How many will fit?

littlered16 · Post by **littlered16** » April 29th, 2005, 3:35 pm

Going on a deep sea head boat next sat out of st augustine (the K2). Want to bring live pins with me, but all I have is 5gal buckets with small aerators. My question is how many pins are safe to put in a five gal bucket assuming air isn't a problem. Its a 12 hour trip, so lets say they'll be in there for about 8hrs.
They do have a large bait well on the boat, but if you put bait in there it becomes community bait.

chugbug · Post by **chugbug** » April 29th, 2005, 3:40 pm

If the bucket is full and they will be well areated I would think 12 or 18 should be comfortable for they're last little bit of life.

Post by **Tom Keels** » April 29th, 2005, 6:23 pm

If you can change out the water every 30 minutes or so, you can keep 2-3 dozen in there. An airator in saltwater doesn't work as well as you might think. Changing water is the key.

Post by **Apalach** » April 30th, 2005, 1:58 am

As Tom says, I would change about 3/4 of the water every 30 minutes or so, plus use an aerator, and you should be good. Fortunately, pins are among the hardiest fish around, and will take a lot of abuse compared to some of our other local bait-type fishes such as grunts and sand perch.