For any catman or woman that fishes on a very regular basis, keeping bait on hand and lively can be a very valuable tool.

Just think, instead of having to worry about catching bait before every fishing trip, you can simply go out to your garage, net out what you need and leave the rest for the next trip. You spend more time catching cats and less time on bait.

This is the bait tank I keep in my garage and I can keep bait alive for months. I can even get them to feed after awhile. I actually kept  three bluegill in the garage (its heated) all winter.

First you need is a suitable tank. I found only after I made mine that light blue and aqua colors are less stressful on fish. So I guess this color works just fine. I have a 26gal. rubbermaid type storage container.

This is the front view of the bait tank.

Keeping your bait as lively as possible is crucial for catfishing, so keeping them healthy is very important.

Keepin oxygen plentiful in the water is one of the most important things to do to keep your bait in tip top shape. I run two seperate home aquarium aerators into air stones in the bottome of the tank. I mounted both to the wall to keep them out of the way, and run them off of a surge protector, I also mounted. These two put out plenty of oxygen, and my bait is always very active.

This is one aerator with the surge protector

Here is the second, also mounted.

Keeping live fish for any amount of time can cause a high ammonia build up in the water. Baitfish do not tolerate this very well, and will eventually kill them. Ive rigged up a Whisper Power 20gal. water filter on the back side of the tank. This keep the water fresh, and the bait alive for long periods of time. It also provides extra oxygen when it pours the water back into the tank in a waterfall fashion. All the better for the fish. As you can see by the top photo the water stays active and healthy.

This is the top view.

The tank is empty so Im not currently running the filter.

This is the new bait tank I put in this spring, alot bigger than my previous tank, but I still run it along the same techniques as the smaller one, but with a bigger filter system.

Its ready to be filled for the spring/summer trips

Top View

A few final tips for building your bait tank.

After setting up your tank and filling it, leave the water sit and circulate through your filter for a day. Leave the aerators running. This will rid the water of alot of additives that city water is treated with. Especially chlorine. Its much less stressful on the fish.

Second, do not overcrowd your tank.  Mine can handle up to about 2 1/2 dozen 4-6 inch fish at a time.

Third, if you use alot of creek chubs, warmouth, pumpinseeds or shiners you should have a screen or some other kind of cover for your tank. Many times Ive gone out into the garage in the morning to find all my warmouth laying on the floor dead. Them bad boys like to jump.

My hopes is that this article will help anyone wanting to spend more time on the river and less time catching the bait.

Best of Luck!!