That is actually a totally awesome tank build. Was looking to see what people have done and I cannot believe how fortunate I am to have come across your video.
I've seen the bilge pump Venturi pipes, I liked the idea of no clogged spray bars anymore. At the time they were 40 bucks so i ended up making one for nearly nothing. Attached a T fitting and a 45 degree fitting to a Bilge pump. Cut the tip of my air line running into it, and could always adjust the air flow by rotating the air line. MAN if i would of added a dimmer to the pump would of been a game changer. it churned the water and added air. Keep up the cool tips!
All I can say is, THANK YOU. I have a long way to go in my Striper fishing journey but, I feel like I'll make it as long as I can learn from Team Old Skool
Good friends with owner of Evolution... the amount of time put in tweaking and making things perfect is insane. Best on the market and the easiest to get in contact with, some of these companies it’s nearly impossible to even place an order let alone find them. Nice video!
5 star brother all bait should be number one priority over everything.Killer video my friend your tank is your lifeline and makes a difference a huge difference in catching fish.Your tank is baaaaaaad I want it lol!!!!It has it all and like u said its setup for all species of bait,weather temps,and so on.Everything u said is so important and all those features are killer.2 thumbs up Team old school baby!!!
Mike, I just got a 16ft Carolina skiff. lots of open floor for a bait tank but I was wondering what bait tank you would recommend for keeping blueback herring
Thanks brother!!! The end helps short videos big time with the crazy UA-cam algorithm. Videos over 10 minutes get recommended way more than 6-8 minutes.
I just bought my first shad bait tank and I'm trying to learn as much as possible. I'm going to pick it up Saturday, I have no idea what all it exactly comes with. I'm curious of what all minerals or anything else that I need to add to the water. I've also noticed that some tanks have blue water in them. Idk if that's a mineral in the water or a light in the tank. Any info would be appreciated.
That’s a dye that’s in some treatments. Get Shad Crack from Striper Soup. It has everything you need in it. If you can’t get it just use rock salt and foam off. They make lots of different additives like prime, but unless you are keeping bait in the tank for several days, salt and foam off is all I normally use. Or Shad crack if I have it. Especially in winter when it’s easy to keep Shad.
Hi there. Question for you if you don't mind. If I just want to keep bait alive for the days fishing could I just hook up a cooler filled with ocean water to an inlet pump and an outlet and just have the water slowly coming in and going out through out the days fishing. Like constantly refilling and out flowing with new water from the ocean without the need for all the filters, air stones, etc? On my boat I have a couple wash down pumps that pull water from the ocean. So my thought is to just put a bait cooler/container on my back swim grid and have it constantly filling and out flowing ocean water to keep the bait fresh and alive. Do you think this will work? I could put flow restricter/dimmers on the pumps so the water isn't filling/out flowing too quickly. Was also concerned though that maybe the bait might all get sucked to the outflow port on the tank though but I could put that up on the top and just have it constantly overflowing out onto the swim grid.
Always pan fished for the most part but just now getting into striper fishing. I currently do not have a bait tank and am wondering where to start. I currently have a 22 foot walk around striper. What would you recommend ?
There are quite a few good bait tanks out nowadays. Creek Bank, Mel’s and the new Extreme tanks are great. The classic Super Bait tanks are also solid. Go with the biggest you can fit.
Hey Mike, how well do those air pumps work by themselves? Would your bait tank be able to keep blueback herring alive with only the air pumps running? Thank you
Sure. Herring are way cleaner than Gizzard Shad, but it all depends on water temp. Below 60degrees and you could pack that tank with bait and they would do well. 75-80degrees is tougher. You can’t put as many in the tank and you would need several water changes.
It’s only a real issue in summer. Fall thru early spring it fills with cold lake water. I carry bags of ice and salt in summer. You can also get a bilge pump and 20ft of flexible hose to pump water in from the deep cool water. I keep a 20’ hose and pump on board but I prefer just adding ice every few hours. 👍
How does the filter work? I assume the crude gets sucked in and runs through the pump and then goes to the filters? I have built a lot of tanks but I am not crazy about pumping scales through the pump. Seems like they would clog a lot? I love that dimmer switch! I am about to order one! Great video!
