WARNING: Your tank can move on your boat and could hurt someone, or damage your boat. We strongly advise that you put some sort of mat on the bottom of your bait tank. We use a router vise or Rug Grabber glued to the bottom the Tank.

As the saying goes, "There are many ways to skin a cat." The same is true with keeping bait alive. Below we have listed some of the tried ways we have found to work well over the years:

First Off

The standard wiring setup that comes with your bait tanks needs to be connected to your battery or other 12VDC power source. The wire with the red paint on it is to be connected to the positive(+) power source. The other wire connects to the negative(-) connects to the negative side of your power source. We recommend a 7.5 amp inline fuse be installed as close to the power source as possible in the positive (+) lead. If you have the optional wiring set up connect the wire with the built in fuse to the positive power source and the other wire to the negative source. The plugs on the wiring harness will only connect one way so do not be concerned about their connection later.

Filter

Your tank is equipped with a scale basket inserted in a larger filter basket.

The scale basket is the one with the screen material walls. The purpose of the scale basket is to initially trap bait scales and other large objects from the water prior to the water reaching the filter. The scale basket may need to be removed and washed out more than once during a days fishing. One indicator being: If your water level begins to rise in the bait compartment, it's a good bet your scale basket needs to be pulled and washed out. And the filter material examined. The scale basket just slips into the larger filter basket.

The actual filter material installs in the filter box below the scale basket. For this purpose we recommend new Poly-Fil on every recharge of the tank. You can purchase Poly-Fil at local discount stores and sewing stores. It is used as the fill for quilting.

During a single fishing trip, it may be necessary to replace this Poly-Fil, especially if you get your bait out of shallow water. Any time you wash out your scale basket, examine the filter material. If it shows a brownish darkening color, change it out.

Please, if you are on the water when you change this filter material, store it on board for disposal later in a trash receptacle .... Do not toss it in the lake. A plastic zip lock bag makes a great container to store old Poly-Fil.

Water Treatment

We normally fill our tank using tap water (city water) however using the lake water is just fine as well. The main reason we use the city water is that during the summer months the city water is cooler than the lake water. Lake surface water can reach 85 degrees during the hottest summer months and cooler water is much better for the life and activeness of the bait. Water in the low 70’s is much better for the bait. We will also cool the water in the bait tank during the summer months by using 2 liter drink bottles that have been frozen and placing them in the bait tank to bring down the water temperature in the tank.

If you use tap water to fill the tank you must also use other chemicals to remove the chloramine and chlorine that is put in the water by the city. We recommend a product such as "Start Right" to do this. Use one teaspoon of "Start Right" for every ten gallons of water. Keeping a small measuring device on hand will assist in using the correct amount when initially filling the bait tank. “Start Right”, “Liquid Chlorine Remover” or other high end chlorine removers can be obtained at Wal-Mart, in the fish area, or from good fishing supply stores in your area. It is very important to treat the chloramine and chlorine because these chemicals will cause the bait to die early in the bait tanks.

Salt is another important treatment for shad. We recommend using a 26oz. Container of Non-Iodinized salt. This salt can be bought in 26oz. containers at Wal-Mart (approx .33 cents). The 26oz. size container works well for a 40 gallon capacity tank. The main thing you want, is clean flakey, Non-Iodinized salt. Rock salt and pellet salt are much more difficult to dissolve.

It is important to use non iodide salt because the iodine in normal salt may cause the premature death of your bait.

In the hot summer months, keeping a few liter plastic pop bottles or half gallon milk cartons filled with water and frozen can be used to cool the water if needed. This double wall water insulated bait tank will need a minimum amount of additional cooling. It is suggested that you use water bottles with screw off tops for this purpose. nt to use non salt because the iodine in normal salt may cause the premature death of your bait.

Note: If the nose of your bait gets red, this is a sign of stress. It's a good indicator you may not be using enough salt

Another item you need to keep handy is a solution of “Foam Off”. When salt, fish oil, and agitated water, are mixed together foam can develop on top of water in your bait tank. A little squirt of “Foam Off” should take care of this. “Foam Off” is commercially available at good bait shops.

We can supply either the “Foam Off” or “Start Right” to you if you wish, please see the Supplies page for more details on these products.

Water Level

The water -iodinizedlevel in the tank must be kept at least to the bottom of the scale basket screen in order for the filtering process to be efficient.

Air Adjustment

The air control center is set, but you may want to make additional adjustments. With the salt added and well dissolved, and with the pump running, put your hand close to the "Bubble Port" and watch the bubbles float up your arm. Turn the valve and you will notice a change. Smaller bubbles mean more air to the water which keeps the bait alive and fresh.

Hint: Shad for Bait

When using shad for bait, there is a handling technique that will make your bait do better, keep your tank cleaner, thus reduce having to change the filter material and washing out the scale basket as often. Techniques are two fold:

1. When using a cast net, do not dump freshly caught shad from the cast net directly into your bait tank. Dump the contents of your cast net into a holding bucket full of lake water first. This allows for loose scales to fall from the bait as well as the removal of miscellaneous trash from the lake.

2. While using a small hand held net, instead of your hands, begin moving your bait into the bait tank. You will want to grade and count the bait that you put in the bait tank as you do this. An example of the sizes and count is 150 total shad for the 36 gallon tank. The 150 baits are 60 6” baits and 90 (smaller) 4” sized baits. NOTE: You should adjust your numbers accordingly if you are using a larger or smaller bait tank.

3. Foam that forms on the surface of the water in a tank can rob the water of the extra oxygen it could contain. Foam can be removed by adding Sure-Life Foam Off per directions on the container.

Draining The Tank

Included with your tank is a short piece of Yz" CPVC, this is used to drain your tank. Find an old discarded garden hose, cut it to where it is long enough to reach from the bottom of your bait tank out over the side of your boat. When you do this consider where you will be placing the tank in your boat so that the hose is long enough. Insert this piece of CPVC into one end of the hose. When looking into the bait chamber portion of the tank, you will notice two caps near the bottom on the filter side of the tank. The larger one, nearest the bottom, is the water input port. The smaller one a bit higher up the wall is the water output port, or "Bubble Port" from which the filtered water is cycled back into the bait compartment. It is into the "Bubble Port" you will want to insert this Yz" piece of CPVC when you are ready to drain your tank. With the other end of the garden hose laid over side of the boat, the pump in the bait tank will empty the tank water. Prior to the draining of the tank you will need to remove both the filter and scale basket.

Hint: When I decide it's about time to go home, I put fresh bait down on all of my rods. Then I take my bait scoop and liberally chum the water with the remaining baits in the tank. You might save a few, because sometime this chumming may excite the bite and you'll want to stay on the water a little while longer.

Tank Maintenance

A solution of baking soda and water run through the pump will help remove offensive odors. Do this occasionally. After about 20 uses of the tank, I run a strong bleach water solution through my pump and slosh it on the walls of the tank using a course hand brush. After bleaching the tank and rinsing well, the next time I recharge the tank. I then use a double amount of "Start Right" to refresh the tank.