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Dec 30th, 2023
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 Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
#10028672
06/01/14 09:19 PM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 668
Bine
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 668 |
How hard can it be? We already have a 55 gallon aquarium with mostly tetras. They do okay.
I've a 10 gallon tank just sitting in the back yard attracting mosquitoes. That should be good for some minnows or feeder goldfish. Toss in some gravel. A hang on the back filter. Keep the water topped up. Feed them when I feed the pet fish.
Maybe shade the tank somehow. Some potted plants next to it? Yeah. It'd look like a "feature". Just can't make pets out of them. I did that with a crawfish. Cool pet, actually.
I just figure it may be easier to have some live bait on hand if I want to take off fishing on a whim.
Anyone do this? Ever have them breed? We've had pet fish breed. You have to take care of them or the other fish will eat them up, yum.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10030096
06/02/14 01:54 PM
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 889
onebaddj
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 889 |
done it several times the same way. best one was a 120 qt cooler with 2 recirculator pumps. the last one was salt water so took a little more work keeping the water right but kept bull minnows and pin fish on hand all summer. gave me a my son something to do also.
MALIBUTEE X-13.
" I wasnt born with enough middle fingers"
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10030295
06/02/14 02:43 PM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 122
And Mye
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 122 |
Just bone up on the new zebra mussel laws before you expend a bunch of effort.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: And Mye]
#10030491
06/02/14 03:26 PM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 17
azboy
Green Horn
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Green Horn
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 17 |
The problem you are going to run into with feeder fish is that about a quarter of them are going to die very quickly, if you ever notice at pet shops, they are always dipping out dead feeders. They are mass produced, and do not last long.
Set the Hook, and go for broke
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: And Mye]
#10031052
06/02/14 05:28 PM
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 14,765
Stump jumper
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 14,765 |
Just bone up on the new zebra mussel laws before you expend a bunch of effort. Yep, I use to catch shad in Grapevine and head to Texoma. I guess those days are over. What happens when all the lakes have ZMs? Do they rescind the law?
2200 Bay Champ/200 Mercury Optimax
2017 Tundra TSS 4x4 Crewmax 5.7L
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10031604
06/02/14 08:13 PM
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 784
mpowell
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 784 |
Years ago my next door neighbor kept his leftover minnows in a bathtub with a screen door over it behind his boat shed in his backyard. This was before fishermen used recirculation pumps. I guess the water was re-oxygenated when it rained.
I was too young to know to ask what the mortality rate was for those minnows.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: mpowell]
#10031748
06/02/14 09:02 PM
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,111
Jamoke
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,111 |
Get a few of those yellow minnow buckets with black inward lids. Tie a rope to them, approx 8-10 feet long and a weight of some sort, hunk of metal, piece of chain. Now this is where it gets tricky. You sink them on a local dock in 20 ft of water, under the dock structure. Tie the rope under the water to the dock and the minnows will stay alive several months at a time. Don't overload the buckets, 20 each max. I have kept fish alive for months at a time, When one dies the others eat it. All the food is there for them, the water typically stays cool enough. The weight is to keep the racooon's from lifting the rope/bucket out of the water. Every once in a while I would replenish as needed. Very little mortality or waste. Something about the cold water makes them live longer.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10032541
06/03/14 01:47 AM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 668
Bine
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 668 |
Hmmm. I'm glad something was said about the ZM rule.
Not that I'm trying to skirt the rules, just thinking here.
It makes sense about not slogging a bait bucket of ZM infested water from one body of water to another, but a receipt for the bait? What says I did or didn't catch the bait from the water I'm on? What says bait bought from Baity McBaitersons was kept in lake water or tap water? Are ZMs in our tap water? The drinking water reservoir, maybe, but in the water from the tap? Why couldn't I buy bait from anywhere and keep it at home, in a tap water tank, to use anywhere else, so long as I didn't dump the original water in the tank? What if there's no bait store by the water I fish? What of it's goldfish from a pet store?