You’re right!!! Doesn’t sound like a great idea and it was a huge concern of mine at first, but it has never been an issue. Not even once. Scales just go right thru and I’ve had EVERY types of bait you can imagine in there since 2003. 🤷🏻♂️
What type of 12 volt aerator are you using in your 50 gallon bait tank? If you dont mind sharing the info with me, I am very interested. Old school is doing it right! Thank you.
Great video, Mike. I have really enjoyed your videos. I'm just getting into the striper and live bait world, so I have a lot to learn. I decided to build a bait tank for my dock, because I can only keep bait alive about an hour right now on Lake Buchanan with the surface temps above 90. I'm building a tank that will pull water from about 7 or 8 foot deep and pump into the tank and have another pump pumping out the dirty stuff back into the lake, so I'm not using filters for that. However, I do want to make my bait tank similar to this one with the drip baskets so I can reroute my pumps with some valves if I want to take this tank on my boat. Here is my question. It appears on this tank that the water is sucked out in the back below your pumps and switches then pumped into the tank towards the center then past your angled water jets then into your drip baskets. Is this correct? If so, isn't the water that's being sprayed back into the tank dirty water that has not yet reached the drip baskets? I feel like I'm missing something here, just not sure what it is. If you could clarify that for me it would be greatly appreciated. Keep the great videos coming!
Yes, the amount of water that is spraying hasn’t reached the filter baskets yet, but it a relatively small amount those two baskets filter ALOT of water so it’s minimal loss. I can close those off completely if I want. Let me know how your system works. I’ve tried stuff like that, but in summer that water is still way too warm, and you won’t have the benefit of salt.
Hi Mike I really like your bait tank and setting up I wander if I can’t put that on my 18-1/2 striper boat live well I wach all your videos berry nice kipp them coming thanks Carlos Tello
I've seen where alot of people have wanted or requested drains in bait tanks or have ask about a drain in a few comments.Just a quick note u got to pump water in the tank anyway or water hose it.But where I'm going with this is if u dont pump the water out and just drain it in the boat its salt water and anything it blows on that is able to be corroded will so keep that in mind.Salt water will pit everything.Just thought I would throw this in there for people wanting drains in there tank 👍
Come on bro!! That’s WAY more than $2000!!😂😂 I actually only added the dimmers and some switches. Everything else came with the tank, I just rewired some things. Thanks brother.
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS thats a lot of features on a tank. What did that sell back then? The decals add an extra $500 to the price if you evert sell it...LOL!
The built in wells actually do a great job for certain things. I use them when the water is cold enough to keep them running all day and when I’m only keeping a few dozen baits. I can switch from pumping IN to recirculating and just add ice and salt. Of course there is no filter so you will need to do a few water changes with more ice and salt. This boat doesn’t care about that extra weight at all with that 350 on there, but I definitely can’t get the bow up high like without it. 😁
Those diffuser need a pretty strong pump. What DC air pumps are you using? I don't think the standard Power bubbles will cut it with those. I've all but gone away from using bubblers and use the same keepalive pumps used by Evolution in my own tube\sock filter design. I keep fresh water Alewives. But more air this time of year helps alot.
That’s actually what I’m using. Two of the Power Bubbles double air pumps by Metal Marine. I used to go through these pumps like crazy until they sealed the circuits in resin. Now they last quite a while. These diffusers don’t need a lot of crazy pressure to work well. I went through every kind of diffuser on the market before I found these. I’m doing a follow up video to this where I’ll open up the cover to show the pumps and wiring. Great comment brother, I’m sure a few guys were wondering the same thing. Thanks!
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS That's great to know! Most diffusers either need so much pressure to work or they create too large of a bubble. These look like the perfect balance. I'm ordering now. ha! I can get you pics of my tube design. You may get some ideas out of it. I started with a gravity system close to yours and it required more attention than I could provide (changing media) if I wanted to hold bait over night. The socks give me 24-48 hours.
Duayne Barr Heck yeah! I’d love to see it. Send we some pics. Mikesmedley9@gmail.com I had to drill those overflow holes that you see in the filter baskets for exactly what you’re talking about. They would clog and pump the water out 😳
They are OWUDE brand. I found them on Amazon. They are getting old and need a cleaning. They actually do even better than this after I clean them with vinegar. I have been very pleased with them.
