I've decided I can't always depend on lures, especially taking some of the lesser experienced fisher people fishing this fall so decided it's time to set up the bait tank for shad. I don't have a Sunshine or Grayline tank so my 30 gallon in my center console will have to do for now. The aerator is shot so will be buying one of those 300 GPH FishSave Aerators @ Academy. The following is what I've heard & welcome any opinions.

1) I've heard it's best to use clean cool tap water & de-chlorinate.
2) Add 1 cup of salt to every gallon of water. What kind of salt is the best for this?
3) Use Shad Saver as directed on the bottle to reduce or eliminate the foam.
4) Keep the filter on the aerator cleaned (shad slime & scales)
5) During the warmer months keep the water cool w/ frozen bottles of water.

Is there anything I'm missing, got wrong or just some tricks of the trade? Posted under the Striper section because you are the guys that know. Thanks.

Those are all good. CoffeeMate Original powdered creamer will help keep the foam off if you're on the water for a while without changing the quality of your tank water.

Also, if your tank has any corners you should put something inside to eliminate them so it's cirucular. Shad will get stuck in corners and die.

I think it might be 1 cup of salt per 10 gallon of water. That is about what I use. I will let some of the guys chime in on this. You can go to sunshines bait tank web page and will tell all. Also put the shad in a 5 gallon bucket of water and heavy salt. Now that is going to be around a cup per gallon for just a minute and then transfer them into the bait tank. It will keep the bait tank cleaner. Steve

You might check out Tiny's tips, under aerator I believe.
http://www.catfishing.tv/Main/tips-section/TipsSection.html
Also here's some tips from an old post.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...rue#Post2207034

Good luck.
I don't know why the second links not working but you could do a search on hydrogen peroxide and find the page.

I think this is a bit much. In my saltwater reef tank, I mix 1/2 a cup for every gallon. Gives me appox 1.022 ppm of salt with a quick test of a refractometer.

1 cup of table salt per 10 gallons seems more reasonable.

Good luck!

Go to Sunshine web site and he will tell you everything you need to know.When I use the Shad Saver ,that is all I use .It has all the ingedients you need.

1 cup of salt for every 10 gallons of water should be your ratio.

The regular cheap non-idoized salt at the grocery store will do. Water softener salt will do. As long as it is pure - no additives.

Other tips:
Handle the shad with a small net once they are in your tank.
Only go in the tank for as many shad you need. Don't scoop up 50 of them if you only need one.

In short - don't try to get them more excited than they already are, causing them to knock off more scales, etc. making your filter dirty and shad unhealthy. The shad alive and cool water will help this.

Yep, you guys are right about 1 cup of salt per 10 gallons of water. Might have to try that water softener salt from Lowes! I appreciate all the info.

You can go to sam's and get a 25lb of salt for about 4 bucks.

50lb bags of Stock Salt at any feed store is about $4.00
I use 32 oz. for my 30 gallon tank. Used that ratio for years.

Powdered coffee creamer mixed with water and spray on surface if it starts to foam. A little creamer will go a long way. This lets the air/water mix better and lets ammonia escape easier.

I use a tablespoon of better bait powder to keep the slime coat on and it also takes out any chlorine and calms the baits a bit. Although I only use lake water.

Using lake water, I never had to add frozen water bottles this year. Even using 85 degree surface, lake water. Usually ran with 220 baits in the 30 gallon tank. Can't remember when I had a bait die last.

Gotta have a great filter system to keep the scales out of the main body of water. Baits will ingest them and die. Clean it often.

I'm using a spray bar now but the Sunshine air systems are great and hard to beat. Either will work. I own both types.

Don't handle baits with contaminated hands (sunblock)

Catch a few at a time in your dip net. Keeps scales on them longer.

Dump fresh baits into a big bucket or ice chest when you first catch them. This lets you transfer only the choicest baits to your tank. Leaves out the trash and lets them loose some initial scales in the bucket, not your tank. Also lets you toss back any less than healthy baits.

Baits with red noses is a sign of stress. Something is wrong, lack of salt is quickest way to give them red noses. After 4-5 hours in the summer heat, stressed baits will lose their green/tan color on their back and turn dark even black colored. This is a sign of stressed baits also. Even if they seem to be okay and swim just fine, I promise you, Stripers don't want them if there is any fresher baits in the area. Sometimes they don't want black backs under any circumstance.

Throw back Gizzards unless you carry fewer baits. Gizzards are messier than Threads and you can hold fewer baits with Gizzards mixed in.

Winter is coming and baits don't live long in temps less than 40 degrees. Not much you can do about that, except go back to Sassy Shads.

JSIG, I built a bait tank per tinys instructions. I used a cooler and 360GPH pump from academy. It works great i also use the salt from home depot or lows.

great info

Appreciate the info guys! Now all I need to do is get lucky & net some of those stinky shad!

I use 3 cups stock salt per 50 gal., add 3 cap fulls of stress coat, an hour after catching bait add a couple cap fulls of ammonia killer and clean bait tank filter. These amounts are for a 50 gal tank so adjust accordingly to your size tank. I use a large cooler to initially dump bait into. Pick out the size bait you want. Use same ratio of salt(or a little more) in cooler. One cup/ gal is way too much. Let them swim in cooler for a few minutes to poop, shower, and shave. For foam, creamer will work but foam-off is much cleaner. Creamer will leave water murky. Filtration and airation with rounded corners are the biggest factors.

one tip that helped me out was using the "shad saver" and when you first net your fish drop them in a big bucket of lake water and let them rest for a few minutes as they will throw up and or emitt some acidic gunt...which can and will lessen their lives and then put them in the live well, scoop them out with a small net...just doing that and the shad saver and putting in one of those large plastic frozen blocks, really has helped them stay alive...good luck and tight lines!