapped hole at the bottom for drainage. $10 each, I'm in Horn Lake, MS.
The 5 rain barrels can be ganged together for a total of 275 gallons collected. PVC connections included
Will need plastic hose bibbs for bait tank.
I don't have space to set up a bait tank in a cool area.