Not that you would need one but have you ever thought of going with an oxygen tank system? I hear they help to keep the water cool and of course a good supply of oxygen. I just bought a 40 gallon Catfish Addiction Chiller Bait Tank, check em out! It doesn’t come with an oxygen system and probably wouldn’t need one, great tank!
Thanks for the info brother. I used Oxygen a few times back in the NSBA days, but never found it to be a “must-have”. How do you like that Chiller tank?
Mike Smedley It’s great Mike. This thing is seriously insulated. Filled it with 57 degree well water and let it sit in my hot humid shed, five days later the water temperature was just 64 degrees. It comes with a 1000 gph Johnson pump and an electronic venturi that produces a boat load of tiny bubbles and it has a 20,000 hour life expectancy. Can fill it all the way to the brim with water as it is spill proof. Rubber pads on the bottom keep it from sliding around. Four drain holes and a very good simplistic filter system. Only thing I would consider doing to it is adding a blue interior light for night fishing. I’ll never need another bait tank with this puppy!
B VM Can’t you see it at the top of the frame once in a while?? It’s a shotgun condenser mic that pokes its head out once in a while😂😂. Didn’t sound better?
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS wheres the follow up video on plumbing? Also what do you do to condition the water? Any additives or ice anything like that?
mybrotherken1 I added a drain plug in the floor, but originally the tank was designed to pump out. It came with a length of hose you pop onto the pipe in the filter basket. (You see it when I remove the filters) Just flip the pump switch and it pumps over the side.
Sure. You can do that. Lots of guys use “purge tanks” and then individually net each bait out leaving the slime behind. Some guys use a floating net/cage floating next to the boat to dump into. They technically don’t “purge” (poop) but it does leave the slime that the net scraped off behind. I personally would rather handle them less and just run the pumps wide open for a while.
Did you know you can use an old desktop computer supply to get 12volts from an extention cord while you are home overnight for your pumps. ua-cam.com/video/lI-2SMqznCo/v-deo.html I hope this helps some of you.
PLEASE SHARE SOME OF YOUR BAIT TANK TIPS HERE!
I also added links for the Motor Dimmer in the description. amzn.to/31rfjWM
Best tip I was given years ago was adding salt , it makes a world of difference
That is actually a totally awesome tank build. Was looking to see what people have done and I cannot believe how fortunate I am to have come across your video.
John Slonsky Awesome! Glad you dig it!! 😁😁😁😁thanks brother.
I've seen the bilge pump Venturi pipes, I liked the idea of no clogged spray bars anymore. At the time they were 40 bucks so i ended up making one for nearly nothing. Attached a T fitting and a 45 degree fitting to a Bilge pump. Cut the tip of my air line running into it, and could always adjust the air flow by rotating the air line. MAN if i would of added a dimmer to the pump would of been a game changer. it churned the water and added air. Keep up the cool tips!
All I can say is, THANK YOU. I have a long way to go in my Striper fishing journey but, I feel like I'll make it as long as I can learn from Team Old Skool
Thanks brother!!! I really appreciate it. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏😁👍👍
Good friends with owner of Evolution... the amount of time put in tweaking and making things perfect is insane. Best on the market and the easiest to get in contact with, some of these companies it’s nearly impossible to even place an order let alone find them. Nice video!
Thanks brother!! I have a few buddies that have his tanks. They like them a lot.
5 star brother all bait should be number one priority over everything.Killer video my friend your tank is your lifeline and makes a difference a huge difference in catching fish.Your tank is baaaaaaad I want it lol!!!!It has it all and like u said its setup for all species of bait,weather temps,and so on.Everything u said is so important and all those features are killer.2 thumbs up Team old school baby!!!
THANKS BROTHER!!! You know what babysitting Bait is like. Miserable when you just want to sleep so you can fish in the am.
Thx Mike,
Building me a homemade tank, this video will help!!
Striper Soup represented! Awesome vid Mike.
You know it! Thanks Brother!! 😁😁😁👍👍
Awesome bait tank!
