Just curious on how many of you use oxygen in your bait tanks. A lot of guys use oxygen in saltwater applications for croaker, and various baitfish. The oxygen really makes the saltwater baitfish come alive. What are the opinions on freshwater.

It is not really oxygen just an aerator with a porous stone to diffuse the air. I fish the coast quite a bit and the real bait killer is heat I use an insulated 5 gallon bucket with a small aerator that is powered by 2 D cell batteries. Now I have seen better set-ups but I usually only buy a pint of shrimp and a dozen perch or croaker, and will stay alive for over 8 hours in the middle of the summer. The stronger your diffusion or water jet is the longer they will stay alive as long as the water remains cool , if it is really hot I put ice in there everyone in a while. Also the reason most boat live wells do no work well is because they do not shoot he water into the live well to created oxygenation bubbles, they are simply just recycling the water that usually looses oxygen during the cycling process. Lastly, like black bass fisherman the big dogs on the coast frown on people who use live bait, I say screw them...

Oh yes to answer your question yes it does work, you can get a cheap set (or buy the parts to make one using your own 5 gal bucket) up at Academy for 10.00 or so and you will be amazed. Also if you get one do not leave the batteries in the aerator they will rust really fast.

I know what you are talking about but what I am reffering to is putting compressed (o2 tank) oxygen in a baitwell via an airstone and reguator. The bait well I have is a fresh water resurculation system but wanted to ad a boost to the bait. Oh yea the heat is a killer.

Too dangerous for me. Most saltwater guides I've
been with use O2 in their baitwell and don't use
a bait tank designed for that specific purpose.
Cutting corners with live bait is not the way to
go in my opinion. Use a quality tank like Grayline,
Sunshine, Super 2, etc. Don't overload your tank
with bait and keep your water cool. Sure O2 will
supercharge baits. May do the same to you tho. My
2 cents....

David
www.davesguideservice.net

My fishing partner, (my father in-law), and I purchased our boat, a 22' Bluewave, down on the coast in Port A. It was rigged by the previous owner with an oxygen system running to all the livewells but three years later, the O2 bottle still has the same amount in it as it did when we bought it. We run a Grayline tank and although I keep putting running an O2 line into it on my list of chores, it keeps the shad alive just fine without it following the advice I have received from Roger at Grayline and the fishing gurus on this site.

Wow guys I did learn a great deal today, however, I agree with David that is a bit too dangerous for me. I kind of like the Babe Ruth approcah at fishing instead of the Bonds steroid juiced one... I have been fishing Port A for over 20 years and have rarely come home without any fish. As a matter of fact I am going to go gig me some flounder next week...

Check out Tony Hughe's posts on the SOG board. He
has a LOT more experience with live than I. Maybe,
he will chime in....

David
www.davesguideservice.net

I run oxygen in my tank certain times of the year. July, August, September. I use a L.P.M. regulator and diffuser. In the heat of the summer the heat will force the oxygen out of the water, add salt (stock or rock salt) and oxygen and they stay frisky longer. Plus aerators will actually put off heat from the motors and add to the oxygen depletion process. Been doing it for years now with out a mishap, Oh, no smoking while dipping bait. You can add ice to bring your temp down to retain oxygen but it has chlorine in it, be sure and add 1 drop of hydrogen peroxide per 5 gallons of water to get rid of the chlorine when adding ice. I use to freeze plastic water bottles and just add them through out the day but that is too much of a pain. I did build a 250 gallon aerated filtered tank at my lake lot and can keep shad alive literally till they starve to death. Use them up before that. Makes it nice to get up before a trip and walk outside and dip out a few dozen and hit the water instead of having to throw the net every morning.

I have used it over the years but am a little skittish now. I always tried to keep it away from the oily parts of the boat, etc. If it somehow accumulates around the gasolene it would be bad. I have cascaded it down from big to small bottles in the past which I won't do any more. A couple of times I have walked to the end of the Port A Jetty with a tank in a backpack. It is too extreme but sure makes the bait lively. In retrospect I think I will not use it anymore what with grandkids and loved ones...too much potential for accident.

I have been reading a lot lately on using oxygen. Could you just purchase a small tank of oxygen and let it seep out through the line and stone of an aerator? I don't smoke, so I am really not concerned with having an oxygen bottle aboard. When I used to scuba dive, we carried a small bottle in case someone got bent. However, we would breathe a little from time to time just to kinda clear out the nitrogen in our systems a little. Of course we did this in the boat on the surface since O2 is poisonous if you breathe it pure below around 15ft.

I have used O2, but for shad all you really need is a good ammonia outgas for lively bait - the newer keep alive type aerators will outgas ammonia at a faster rate than crowde shad can put it in AMMONIA and HEAT are the two biggest problems in bait keeping. Only time I will use O2 is for skipjack herring when we fish up in Tennessee even at that I am real careful with it since a good friend of mine lit a blowtorch in his boat - even after he threw the whole shebang overboard it continued to burn underwater - once ignited the plastic line and oxygen will burn unless you have a halon type extinguisher or can stop the O2 supply. Three ingredients you need for shad, outgas ammonia rapidly (a good aerator), Filtered water recirculation, water not above 75 degrees, salt at 1 cup /20 gallons( will harden soft baits)and just a pinch of coffee creamer to the waters surface occasionally to knock down foam( again a foamy water surface does not let ammonia escape)You can go out and purchase all kinds of over hyped marketing **** and still not have good bait. All the claimes by the marketeers about how their devices put 80% oxygen into the water are a lot of hooey,water normally only carries so much oxygen at a given temperature, cooler water can retain more oxygen than warmer water, you can supersaturate water by the addition of bottled O2,(there is no other gimmick which will do this) and you do need a regulator to do so BUT you can also burn bait with a supersaturated tank and kill em just as dead. For fishing with gizzards and threadfin why bother, you are making bait keeping too complicated - it's not rocket science regardless of what the marketing bunch would have you believe - Been keeping bait for 30 years - and I will put in a plug for Grayline or Sunshine tanks here - they get the job done.

Wow, think I will stay away from the O2, tks for the information.