Banking minnows

[Ricky Spanish]

Need to clean out my "pond" and stock it up with a lot of minnows.
Why? If I buy minnows they come ice cold and I fish in a heated lake. Mortality is pretty instant.
Have found that if I put minnows in my "tank" they get hardened.
Anybody else?

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Need to clean all the leaves and crap out.

[Deltaman]

Nice having a ready supply of bait

[Ricky Spanish]

Nice having a ready supply of bait

It started with just dumping survivors in.
Eventually I had enough to dip in and take em fishing.
None died unless I'd hooked em.

If I buy bait at the lake half dies the minute I put the bucket in the lake water. Other guys that use the cooling lake have all sorts of tricks to keep their bait alive.
Usually it's pretty much like fishing in a bathtub. Warm

[SpinnerMan]

I would think it is like putting fish in an aquarium. You get the new fish in a plastic bag pressurized with air. You don't dump the fish straight into the tank, but put the bag in the aquarium so the temperature in the tank and the temperature in the bag equilibrate and there is no shock from a temperature change when you dump them in the tank.

Just do the same thing. If you can't put the bucket in the water to let it adjust, slowly add the lake water in the bucket so the temperatures adjust. Thermal shock is all you are trying to prevent. Did your bucket get hot in the sun or is it still cold from the bait shop tank.

Hopefully I'll be to tossing my 12' cast net for bait this week. I've stepped up in size. It should be embarrassing for a little while I actually haven't thrown a cast net in a couple years. It could be funny.

[Ricky Spanish]

I would think it is like putting fish in an aquarium. You get the new fish in a plastic bag pressurized with air. You don't dump the fish straight into the tank, but put the bag in the aquarium so the temperature in the tank and the temperature in the bag equilibrate and there is no shock from a temperature change when you dump them in the tank.

Just do the same thing. If you can't put the bucket in the water to let it adjust, slowly add the lake water in the bucket so the temperatures adjust. Thermal shock is all you are trying to prevent. Did your bucket get hot in the sun or is it still cold from the bait shop tank.

Hopefully I'll be to tossing my 12' cast net for bait this week. I've stepped up in size. It should be embarrassing for a little while I actually haven't thrown a cast net in a couple years. It could be funny.

Great now do it fast. Buy bait when it's 95...slowly acclimate it to 95 degree water. I'm sure you can figure out how to do it without even using a bucket.
Scoiyance.
In a perfect world I'd put out ten minnow traps and recover them all filled with perfect sized shad.