An Alternative Live Bait Tank - A Submersible Weighted Cage

[jewgaffer]

Hi

I need a second live bait tank but don't want to lose any of the good fishing room in my Savage side console.

What comes to mind is having a steel mesh cage made up that will collapse down flat. It would need to be lead weighted on the floor panel to hold in the current, have a hinged door at the top and have a semi or partial wrap around sheet of metal aroundthe front section to shelter the baitfish from the current. I will use a sling configuration on the top like a sea anchor has, submerge it and tie it off just behind the motor.

I think the size needs to be somewhere around 500 long X 350 wide X 300 deep.

I would appreciated input and alternative ideas from members about suspending live bait in a cage, and if anyone is into metal work and can knock one up let me know so we can have a chat over the phone

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Davemmm]

Byron

I had a mate years who had a large keeper net suspended under a metal ring held afloat with foam.

The ring was a bit smaller than a basketball hoop and kept the keeper net spread apart so the livies could move araound abit. The top of the net then came up past it so he could tie it closed and the whole lot sat under a big piece of foam.

I never went out with him when it was in use so I cant say wether it was easy or not but he reckoned he had no probs keeping fish alive in it.

Dave

[Jigholio]

Jewgaffer you may already know this, you can buy something very similar to what you descibe from shops that specialize in freshwater gear. They work very well but must be rinsed down thoroughly to prevent corrosion.

jig

[arpie]

Hi Jewgaffer

You could play around with adding a lid to these! Put a sheet of lead on the bottom & block up the handle holes.

They are also great for bringing your fish ashore when you get in. Stays flat till you need it!

I have also seen a non-metal version of Jig's livebait container! I gave one to Wendy recently! It also has floatation bits on the top, so it won't sink. Just have to remember to pull it in when you up anchor! Have seen folk take off with live bait containers still attached!

Cheerio

Roberta

[chewsta]

Hi Jewgaffer,

I used to use a large chlorine bucket (40 litres maybe?) I drilled holes all around it, including plenty in the bottom, probably took about twenty minutes to drill a hundred or so holes the more holes the better. I then tied an inflateable pool ring/donut around the top to stop it from sinking and just tied it off to the side. once submerged up to the floaty it was fine and stayed upright but wouldnt be hard to add some weight to the bottom, the floaty would also stop it from tipping over in any current. It Also doubled as storage when in the boat and not being used.

Ive also got one of those coarse fishing ringnets its about 7 feet long I use it now for overnighters so im not listening to the baitpump all night long.

[TobyW]

Jewgaffer,

Probably not as hardy as you want, but I used one of these and it worked a treat. Cheap as, from Ikea.

The Material is surprisingly strong, and it colapses down very easliy. & its light..

Its a great idea if your parked in one location for the night, but if your moving around at speed it can be a bit of a pain if you have to keep transfering the bait from it to a bucket and back..

[Penguin]

Hey Byron, what will u do with your calapsable wire cage live bait tank, when

its full of live bait, and you wana move to another fishing spot?

U cant pull it into the boat and drive off, or can u leave it in the water and

then drive off.

penguin

[fis_master]

hey dood so u want it 500 mil or cm big coz a 5m long cage is huge!

i made one bout 50cm with couzin each peice of cage metal was individually attatched with wire so it was fully collapseable, like a hinge i guess, ends would fold down and when you assemble it u just re-ty the wire, same as for the trap door into cage. then u just wrap flywire round outside to keep little fish in and secure with cable ties as wire wasnt thick enough, make sure u do this when cage is assembled as it takes up more flywire than wen it is flat! easy ay have fun doin wateva u choose 2 do ay

[mr magoo]

hey Byron ,what about a basket that lookslike the sho0pping basket from coles ,you can get ones with lids

put a bit of lead in the bottom as ballast ,use a clip to keep the lids shut ,tie a rope to the handle and lob the lot into the drink,the rope dont mark the boat with the rocking and swaying

only drama with it and this would apply to all the overboard live bait tanks, would be the effect of the current on the tanks/container ,just will require fine tuning as to how much ballast is required to keep the lot under the water

do you have marlin boards or a maxi transom setup on your boat,cause if you do that would be better setup and you could have the benifit of keeping livies on the run

cheers arman

[rickb]

Hi

I need a second live bait tank but don't want to lose any of the good fishing room in my Savage side console.

What comes to mind is having a steel mesh cage made up that will collapse down flat. It would need to be lead weighted on the floor panel to hold in the current, have a hinged door at the top and have a semi or partial wrap around sheet of metal aroundthe front section to shelter the baitfish from the current. I will use a sling configuration on the top like a sea anchor has, submerge it and tie it off just behind the motor.

I think the size needs to be somewhere around 500 long X 350 wide X 300 deep.

I would appreciated input and alternative ideas from members about suspending live bait in a cage, and if anyone is into metal work and can knock one up let me know so we can have a chat over the phone

Cheers

jewgaffer

Hey Byron,

I had a set up similar to your descripton, it worked great fishing close in. But when I tried it out wide, I lost every thing by Mako's, even a piece of the gunwhale with a conveyor belt strapped to it.