Mike Clayton thanks brother!!
Mike, I just got a 16ft Carolina skiff. lots of open floor for a bait tank but I was wondering what bait tank you would recommend for keeping blueback herring
Nice work, thanks. Subbed.
How many folks watched the last 90 seconds?
Thanks brother!!! The end helps short videos big time with the crazy UA-cam algorithm. Videos over 10 minutes get recommended way more than 6-8 minutes.
I was waiting for outtakes or some hidden knowledge or something. 😀 Thanks for the info, I've learned something new today about the tube.
Just saw this video. Amazing upgrades. Mine is on the way to you. Lol
Good video.
Awesome info.. Thank you very much.
Thank you
I just bought my first shad bait tank and I'm trying to learn as much as possible. I'm going to pick it up Saturday, I have no idea what all it exactly comes with. I'm curious of what all minerals or anything else that I need to add to the water. I've also noticed that some tanks have blue water in them. Idk if that's a mineral in the water or a light in the tank. Any info would be appreciated.
That’s a dye that’s in some treatments. Get Shad Crack from Striper Soup. It has everything you need in it. If you can’t get it just use rock salt and foam off. They make lots of different additives like prime, but unless you are keeping bait in the tank for several days, salt and foam off is all I normally use. Or Shad crack if I have it. Especially in winter when it’s easy to keep Shad.
Hi there. Question for you if you don't mind. If I just want to keep bait alive for the days fishing could I just hook up a cooler filled with ocean water to an inlet pump and an outlet and just have the water slowly coming in and going out through out the days fishing. Like constantly refilling and out flowing with new water from the ocean without the need for all the filters, air stones, etc? On my boat I have a couple wash down pumps that pull water from the ocean. So my thought is to just put a bait cooler/container on my back swim grid and have it constantly filling and out flowing ocean water to keep the bait fresh and alive. Do you think this will work? I could put flow restricter/dimmers on the pumps so the water isn't filling/out flowing too quickly. Was also concerned though that maybe the bait might all get sucked to the outflow port on the tank though but I could put that up on the top and just have it constantly overflowing out onto the swim grid.
Always pan fished for the most part but just now getting into striper fishing. I currently do not have a bait tank and am wondering where to start. I currently have a 22 foot walk around striper. What would you recommend ?
There are quite a few good bait tanks out nowadays. Creek Bank, Mel’s and the new Extreme tanks are great. The classic Super Bait tanks are also solid. Go with the biggest you can fit.
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS thanks!
Hey Mike, how well do those air pumps work by themselves? Would your bait tank be able to keep blueback herring alive with only the air pumps running? Thank you
Sure. Herring are way cleaner than Gizzard Shad, but it all depends on water temp. Below 60degrees and you could pack that tank with bait and they would do well. 75-80degrees is tougher. You can’t put as many in the tank and you would need several water changes.
How do you keep the water temperature cool in that size tank. I have a 40 gallon and first year using it . Also thanks for the scotch bright idea
It’s only a real issue in summer. Fall thru early spring it fills with cold lake water. I carry bags of ice and salt in summer. You can also get a bilge pump and 20ft of flexible hose to pump water in from the deep cool water. I keep a 20’ hose and pump on board but I prefer just adding ice every few hours. 👍
How does the filter work? I assume the crude gets sucked in and runs through the pump and then goes to the filters? I have built a lot of tanks but I am not crazy about pumping scales through the pump. Seems like they would clog a lot? I love that dimmer switch! I am about to order one! Great video!
You’re right!!! Doesn’t sound like a great idea and it was a huge concern of mine at first, but it has never been an issue. Not even once. Scales just go right thru and I’ve had EVERY types of bait you can imagine in there since 2003. 🤷🏻♂️
What type of 12 volt aerator are you using in your 50 gallon bait tank? If you dont mind sharing the info with me, I am very interested. Old school is doing it right! Thank you.
