what water is best??? use the lake water or some out of the tap or does it matter??

Lake water for shad, tap will kill them. It's tough to keep them alive this time of year with the water temp being high, but it's also a chore to keep them a live, period.

get them in lake water asap and areator for oxygen. hard to keep alive. there are ways. my uncle just 2 weeks back kept some alive for 3 days after netting them from his dock.

make you a bait tank. 35 gallons will usually keep 25 to 30 alive most of the day if it is cool and you keep water changed and aerated.

add one cup of sea salt to 15 gallons of water. Keep em in the shade, aerated and filtered, they will stay alive for a long time.

I use a round plastic trash can about 35 gal.I rigged a bilge pump up with hose and I drop it over the side and use it to fill my can with the amont of water I need.Then I use it to circulate the and airiate the water.
you will need to build a small cage to put around the pump or it will suck the shad to it and then there history.

After all that you will need some treatment to remove chlorine from the water,as I like to ice the water to keep it cool and keeps the shad alive alot longer than without.The ice of course has chlorine in it and will kill the shad just like tap water.
And the sea salt mentioned in the previous post is also a very good additive.

Go to Home Depot, get a 40 lb bag of Diamond Christal water softening salt (blue bag) by the contractor's exit, it cost $5.17 tax and all, put in 1 1/2 cups for 10 gallons of water, if you want to use tap water, go to Wal-Mart and get some start right or pond starter out of the fish department, this way your water will start out a lot cooler than the lake water, also put some of the 2 liter soda bottles filled with water in your freezer when the water gets warm put a bottle of ice in it, if your water starts getting too dirty, you'll have to change it!!!

I've got a tips section article about this stuff on my web site ... just click the banner below and then click on catfishing tips and scroll down to aerator and aerator II and it explains it all there.