# How to Keep chubs Alive



## chatterbox (Jan 7, 2013)

From the days of my youth I have found good places to catch creek chubs. My problem is not knowing how to keep 3" to 6" chubs healthy and lively for fishing with. Please tell me how You do it so I can be a success too. Thank You for any advise.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

for starters, ice cold water and lots of aeration to keep them alive for more then a few days.. Big tank and make sure water is filtered

Salmonid


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

you can get all types of aerators they have the ones that runs off 2 d cell batteries and the ones that run off 12v and even have the ones that runs of 120v house current. choose the one that best serves your needs. I like the marine metal products bait saver that runs off a 12v battery. you can get just the aerator at academy.com or amazon.com for around 46.00 or get the 20 gallon bucket with aerator for 99.99. I use mine to keep saltwater baits alive. should work good for what you want. but they have the 2 d cell aerators if that's what you want. but you need as much cool water and aeration as you can use.
sherman


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## chatterbox (Jan 7, 2013)

Thank You! I am sure paying attention.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

just trying to help. we have a pond in Tn that we fish. and the last time we fished my son hooked a big blue gill about 8" long and a big bass tried to eat it. we have another little pond that is just full of little 2" and 3" gills. we are planning to catch some of those small gills and I have a 5 gallon bucket and a good aerator that runs on 2 d cell batteries. and that's how we plan to keep the small gills alive. then were going back to the pond where the big bass tried to eat my sons gill and use big bobbers with the small gills for bait. hopefully we'll catch a couple of those big bass. good luck on keeping your bait alive.
sherman


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## murphy13 (Jun 30, 2013)

Salmonid said:


> for starters, ice cold water and lots of aeration to keep them alive for more then a few days.. Big tank and make sure water is filtered
> 
> Salmonid


I agree with this a temperature shock keeps them alive for a longtime! It drastically slows down the amount of oxygen being consumed.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Hey chatterbox. One thing about chubs that you learn real fast is that they are jumpers. Make sure you put a screen or a lid of some type over the 5 gal bucket or whatever you are using or you will find them all dried out on your garage or basement floor.
I have several pictures of a cooler I modified for chubs. It has a bilge pump connected to a couple of cpvp pipes where I drilled a buch of holes. It makes a nice spraybar and runs off a 12v trolling motor battery. Close the lid and the chubs stay in the cooler, fully oxygenated and cool. They will last for weeks in it.
With the change to the new format I have to view my pics gallery with only 9 pics at a time. I am not scrolling through 53 pages to find the pics. You can look through them if you have the time.
I wish we could change the view to 90 pics at a time like we used to be able to. It makes it easier and less time consuming to go through your pictures. Now it's a PIA.


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## chatterbox (Jan 7, 2013)

Yeah Lewzer, that's exactly what I was thinking. I already went to gander mountain and bought a 52 qt igloo cooler. I don't figure I'll need many 6" chubs at any given time. Thanks!!!!


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

Cold water is key. I fill plastic jugs about 2/3rds of the way full with water and freeze them. About as much as you can without them freezing and busting. I just rotate those out of my tank, which is actually a large old cooler, as they thaw in the water. That method cools the water down slowly and maintains it's cold. When a jug thaws out in the tank I pop it back in the freezer and replace it with a frozen one.

An old 56 quart cooler with a block of ice in it will keep about 5 or 6 dozen chubs alive for days with an aquarium air pump running. The lid keeps them from leaping as someone else mentioned. Works good for blugies too. 

For storage from one weekend to the next I have a large trashcan. I modified an old water cooler chiller unit to maintain the temperature. If you go that route make sure none of the copper lines make contact with the water the fish are in. It will kill them eventually. I submerge the chiller portion in a large stainless pot filled with water then float the pot in the trash can. You can wrap your trashcan with fiberglass insulation bats and keep it in the basement. I've been able to keep bait alive for as long as it takes to use it up. About 3 weeks I'd guess.

Rotating frozen water jugs in the trashcan works too but I lucked out and found the water cooler chiller. You'll need to keep a lot of ice water jugs in the freezer to keep up with it. My wife complained about using all the freezer space with 10, 1 gallon jugs.


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## chatterbox (Jan 7, 2013)

Sherman 51, THANK YOU! for the info. I am a member of O.G.F. to make friends, learn, and have fun. I also thoroughly enjoy the members who read what others add to my posts, to help them too! Any one jump in any time! THAT'S WHAT IT'S ABOUT!!!

All of You Fishermen have given good advise and I appreciate it!! YOU have helped me, and I know others who read your info will take something with them as well.


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