keeping and breeding bait

[derwood]

hey guys,<br /> new question. i want to keep and mabye breed my own minnows and grass shrimp. i hate getting my minnows from the bait shop. they always have that blue green water( my bro. calls it toilet water) and when i put my bait bucket in the water they die soon after one by one. yea,yea,yea fish faster, i know. i don't always have time to catch them wild before i go. the grass shrimp are real fish killers. got any good ideas on this post? i thought about useing a couple of old plastic lined chest freezers with an air system of sorts. don't even have a clue how i can breed grass shrimp. or what to feed eather of them. there is a guy that dose his own minnows arrond here but he sells some so he aint givin up any secreats. i don't want to sell um just offer em up as a sacrifice to the fish gods. the ones he uses for himself are GONZO minnows. just gotta get me some of them. <br /> thanks derwood.

 

[Dman]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

Speak with some people at the local, knowledgable pet store.They should be able to give you some insight on the details. I have recently looked into this. I guess the water needs to be kept at about 50 at all times. If you have an idea, go for it. I would like to know how it works.

 

[steve forsythe]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

It is basically impossible, without spending WAY MORE than you would ever spend on bait, to raise your own. Bait is usually harvested from large lakes not a farm. The reason your bait dies is because of TEMPERATURE. Get a thermomoter and find out the temp of the water your bait is living in at the bait shop. Find out the water temp where you are going to fish. It will probably be warmer at the lake. The bait stores keep their bait in cool water to keep them livley. SLOWLY adjust your bait to the lake water (10 minutes for every degree) by pouring a little in at a time. Getting an airifier will help also. I have one that plugs to my lighter in my truck. If you invest $$$$ in a lot of bait and plan on fishing all day, it is time well spent!

 

[rpeeples]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

I kept some minnows alive for several months in an ordinary aquarium. I caught them from a pond and kept them alive with a battery operated air pump till I got home. I would dip some out and fish with them occasionally. As far as breeding them, I don't think you can in an aquarium since they are egg layers and will eat each others eggs. If they do manage to hatch the adults will probably eat the fry.<br /><br />I don't have any info on shrimp for you. <br /><br />I did catch some crawfish which I put in the freezer and fished with later. They did a good job on the bass - just remember to clip off their "pincher" claws. Some bass have tangled with those claws before and will leave them alone. If you clip them off the bass will see them as easy pickin's...

 

[sam_fisherman]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

You guys have got it all wrong. Need to have the setup I have. We have a big pole barn that contains our hunting/fishing lodge in one end. That left most of the rest of space empty. My Uncle decided he wanted to get into raising "Redworms" and ask if we would allow him to build some wormbeds in the building. Of course we said it would be all right being family and all. And the good thing about it, he has to attend them once every 3 days or so. Lots of bait!<br />

 

[rpeeples]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

I forgot about worms...<br /><br />I raised some in an old chest-of-drawers once. I drilled lots of air holes in it. About twice a week I would check on it - adding mulch, moisture, etc. About once a month or month and a half I would empty one drawer and sell the worms. The egg casings would still be ok and hatch later. <br /><br />I had to quit my worm job so I could go to college and spend many years and lots of money to try to get a "real" job that pays nothing and is more work and trouble than should be allowed. If I could make a "decent" living raising worms I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

