Catching spot easy/Livelining them not so much/Keeping live bait live?

[ChpkeBeachBum]

Livelining was a little frustrating last time out. Catching the bait was the easy part, bottom rig, small hooks, bridge support. bang - four usable spot, bunker or white perch in ~15-20 minutes.

Since I have had luck in the past with just a standard 2-gallon bucket, that's what I used, but by the time I was out where the big fish are the bait wasn't so lively. By the time the first one was used up, the rest were pretty much dead.


Differences from last time: Temperature, # of baitfish, and one of the baits had a bug on it's gills that I didn't notice until I was trying to hook it up.


Next time I can catch less bait before going after the big ones. Beside that is there an inexpensive (Furlough fisherman here) way to keep live spot live?

I'm singlehanding a tandem SIK so I'm not afraid of a little extra weight. Bigger bucket? Aerator?


When do the blues get in and make this all moot?

Thanks.

[bignose]

Frabill makes an aerated bait bucket that is available at Bass Pro.
Your low tech alternative is to constantly change the water, or add some ice to your water. In the +90 degree temps last week, the bait is going to be stressed already as soon as you catch them.

The Blues are a bit late this year (which isn't a bad thing for live liners), it may have something to do with the lower salinity levels this year.

We haven't seen them near the BB.

[jet]

i prefer a livewell, but these are sold cheap at tackle stores and walmart.

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[Reelaxin10]

Get a bubble box aerator from wal Mart for around $10 to use in your 5 gallon bucket, it's the best option for the least amount of $

[Memory Maker]

........ did an experiment before because someone told me that spot needed the fresh water more than the aerator ........ he was right ..... the Spot wouldn't last half as long with the aerator as they did with surface water pumped in and they stayed livelier too ........ and I had 1 of those really good aerators too. Spot are delicate and will die if their wastes aren't flushed often. I've also had all of them die during a 10 minute ride from a tackle shop to the boat using an aerator.

The minnow bucket towed with the Yak will get you farther but you can't hold many 5-6" spot in 1 without overcrowding.

[jet]

^+1

[ChpkeBeachBum]

Swap Water often
Fewer Spot Live Much Longer
Dam, here come the Blues.


****

Ok, I manged to keep the spot lively by only keeping two in the bucket at a time, and commuting between where the little and big fish were. Also, the spot seem to stay way livelier with the dorsal fin hook vs nose hook.

Now the hook is comming back with missing or 1/2 of a spot... I guess the blues are in town.

[RavensDfense]

https://www.engel-usa.com/products/l...t-cooler-30qts

This product is reasonable priced and may help you. Doubles as a cooler also.

[Striper_MIKE]

This thing looks awesome. Assuming you have one, how do you like it? What about space on the yak? Can you comfortably fit both this cooler and a milk crate?

https://www.engel-usa.com/products/l...t-cooler-30qts

This product is reasonable priced and may help you. Doubles as a cooler also.

[RavensDfense]

I actually do not have one of these. I think I saw it in Kayak Angler Mag, but I imagine it would work really well. On my Outback, I use a small cooler that sits in front of my milk crate. It looks to be of similar size to the engel cooler. I don't know if it would work on the Revo, but it is worth a shot. Here is a pic of my set up. Very basic, but it works for me. Maybe one of the smaller coolers/livewells would work for the Revo.