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keeping livies alive


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Hey guys, me and a mate have planned a 3 night stay at Wallaroo to hopefully land my first legal red off the jetty. :woohoo: I've bought a small inflatable kiddy pool to keep livies in for the overnight sessions but just had a thought, "how long will they stay alive?", and is there any way to keep them alive longer? obviously a fish tank pump and large airstone would be ideal, but can you get battery powered pumps of some sort? any help would be much appreciated as i dont really use live baits often. cheers! B)

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a battery operated aerator will last for ages. I picked one up recently for $19. As Softy said, change the water every hour or so. It also depends what you're using for bait. Salmon, Trumpeter, Macks and Tommies are all reasonably hardy and will survive a long time. Mullet, Gar, Whiting (all legal sized of course) will take a bit more effort to keep alive.

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wow thanks for the quick reply guys! :clap: softy, yeh I've done that in the past, pain in the but getting the bucket back up the jetty though. If all else fails we'll just do that but I was watching Niel from adventure bound catching bft off the rocks and saw him using a pool which gave me the idea, RIP. cheers CH, will get one just for day trips! the pool will be for all nighters ;) U4L, thats exactly what im after, where'd you get yours if you mind me asking?Thanks all! B)

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This time of year wallaroo jetty should be plentiful of chow' date=' good hardy live bait and in my opinion fairly good to eat aswell[/quote']last time we did a all nighter round the same time and yeh there were millions of them, and shitties and tomiies. Was good fun watching a school of squid come through and smash them! couldn't get one squid though, jigs would blow straight under the jetty.
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Those little battery powered aerators do a good job but might struggle to keep a kiddie pool full of livies going. I've got one of those pumps on a 25L water container like you use for camping and it works great, less water to aerate and fewer fish needing it, if you're in a spot were livies are prevalent and you can periodically top off your supply then it might work better.

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Those little battery powered aerators do a good job but might struggle to keep a kiddie pool full of livies going..

I was actually just thinkin that and think you might be right mate, may need two or use a bucket.. 1 would do for few hours but doubt it'd last all night. hmm, would be easier lugging the pool but risk puncturing it..catch 22 :unsure:
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how far are you sleeping from the water? just get an opera house yabbie net and block up the entrances. put your fish in there tie it onto something and leave it in the water. just be careful when low tide comes.... :whistle: not like my livies died coz they weren't in water anymore.if not catch mullet and trumpeter they live for hours without the need for constant water changes. i've had mullet live for 2 days in a bucket of fresh water. yep fresh.

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Used to run a couple of 2 ring kids pools to keep our livies kicking at the base of the cliffs in and around Jervis Bay ( NSW Sth Coast) , we used to keep slimies in one and yakkas in the other, and the pools only had one aerator in each, and a top up of fresh salt water every 2-4 hours keep em alive for the session which was anywhere form 8 - 12 hours. One thing to have on hand is a small dab net to get them out, otherwise you will chase them for hours in the pool,stressing your baits and decreasing the life span.. !!!!

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I use a mesh keeper net. I can't remember where I got mine from but the top ring is foam so it floats on the surface so you can keep some slack in the rope and don't have to worry about the outgoing tide. Just don't put live live squid in with your livies, I learnt this the hard way.What I have also found is more important than aeration is keeping the temperature of the water as close as possible to what it is in the water. Have experienced heaps of livies dying in well aerated water even after a few minutes. That is why I use the mesh keeper in the water. I even have a 12 volt bilge pump setup on 20 foot of garden hose that I use with a car battery and generator that acts like a live well for fishing off the rocks but that is another story.

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