Building a Baitwell..need ideas

[Scott S.]

Thinking of Building a Homemade Baitwell on my TV 17. Possibly up on the front deck or the area between the console and where the front deck starts. Will Probably accomodate a Plano Drop in Minnow Bucket. Thinking of tapping into livewell fill and drain and running some plumbing. Any Ideas?? Last week was HOT and hard to keep Minnows Alive. For those who have a baitwell, is there a separate pump? How Many GPH?

 

[Staci Matheis]

E.T. -

I always just kept one of those floating bait buckets in my livewell.

When it got hot - I'd take one of the blue-ice things out of my cooler and drop it into the livewell. Carried extras just for that purpose. Started doing that the first time I lost fish on a hot day and never lost another.

me!

 

[TrepMan]

Essox - Can't help you with the specifics (my Pro Crappie has 2 baitwells and we love it) about GPH or pumps, but I would suggest you build it OFF the front casting deck (which is what I think you're planning to do). The reason is mine (check out the catalog or www.trackermarine.com for the layout of my boat) is located on the right side actually on the front deck and takes up a decent amount of space. Granted my son loves the play with the minnows, but if they had make the livewell infront of the console bigger to accomodate the bait well (like they do on the Panfish 16) i'd have more room on the deck and the bait well up front.

In my old John boat I just bought a small cooler, added a 12 volt spayer-type airator from Academy (in TX) and wired a plug/recepticle into my boat so I could take the cooler out to clean or fill up with bait.

let us know how it turns out and we want pictures!

TrepMan

 

[Duart Betz]

Esox, My Deep V17 has a baitwell in the back that uses
the Plano drop in bucket. The pump is 500 gph. The same
pump feeds both the baitwell and livewell and the spray
nozzle on the baitwell can be closed when not in use.
We have used it several times for minnows and it works
great.

 

[Scott S.]

Thanx for the ideas... sure do not want to take up too much room. I have tried icepacks and floating buckets but hot surface water temp still kills bait, this weekend I learned the trick is an insulated bucket. I bought a Plastic Plano Bucket insulated with foam, This bucket drops into a 5 Gallon plastic Bucket I have that is also lined with foam. Add an icepack and a Bubbler and works great.