I'm either misunderstanding or this is a whack rule.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10033317
06/03/14 01:44 PM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 122
And Mye
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 122 |
All valid questions. Too bad its too late to pose them. I'm going to pm you a contact to ask @TPWD.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10033364
06/03/14 02:00 PM
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 481
JRR
Angler
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Angler
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 481 |
With the cost of minnows I keep them at home in horse water trough and I will use them in the lakes, if a game warden wants to ticket me so be it, we will take it before the JP. So I guess the zebra mussel rules will allow/cause Game Wardens to just pull over boats at random headed down the road. Also, supposed to drain water out of boat and wash it down, my john boat holds water in the grooves in floor from rain and washing which I guess makes the boat illegal going down the road.....also the live well in center seat has a raised lip on the drain which makes completely draining it impossible, again, which makes it illegal.....
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10033728
06/03/14 04:15 PM
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 28,105
Uncle Zeek
aka "Mom"
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aka "Mom"
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 28,105 |
"Live fish, including personally caught live bait, cannot be transported in a vessel in water that comes from the water body where they were caught."
If I were going to the trouble of raising my own bait minnows, I'd include a tank (bathtub, aquarium, etc) that only had treated water in it. Then the bait has not come from a 'water body', but from a controlled storage tank.
But thats too much trouble for me, I'll stick to my castnet ... taco throws and all.
"Decency is not news; it is buried in the obituaries --but it is a force stronger than crime" ~ Robert A. Heinlein
Artim Law Firm, PLLC
Estate planning & tax attorney AND 07/02 FFL
2250 Morriss Road, Suite 205, Flower Mound, Texas 75028
972-746-0758 mobile
zac@artimlegal.com
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10034762
06/03/14 10:06 PM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 668
Bine
OP
Pro Angler
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OP
Pro Angler
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 668 |
That's what I'm thinking. If they came from a treated water source (potable water) which was not added to with water from a creek, a lake or the like, then it shouldn't be a violation.
The receipt thing sounds tricky. If I bought feeder fish at a pet store, they were probably kept in water that started out as potable and never lived in untreated water during their lives. Maybe I'll just keep the pet store receipt. But what if I keep a stock of feeder fish for a week, month or more? How long is the receipt good for? And if it's bait store minnows, how do I or the state know if they were kept in treated of untreated water? How would the state know if I caught them in the water I'm in or not?
Again, to be clear, I'm not looking to skirt the rules or make a mockery of them. I just want clarity. I think a call and email to the state is in order. If nothing else, it's good to know.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10036208
06/04/14 12:48 PM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,187
Lil joe
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,187 |
When I was a kid, we had a water trough such as you would buy at tractor supply for livestock. Can't tell you the exact size but it was an oval one about 3 or 3 1/2 feet tall and about 5 feet long if I remember right. We had one of those spinning aerators that hangs down in the water like they have in the large holding tanks at many baits shops that keep very large quantities on hand. We would buy 10 lbs of minnows at a time and they would live about 2 months
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10037284
06/04/14 06:57 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 585
rexmitchell
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 585 |
That's what I'm thinking. If they came from a treated water source (potable water) which was not added to with water from a creek, a lake or the like, then it shouldn't be a violation.
The receipt thing sounds tricky. If I bought feeder fish at a pet store, they were probably kept in water that started out as potable and never lived in untreated water during their lives. Maybe I'll just keep the pet store receipt. But what if I keep a stock of feeder fish for a week, month or more? How long is the receipt good for? And if it's bait store minnows, how do I or the state know if they were kept in treated of untreated water? How would the state know if I caught them in the water I'm in or not?
Again, to be clear, I'm not looking to skirt the rules or make a mockery of them. I just want clarity. I think a call and email to the state is in order. If nothing else, it's good to know. The only way you are going to get tagged for the receipt thing is if the warden is at the boat ramp, Once you are on the water, how will they prove any of it. Treated water has nothing to do with it, its water that was taken from a zebra mussel infested lake. Other than a bait shop right on the water, I think the likely hood of that happening is slim.
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Re: Keeping Bait Fish and Minnows at Home
[Re: Bine]
#10038402
06/05/14 02:03 AM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 691
basseditor
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 691 |
Maybe get a bait dealer license? I didn't look up the cost, but then you write your own receipt?
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