Quote Originally Posted by fastfish View Post
I have a question for those who keep tanks to store minnows. or more generally...what kind water do you use to keep them in.?? I mean..if I bought some at a bait place ,.and transferred them to a larger container with aeration..would I just use tap water?. Does it shock them to put them in river/lake water right straight from the bait place then into a live well? Just wondering how to keep them alive longer. The bait place here is closed on Mondays and that is my best available day to fish. Would they stay alive till Monday if you bought them Saturday and kept them in the live well on a boat?
Water temp shock occurs when putting a minnow into warm water, straight out of a container of cold water. You should always temper the cold transport water with the warmer lake water, slowly over a period of 5mins or so, before putting a minnow bucket over the side of the boat (or into a baitwell).

Storage would work the same way. And no, tap water will kill them pretty quick, unless it's been treated with chlorine removal chemicals or allowed to sit in an open container for 24hrs. They "might" stay alive in a boat's livewell/baitwell, if the water could be maintained at a cool temp & some aeration were available.

I've stored minnows in a oxygen pumped bag, in my refrigerator, for a couple of days. And I've transported several pounds of minnows in a number of those bags, in a cooler in a vehicle ... for a 4hr road trip. I've also transported a bag of several hundred minnows in my boat's livewell, for a 2hr road trip. Once at my destination, I poured the minnows & water from the bag into my floating minnow bucket, then added the warmer lake water a little at a time over several minutes before putting the bucket into the lake water. The warmer lake water has plenty of oxygen, so you just have to take precautions to not "shock" the minnows by transferring them from ice cold water to the warm lake water all at once.

Even if you have baitwells ... you should still temper the water before putting the minnows into it. I've had minnows die almost immediately upon being put on a hook & dropped into the lake, when they were taken directly from the colder transport water. And they'll die almost as fast if you drop them below the thermocline depth level of your lake (IF a thermocline is present).

... cp