It’s called POWER BUBBLES by Marine Metals. 👍👍👍
Great video, Mike. I have really enjoyed your videos. I'm just getting into the striper and live bait world, so I have a lot to learn. I decided to build a bait tank for my dock, because I can only keep bait alive about an hour right now on Lake Buchanan with the surface temps above 90. I'm building a tank that will pull water from about 7 or 8 foot deep and pump into the tank and have another pump pumping out the dirty stuff back into the lake, so I'm not using filters for that. However, I do want to make my bait tank similar to this one with the drip baskets so I can reroute my pumps with some valves if I want to take this tank on my boat. Here is my question. It appears on this tank that the water is sucked out in the back below your pumps and switches then pumped into the tank towards the center then past your angled water jets then into your drip baskets. Is this correct? If so, isn't the water that's being sprayed back into the tank dirty water that has not yet reached the drip baskets? I feel like I'm missing something here, just not sure what it is. If you could clarify that for me it would be greatly appreciated. Keep the great videos coming!
Yes, the amount of water that is spraying hasn’t reached the filter baskets yet, but it a relatively small amount those two baskets filter ALOT of water so it’s minimal loss. I can close those off completely if I want. Let me know how your system works. I’ve tried stuff like that, but in summer that water is still way too warm, and you won’t have the benefit of salt.
Great video Can I get the info on your pumps and filters I’m making a home made tank and would like to steal your setup
Thanks brother. I use Rule 750 livewell pumps and the double micro bubble pumps. 👍
Hi Mike I really like your bait tank and setting up I wander if I can’t put that on my 18-1/2 striper boat live well I wach all your videos berry nice kipp them coming thanks Carlos Tello
Definitely. Thanks brother!!
I've seen where alot of people have wanted or requested drains in bait tanks or have ask about a drain in a few comments.Just a quick note u got to pump water in the tank anyway or water hose it.But where I'm going with this is if u dont pump the water out and just drain it in the boat its salt water and anything it blows on that is able to be corroded will so keep that in mind.Salt water will pit everything.Just thought I would throw this in there for people wanting drains in there tank 👍
David Farley Definitely something to consider. Especially if your boat never hits saltwater.
So on those filter boxes you only have holes up higher than filter material, sorta just an over flo set up, no holes in bottom
WOW! Nice work. You just turned a $600 bait tank into a $2,000 one....LOL!! Very impressive! Good content.....
Come on bro!! That’s WAY more than $2000!!😂😂
I actually only added the dimmers and some switches. Everything else came with the tank, I just rewired some things. Thanks brother.
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS thats a lot of features on a tank. What did that sell back then? The decals add an extra $500 to the price if you evert sell it...LOL!
Dieter Melhorn Fishing Absolutely! Decals add that custom flavor.
Dieter Melhorn Fishing it sold for around $550 in 2003. Came with 2 water pumps 2 double air pumps and the timer switch on top.
Mike Smedley no wonder they went out of business!! That’s a lot of tank for that price....
How is the 248 with an extra 350 pounds up there? Of course takes up some space too. What about the standard well?
The built in wells actually do a great job for certain things. I use them when the water is cold enough to keep them running all day and when I’m only keeping a few dozen baits. I can switch from pumping IN to recirculating and just add ice and salt. Of course there is no filter so you will need to do a few water changes with more ice and salt. This boat doesn’t care about that extra weight at all with that 350 on there, but I definitely can’t get the bow up high like without it. 😁
Those diffuser need a pretty strong pump. What DC air pumps are you using? I don't think the standard Power bubbles will cut it with those. I've all but gone away from using bubblers and use the same keepalive pumps used by Evolution in my own tube\sock filter design. I keep fresh water Alewives. But more air this time of year helps alot.
That’s actually what I’m using. Two of the Power Bubbles double air pumps by Metal Marine. I used to go through these pumps like crazy until they sealed the circuits in resin. Now they last quite a while. These diffusers don’t need a lot of crazy pressure to work well. I went through every kind of diffuser on the market before I found these. I’m doing a follow up video to this where I’ll open up the cover to show the pumps and wiring.
Great comment brother, I’m sure a few guys were wondering the same thing. Thanks!
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS That's great to know! Most diffusers either need so much pressure to work or they create too large of a bubble. These look like the perfect balance. I'm ordering now. ha! I can get you pics of my tube design. You may get some ideas out of it. I started with a gravity system close to yours and it required more attention than I could provide (changing media) if I wanted to hold bait over night. The socks give me 24-48 hours.
