anyone have any tricks on keeping bait alive?

an aerator and small insects... feed them like the indians would.

Here's a thread from last year, may help some

http://forums.fishusa.com/m_287463/mpage_1/key_aerator/tm.htm#289509

I have two plastic 55 gallon drums to separate gills and chubs and I built a giant filter out of two pond pumps and a five gal bucket plus a large aerator. This setup has been working great for me. Have had fish for months even kept some trout for a couple weeks in there and they didn't die. Til I ate em.

If you are going to use a cooler, try to glue some flexible plastic in all the corners for the full depth of the cooler to make the corners curved. If you keep them a long time, they'll keep bumping the walls in the corners and damage their noses, eventually dying. Round containers work best but you can make the cooler work a little better for ya by rounding the corners.

Water temp is another important consideration...

the water can NOT get to warm or vary up and down .. that's our #1 problem at the store and why we are already not selling live minnows.. we can not keep the water cool (stable) enough to keep them more than a week ?????

I dug out an old aquarium and put some rocks in it and change half the water once a week with well water. From my original 3 dozen or so from April 15th, I have a half dozen left and still alive. I have taken them all fishing 3 or 4 times and just dump them back in when I get home. My basement is still cool and keeps the water temp down. I have had some die, but not too many. I'd like to get a larger setup and keep some chubs at home too.

Also remember that the amount of fish a tank/cooler can support is related to the size also. General rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. This is your regular tropical fish rule, so you could probably double that amount for minnows. Water changes are very important in a crowded environment as well, half of the tank at least once a week, probably more. I keep a 10 gallon tank in my basement with a regular bar aerator and was able to keep ~50 minnows in there for 3 months over the winter using gold fish flakes and regular water changes. Dr. Trout mentioned water temp which is also important. I don't use any additives/dechlorination, I have city water, I don't worry about it.

If your keeping any chubs be sure and keep the lid closed cuz they'll all be dead on the floor after one night. They can jump surprisingly high with good accuracy

  Found a large Snapper in my smaller Chub/Crawdad pond today. Musta stopped for a lunch break on the way to lay eggs  There was a dead Chipmunk in there also.

Gotta go...

real O2 is all you need find on e bay or a yard sale a concentrator . thats how they ship tropical fish around the world in a little plastic bag . I use o2 bottles in my live well with a air stone I dont feel it up about 1/2 way and kept 6 trout alive all day. also water temp is huge also .

i have about 6 dozen suckers and 2 dozen fatheads in a huge chest cooler in my basement now. ive have them for about a week now and have not lost a sucker yet..lose about 3-5 fatheads a day...anyone know the name of the blue powder stuff the bait shops use to take the clorine out of the water?

ORIGINAL: malice6372

Also remember that the amount of fish a tank/cooler can support is related to the size also. General rule is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. This is your regular tropical fish rule, so you could probably double that amount for minnows. Water changes are very important in a crowded environment as well, half of the tank at least once a week, probably more. I keep a 10 gallon tank in my basement with a regular bar aerator and was able to keep ~50 minnows in there for 3 months over the winter using gold fish flakes and regular water changes. Dr. Trout mentioned water temp which is also important. I don't use any additives/dechlorination, I have city water, I don't worry about it.

Yes , the amount of fish a container can support is related to the size of the container , but it's a general statement that is often quoted and misunderstood . More accurately , it's the surface area of the container because a larger surface area means more available dissolved O2 . For instance , commercially available are the 20 gallon standard tanks and the 20 gallon long tank . The standard 20 gallon tank is deeper than the 20 long . The 20 long can support more fish because the surface area is bigger .