[derwood]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

I could think of better things to do with a fishing/hunting lodge if i were lucky enough to own one. however... ya got lots of bait and that aint a bad thing. a good way to raise worms in fla. is if you have oaks or other trees that shed a lot of leaves( big trees ) is to rake the leaves in a circle arround the tree ( make it a big thick pile ) mix some sand or dirt in while layering( some shredded news paper don't hurt either ) and keep it wet with a hose. the wider the ring arround the tree the better. i like mine to be about 2 1/2 feet deep to start. keep it wet for a couple of weeks or so to start it up. your kind of making a compost pile in a way but you want to let all of the heating up ( chemical reaction ) be over with when its ready. then you get a couple of boxes of your favorite worm for seed and keep it wet with a hose. keep rakeing it over with leaves to keep it going. you'll soon have lots of worms. crain style gung fu : early bird technique. i have'nt had a chance yet to contact the state or a collage about the grass shrimp thing. i guess i will have to catch lots of minnows at once and put them in the make shift tank for safe keeping till i am ready to use them but i still have to find an economical way to feed them if i have a lot and i keep em for a while. some clawless crawdads would not only clean the bottom of the tank but like you said would make real good bait. they do a wonderful job in my fish tank by eating setteld fish food and any dead minnows that i don't get to first. so far the JUMBO bluegill i have in there has not tried to eat them but sooner or later.....fish gung fu. for those off you that are crazy enough to try this ( i don't recomend this to anybody that dose'nt have some knowladge of yellow jackets. i do because of my job ) but if you hang a fish carcass that has been filayed from a limb and wait a while ( like you've got nothing better to do than watch a dead fish you just hung from a tree ) a yellow jacket will come and take some meat off. he will then go strait back to the nest. watch him till you can't see him any more and then hang the fish there. he will come back for more and when he dose do it again. soon you will find the nest. in that nest is a whole lot of good bait. larvea are like truffels to pan fish. now comes the hard part... you have to get them out when i have done it if the nest was a real big one i leave it alone ( just to many bees ) if not i put on about 200 layers of clothes (long sleeve flannel,jeans,boots,thick leather gloves,a stiff bee hat, ropes tied arround all shirt cuffs and leg cuffs,chain mail,kevlar,rabbits foot or two and a fist full of four leaf clovers.....if you've broken any mirrors lately or done the black cat thing forget it )a bee suit would be nice. dig it up and put it in a bag after breaking it up. get all the bees off after walking a good distance away. when you have gotten all of the bees off and lost twenty or so pounds from sweating in the clothes you can get the larvea out and go fishen. old indian trick. kinda stupid but i have done it three times now. you always miss at least one bee and its got a tee shirt on with your name written on it.( right between your eyes or bust ) crain style gung fu : crazy bear technique. i may bee(haw,haw on the pun) getten someone hurt here, just forget i wrote this and for sure don't try it at home folks.<br /> gotto go now derwood.

 

[ebbtide176]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

now that is a good idea for fish bait! i've kilt 2 nests, and never thought about saving the larvae. but then there was nothing left alive when i did it. i went after them in the cold weather in the dark of night, with a flashlight and chemicals. you are a serious adrenaline junkie to go after yellowjacket nests in broad daylight! not no, but nellHO would i attempt that. i think my chances are better to do the de-clawing of my tomcat instead of payin the vet...

 

[derwood]

Re: keeping and breeding bait

you are correct, they are good fish bait. and let me clairify that i am nuts. i do have a couple of factors on my side. it was winter when i did it. i marked the nest with a wire flag ( green because you don't ...definantly DON'T, want a child to find the nest if you don't get to it right away.) the bees of most types in fla are more docile than in the north. ( if you can call any yellow jacket docile). my mom hikes the a.t. from north ga to maine and she was on the top of a ridge one day, taking a rest and just looking at the view. she noticed this little dot far away in the distance. she said she could see that it was moving but she did not know what it was. she watched it getting closer and closer and all the sudden BAM. it was a honey bee, just one, and it stung her right in the upper lip. just because. the bees in fla won't do that unless you **** them off somehow. i have been dealing with them for 15 years, in surveying if you don't pay attention , you WILL find them by accident ( not good ) it took about 10 or 20 times of that to build an instinct up to find them without looking for them. this is only learned over time( after time, after time, after painful time ) i have not been stung now in several years unless i am messing with them knowingly. it is part of my job that if i come across them i must drive three stakes up arround the nest and ribbon it off so the construction crews and property owners don't get got. ( not to mention the kids in the neigberhood ) i also tell the the pepole that live next to it to keep an eye out for the kids as well. just go and try to drive three wooden stakes in the ground with a three lb. sledge next to a yellowjacket nest once. talk about air supireority...man. a better and much easier way to get bee larva is to get them from paper wasp nests in the eves of your house, you don't get as many but they are plump. the indians did not use fishing poles but used the whole nest ( slightly crunched ) to chum the fish up to spear or trap. i just wanted to pass on the info about bee larva as bait but now i kindof regret writting it because i don't want anybody to get hurt. specialized gung fu : masters and fools only.