Duayne Barr Heck yeah! I’d love to see it. Send we some pics. Mikesmedley9@gmail.com
I had to drill those overflow holes that you see in the filter baskets for exactly what you’re talking about. They would clog and pump the water out 😳
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS Are you using some sort of holder to keep those diffusers in place?
Duayne Barr Good old 3M 2 sided tape.
What kind of diffuser are u using they seem to do better the square one I use with my oxygen system
They are OWUDE brand. I found them on Amazon. They are getting old and need a cleaning. They actually do even better than this after I clean them with vinegar. I have been very pleased with them.
Nick Lankford Would love to hear some of your Bait Keepin tips brother!! Post a few right here. Share that knowledge!!
Hey mike; is there anyway I could possibly buy any of your old rod and reels u dont use anymore? I really like all ur gear.
Jason Swing hey brother. We donate a lot of our older stuff, I don’t really have anything right now but shoot me an email. Mikesmedley9@gmail.com
Good video man. Lovethe videos
Larry Hobbs Thanks Larry!!
Larry Hobbs Would love to hear some Bait Keeping tips you have learned over the years Brother. Share a few here if you have a minute. Thanks Larry!
Not that you would need one but have you ever thought of going with an oxygen tank system? I hear they help to keep the water cool and of course a good supply of oxygen. I just bought a 40 gallon Catfish Addiction Chiller Bait Tank, check em out! It doesn’t come with an oxygen system and probably wouldn’t need one, great tank!
Thanks for the info brother. I used Oxygen a few times back in the NSBA days, but never found it to be a “must-have”. How do you like that Chiller tank?
Mike Smedley It’s great Mike. This thing is seriously insulated. Filled it with 57 degree well water and let it sit in my hot humid shed, five days later the water temperature was just 64 degrees. It comes with a 1000 gph Johnson pump and an electronic venturi that produces a boat load of tiny bubbles and it has a 20,000 hour life expectancy. Can fill it all the way to the brim with water as it is spill proof. Rubber pads on the bottom keep it from sliding around. Four drain holes and a very good simplistic filter system. Only thing I would consider doing to it is adding a blue interior light for night fishing. I’ll never need another bait tank with this puppy!
terry mise Would love to hear some of your Bait Keeping tips brother!! Post a few right here. Share that knowledge!!
Did you ever make how you wired it up video?
Sorry brother. Never did. Need to.
Heck I need to just bring you my tank and we do it together
Wheres the new mic bro!?!
B VM Can’t you see it at the top of the frame once in a while?? It’s a shotgun condenser mic that pokes its head out once in a while😂😂. Didn’t sound better?
Sounded excellent. Just giving u a hard time. Any way I could see the way the pumps are irrigated? Are the at the bottom under the grate?
Sure. I’m doing another one with the back cover off so you can see the wiring and plumbing.
Sweet thank you sir
@@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS wheres the follow up video on plumbing? Also what do you do to condition the water? Any additives or ice anything like that?
How do you fill and empty
mybrotherken1 I added a drain plug in the floor, but originally the tank was designed to pump out. It came with a length of hose you pop onto the pipe in the filter basket. (You see it when I remove the filters) Just flip the pump switch and it pumps over the side.
audio sounds way more crisp bro.
THANK YOU BROTHER!! Did you notice the wind screen on the mic popping in and out of the top of the frame 😂😂. I had to trim it down to fix that.
Why can't you dump them in the live well for a few minutes first to give them time to puke and stuff ? Then transfer them to your bait tank.
Sure. You can do that. Lots of guys use “purge tanks” and then individually net each bait out leaving the slime behind. Some guys use a floating net/cage floating next to the boat to dump into. They technically don’t “purge” (poop) but it does leave the slime that the net scraped off behind. I personally would rather handle them less and just run the pumps wide open for a while.
Did you know you can use an old desktop computer supply to get 12volts from an extention cord while you are home overnight for your pumps. ua-cam.com/video/lI-2SMqznCo/v-deo.html I hope this helps some of you.
Interesting.
What kind of amperage can a laptop supply? Serious question.