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Posts: 334
Location: Madison, WI | muskie! nut - 10/6/2012 9:25 PM
EsoxAddiction - 10/6/2012 9:04 PM
Last year while we were up north we had a hard time locating suckers at first, so of course we wanted the ones we had to survive. We found that leaving suckers in the bucket with the aerator on was not enough, eventhough it was plenty cold something about the water (which was from the bait shop) was killing them. We filled the bucket/rubber maid tub up with lake water and put the aerator in and they stayed alive for the rest of the time. Even suckers that were on quick strike rigs that did not get hit were able to survive. Which was not the case while using bait shop water. After returning home and seeing such a drastic difference i now use nothing but river water in my bait tank and hardly ever have any floaters regardless of whether or not its crappie minnows, fat heads or suckers. They all seem to last longer.
The water used by by bait shops are usually from wells and the water is "sterile" as far as nutrients in the water goes. That's probably why they didn't last in bait water. One thing you have to remember that transporting live bait in water other than water from the bait shop is illegal. Once you add lake water and you leave that lake you must remove that water before you leave to prevent spreading invasive.
Correct, I should have pointed out that rule. For us though, at that point in our trip we didnt leave that lake so that wouldnt have been an issue. Good point though, I didnt think of that before I posted my story. I would hate for someone to get ticket. |
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| Simple buy the largest tote you can find, fill with water from bait shop and grab Aerator and stone from petco. Put in garage with aerator on 24/7. Kept suckers alive for days on end. Need more water grab more from bait shop on way home from work. Works with 18-22 inchers. |
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| Make sure to grab water straight from the sucker tanks. I always grab an extra tote of water. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Deeply Hooked - 10/6/2012 8:41 PM
Whats with it needing to be dark?
when kept "in the dark" the suckers settle down completely and don't stress at all and i think this is key to "keeping" them. i won't argue the water piece but will offer a counter that i keep 20+ suckers seasonally and just re-fresh water every 3 days (about a third of my tank) from my hose and have never lost a sucker. dark, cold and air work for us and have been doing this for many years now. i'd suggest it may have more to do with what "was" in your container prior to putting fish in them. if you put them in something that you clean with a chemical that might be why you are having difficulty. |
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Posts: 128
| Yep agree on all counts.
But in our case that I mentioned in my first post to this, we only refreshed water every couple weeks, and changed most of it every month or two |
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Posts: 217
Location: ladysmith, wi | adding a tablespoon of salt helps them keep there slime coat and fill plastic soda bottles that have about 1'' of soda in them with water, freeze and put in cooler with the cap of the bottle slightly cracked open, the carbonation from the soda i believe creates oxigen releasing it in the water in the cooler |
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Posts: 153
| A five gallon bucket with an aerator is more than enough. I keep suckers alive for a week or more I leave the bucket in an unheated garage and they are good to go. |
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