Another problem eliminated...

lol, I hope :wink: Seems that minnows don't like spending the night in a small minnow bucket, so much in fact that they croak. I was considering getting a 5-gallon type with the aerator & battery pack. Well, I talked to a buddy the other day who had one that ran off a 9v battery & said it'd kill the battery in no time.

I had this little pump already, it's 12v, and never really used it much. It was too much for a small minnow bucket, and not deep enough for a 5-gallon bucket. It came with an upright pipe that was capped & shot 4 streams of water back downward. This upright pipe wasn't even glued-in from the factory, so it made it that much easier. I didn't even glue any of this together. I took an old 48 quart) cooler, went to Lowes today & got 4' of 1/2" PVC pipe, a 90* ell, a cap, and 2-1/2" mini-clamps for a total of $2.50 & ended-up with something I hope will help the minnows last longer, as well as live-bait for catfishing.

ST

Nice work, ST! 8)

Will the cooler lid close w/o damaging the pump cord? Just a thought :wink:

That will work great - just remember to keep everything as cool as possible. I take left over water bottles, freeze a bunch of them and then fill a cooler - I drop one or two in as needed and teh bait stay nice and fresh all day (and night)

Nice job and great advice by Ahab. Really does work well.

Nice job there Mr. slimetime

I am in the process of planning one, about 20 gallons for crappie minnows/mud minnows/live shrimp/shad/bream. A 20 gallon will hold about 4 dozen shad, but it will also be be ample to use for a 5 bass limit livewell. I am not sure about the kind of bait that you use, but with the shad,the tank needs to have rounded edges, or the bait will get into the corner, and not know to turn around, so it keeps slamming into the corner, turning its nose red. Stripers don't eat Rudolph the red nosed shad. If you find red nosed bait, you may want to put a little rounded edge on each of the corners, with something.

Nice work.

Sweet set up.Wish I could think up things like that.I have no imagination.

Thanks guys! I've seen these available to buy, basically the same set-up as this, that's where I got the idea, or perhaps you can buy the "guts" to install into your own cooler, but either way I can't claim credit for the idea .

WW-The cord was a concern initially, I'd considered notching the top of the cooler, but the lid doesn't fit that tight, so it'll be fine :wink:

Also, this isn't something to keep bait alive in for any extended period of time, just minnows for a days crappie fishing, or I can go to a local pond, catch some small 'gills, and use them that night for catfishing. My & Stumpknockers trip this week didn't provide us with any live bait before dark #-o ....next time I'll take it with me :wink:

I used to have a larger tank (250 gal) I'd kept in the barn for maintaining 'gills for longer periods

ST

nice setup! =D>