How much bait in a Malibu Stealth tank?

[Fish Taco]

ATTN: Malibu Stealth Owners

I am curious... in your opinion, what is the optimum quantity of pieces of bait you have had the best luck with in your Stealth bait tank? I'm talking about mostly Spanish & Greenbacks (mackerel) here... or sardines for that matter... stuff you catch yourself.

I'm new to using this tank for macks and was wondering how many one should load up in there without overcrowding. Opinions?

When I was using my tank last on Long Island, we'd flyline live Bunker (Atlantic Menhadden) for catching Stripers... and they are HUGE baits... so about 3 or 4 in the tank was MAX... more like 3...

[CardShark]

+1 I have a Malibu Stealth 12 and would like to know this as well. I think the bait tanks on the 12 and 14 are the same but I haven't seen them side by side

[alanw]

I had a Stealth 12 and you can put a good amount of bait in it. I had as much as 2 kayak scoops of anchovies in there which is too much (tipping the bait guy goes a long way). They started dying off so I just released some until they stop dying. One scoop is a pretty good start, the less bait in the tank the longer they last.

For sardines one kayak scoop did fine with only a few of the weaker ones dying off.

For macs it depends on the size. I'd be good with up to a half dozen usually, then make more later if needed. I never really tried to see how many I could stuff in there. With macks sometimes you get calm ones that kinda of just sit there allowing you to have a few more, or you get these crazy energizer macks that will beat up anything in their path, meaning you can't keep too many at a time.

Also, with bait (anchovies especially) I found it critical to turn down the water flow valve so they didn't get tired out and die. Better yet, make sure to use a 6v battery for the pump along with turning the flow valve down a lot. What they need is fresh water, what they don't need is a tsunami to swim against.

If your bait has bloodied red noses, you probably have too many stuffed in the tank.

[CardShark]

Originally Posted by alanw

I had a Stealth 12 and you can put a good amount of bait in it. I had as much as 2 kayak scoops of anchovies in there which is too much (tipping the bait guy goes a long way). They started dying off so I just released some until they stop dying. One scoop is a pretty good start, the less bait in the tank the longer they last.

For sardines one kayak scoop did fine with only a few of the weaker ones dying off.

For macs it depends on the size. I'd be good with up to a half dozen usually, then make more later if needed. I never really tried to see how many I could stuff in there. With macks sometimes you get calm ones that kinda of just sit there allowing you to have a few more, or you get these crazy energizer macks that will beat up anything in their path, meaning you can't keep too many at a time.

Also, with bait (anchovies especially) I found it critical to turn down the water flow valve so they didn't get tired out and die. Better yet, make sure to use a 6v battery for the pump along with turning the flow valve down a lot. What they need is fresh water, what they don't need is a tsunami to swim against.

If your bait has bloodied red noses, you probably have too many stuffed in the tank.

Have you ever put bait in there without the pump on, with just the drain plug open? I've read that some people do that, which fills the bait tank up to the water line and as the kayak moves, fresh water is forced into the tank through the drain hole. For smaller bait, you might have to put a screen on there

[alanw]

Originally Posted by CardShark

Have you ever put bait in there without the pump on, with just the drain plug open? I've read that some people do that, which fills the bait tank up to the water line and as the kayak moves, fresh water is forced into the tank through the drain hole. For smaller bait, you might have to put a screen on there

Yep, I did that when I was undecided whether I wanted to drill a 1" hole in the bottom of my yak. I did use a garden hose screen in the hole to keep anchovies from exiting the tank. There just wasn't enough water in there to support a full kayak scoop of anchovies. It should work fine for a smaller amount of bait but I just never tested it that long before installing the pump.

[CardShark]

Originally Posted by alanw

Yep, I did that when I was undecided whether I wanted to drill a 1" hole in the bottom of my yak. I did use a garden hose screen in the hole to keep anchovies from exiting the tank. There just wasn't enough water in there to support a full kayak scoop of anchovies. It should work fine for a smaller amount of bait but I just never tested it that long before installing the pump.

How much water was in there, about half way? Was there decent water movement in and out when you're sitting still or do you have to be moving?

[momo fish]

I used to keep about a dozen.. Seems to be more or less depending on size survive better.. No point on 2 dozen only to have the rest die..