Im not making fun. But yes they all concluded the best way is to buy a tank already de kinked. Bye!

Looking good guys!

Dude, THAT is flippin impressive.

Both the links were of the water before, but CLICK HERE to view the after video.

I'm glad you get the concept of the project, I like building stuff like this. Is not even about saving the $$, its the fun I have doing it.

OK, came up with a basic design idea, mostly based off of Saltydawgs canister filter. I think I will modify it slightly and use flexible tubing secured to the wall to avoid the pickup obstructing the net. It will draw from the bottom through a bazooka screen and run water through the filters and to the spray bar, again mounted to the wall of the cooler. This will have a spray nozzle to help aerate and provide current through the flow regulation valve. Thoughts from the panel?

how will you obtain flow? Looks loke the return is out of the water,I suppose you could angle it to create a flow.

Carson, maybe you should have bought that Grayline tank at the auction instead of the cooker...just sayin..

I fail at building the perfect bait tank and shad die VS. I fail at building a deep-fryer and burn my house down.

Its a game of lesser of two evils, really.

Speaking of which, I need to talk to you about insurance...

Bingo. If the angle of the dangle meets the fall of the ball, we should achieve flow.

I converted a 20 gallon circular and insulated drink cooler into a bait tank. I tried using one of those floating aerators and filters, and it worked okay. I could keep shad alive for about an hour, but their scales would clog up the small sponge filter in the design. Would probably work great for bluegill or minnows, but there is a weakness in the design for keeping shad alive.

Anyway, I have tried to modify the recirculation by routing the water through a 2 liter bottle filled with some filtration material and activated carbon, and then to the pump and then out to the water. My thought is that I just need more surface area to filter those scales out, as it seemed that the scales were the major problem. They will literally clog up the sponge filter in about 40 minutes, so this might work.

Anxious to see if the pump is strong enough to bring the water through the filtering material. If so, it is a free modification and requires only simple tools. I used a one inch hole saw, a file, and some scissors. Only money required is for filtration material. I am going to Petsmart to get some stuff. If it works, I will chime back in.

I am proud to say we kept our shad alive today for four hours, and since we weren't catching any fish, we really put our bait tank to the test. Things we learned.

1) North winds just blow
2) Use a holding tank for your shad when they first come out of the cast net. They tend to have a panic attack and shed a bunch of scales initially. After they have calmed down, move them to the bait tank.
3) Use uniodized salt. I used one cup for 20 gallons. It made all of the difference in the world.
4) You can keep shad alive with a DIY bait tank. It is all about getting oxygen in there, keeping the water cool (ice does the trick in an insulated tank), and put some salt in there. It makes them wiggly.

Unfortunatly, with all of those wiggly shad, we only put one hybrid in the boat. Last week we hammered them on dead shad because we couldn't keep them alive. Go figure.

Great feedback! When I was out with Bombay, he puts them in a bucket first to shed the majority of their scales. Glad to hear your bait tank is working! Im looking forward to getting home from vacation and getting back to work on mine!