Cheers Rick.

[jewgaffer]

Hey Byron, what will u do with your calapsable wire cage live bait tank, when

its full of live bait, and you wana move to another fishing spot?

U cant pull it into the boat and drive off, or can u leave it in the water and

then drive off.

penguin

Hi John. I have checker plate pods on the back of the Savage to sit the bait cage onto whenever it has to come out of the water. The cage will need to be clipped into a light guage metal tray made deep enough to hold a sufficient amount of water to keep the baitfish alive when the cage is raised and strapped to the pod when moving off, changing spots or drift fishing livebait which I plan to do a lot more of.

When under anchor, the top of the cage will sit just above the water alongside the pod and will need to have a panel for the current side instead of wire mesh. I'm thinking the other sides could be made up of panel and wire mesh.

As Arman said the unit would need to be weighted for ballast and chewsta also made a good point in mentioning that it might need some adjustments made to floatation for buoyancy.

The sides will need to be made to fold down or be able to be unassembled back into the tray when the cage is not in use.

There will have to be a removable wire mesh shute on the boat side of the lid so that each livie caught can be dropped straight down into the shute. The mesh shute would be a length of mesh tube angled towards the boat and strapped to the top of the vertical pod rail for easy use. I will need to put a longer dowel rod on a small fish tank net to scoop out the baitfish and use an aerator I have which clips directly to the battery and change the water whenever the cage has to be kept out of the water and while drifting.

It's good to have opinions from members on making a live bait cage and thanks all for your input so far. A fish cage would be handy for members to have who own little tinnies, punts, canoes and kayaks etc. I think a well designed fish cage would also be quiet useful as a general fishkeeper, provided that it's kept economical, not overbuilt or cumbersome but made to last out of lightweight material and easy to use.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Edited September 6, 2008 by jewgaffer

[Kirks]

Hey Byron

An excellent idea to keep livies, not a lot of livies but if you've got them round the boat you can keep them in constant supply.

Get one of those water containers that holds about 15L of water and that has a knozzle to pour the water from. Cut a hole in the top and fill the container with fresh seawater, once you've got some livies place them into the container.

When you want to change the water just hold it over the side and open the knozzle and the old water flows out. Get a bucket fill it with water and pour back into the container.

Cheers

Steve

[Kirks]

I'll give it to you mikey

THIS WAS MIKEYS IDEA NOT MINE BUT I CALL IT

cheers

Steve

[wonniefisho]

A lot of kayakers use large PVC piping with a fixed end one end and a screw top on the other and a squillion holes drilled in it. Light, easy to transport, won't rust.

[jewgaffer]

That's an excellent idea young Kirkby for someone who does not have a live bait tank and it seems Browney1 is also keen on the water container idea with the pourer spout and a hole cut in the top

In the meantime I have already decided to buy a made up fish keeper as shown in the pic in the reply by Jigholio to keep livies alive for my landbased fishing, instead of having to always carry a 12 volt battery pack and livies caught in another area in a portable fish keeper bag .

I have decided to have a second live bait tank made up in stainless steel and sprayed in two pack white ( unpainted stainless steel tanks can attract too much heat). I need to keep the good room I have in my side console, so the second live bait tank will be made to align with the existing live bait tank and will also be bolted thru the top lip and held against the transom of the boat, and it will be 600 milimetres long and narrow to line up with the existing tank which will become a secondary tank to keep nippers and squid separate from live bait. When the original tank is not being used for live bait, it will also be useful with a rubber seal added for dry ice satchels which keep the dead baits fresh.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[mr magoo]

That's an excellent idea young Kirkby for someone who does not have a live bait tank and it seems Browney1 is also keen on the water container idea with the pourer spout and a hole cut in the top

In the meantime I have already decided to buy a made up fish keeper as shown in the pic in the reply by Jigholio to keep livies alive for my landbased fishing, instead of having to always carry a 12 volt battery pack and livies caught in another area in a portable fish keeper bag .

I have decided to have a second live bait tank made up in stainless steel and sprayed in two pack white ( unpainted stainless steel tanks can attract too much heat). I need to keep the good room I have in my side console, so the second live bait tank will be made to align with the existing live bait tank and will also be bolted thru the top lip and held against the transom of the boat, and it will be 600 milimetres long and narrow to line up with the existing tank which will become a secondary tank to keep nippers and squid separate from live bait. When the original tank is not being used for live bait, it will also be useful with a rubber seal added for dry ice satchels which keep the dead baits fresh.

Cheers

jewgaffer

you mention dry ice satchel in your post byron,never thought of using it ,is it cost effective

cheers arman

Edited January 6, 2009 by mr magoo

[jewgaffer]

Arman give me a call on 0413210048. I'll tell you all about the cost effectiveness and the benefits etc of having a supply of a particular type of re-usable dry ice satchels in your esky or baitbox, rather than having to stop and buy ice all the time and then having your take home fish and your left over bait breaking down in ice slurry.

Cheers

jewgaffer