Best Cut Bait

[Tarpon4me]

Ahhhh, the dreaded bait dying off problem. I use to have that very problem, until I learned how to cator to the needs of each specific species I was carrying along for the ride. Menhaden and Greenbacks probably the most difficult to keep alive. If you've got either one of those guys in a bucket and an aerator, that's not going to cut it. They need constant fresh water and soft, rounded corners. when their nose starts turning pink, you can forget about it, they've got about an hour or so to live and they are cut bait. Shrimp, mullet, and mud minnows will stay alive all day in a bucket, granted you dip out some of the old water and fill up with some fresh every now and then. I tell you the ticket for those guys, a flow troll bucket. Those work killer. I've got a nice set up on my center console. It will keep the Pogeys alive all day. I don't have a fresh water system on my boat, but the live well is huge, and has long sweeping, rounded corners. I just dip out some of the old water every now and then, and bucket back in some fresh. Another trick is to toss some ice cubes in with them. Those ice cubes will do two things,
1. slow the fishes metabolic rate, hints the fish slows down and needs less oxygen
2. as they melt, releases more oxygen into the water.

The thing about that is, you can't get crazy with the ice cubes or you'll cool the water down too fast and get too much fresh water in the salt water and the fish will go into shock and die. So use caution when using that method. But when done properly, it can help add 2 or 3 hours of life to fragile baitfish.[cool]
[signature]