# Keeping finger mullet happy/alive



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

I can't seem to keep my bait finger mullet alive. I used to just put them straight from the cast net into a five-gallon bucket of seawater. They died. So I bought a Big Bubbles aerator that pushes air through one of those little stones. The mullet died once again, and the aerator covered the water surface with white-brown foam.

Anybody successfully keep fingers alive without using a bucket that hangs over the rail into the ocean?

Evan


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## seajay (Dec 18, 2005)

Great site
http://www.baitwells.com/shopping/browse.aspx


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## Too Busy (Sep 7, 2007)

I only get about an hour wthout a flow trol type bucket.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

I've found they need clean, clear, cool, moving water. If I'm fishing a pier with them, I'll keep the majority of them in a bait bucket over the rail in the water, but I'll take about 3-5 out at a time and put them in a 5 gallon bucket, then get more out of the bait bucket as needed.


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## BentHook (Dec 22, 2002)

Change the water out every 30 minutes even though you use the bubbles.The water gets hot fast in the summer months.Keep a lid on your bucket to keep the stress down and sun out.Don't overload the bucket with mullet. I can keep around 25 finger mullet alive at a time without any going belly up.
When I fish the beach, I use a bubbler that you plug into the adapter outlet that runs two lines for two 5 gal. buckets.One for large 8-9" mullet and the other for small mullet.
Changing the water is the most important thing to do.
I am now a member of the 300 club!


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## Fishman (Apr 23, 2000)

I had the same problem last year cat netting for fingers for the first time. This year I will drill 1/2 holes in the bucket at a top with a lid and place the bucket with mullet in the surf to let the water run through the bucket, hopefully this will help keep the mullet alive.


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## Fireline20 (Oct 2, 2007)

I don't fish from the piers, only from the surf, but I use a white 5 gallon bucket I bought from Lowe's and one of those clip on battery operated aerators. 

I keep them shaded with a shirt or a jacket and change the water about every 90 mins and they seem to be fine and dandy and I almost always throw some live ones back (that I have caught) at the end of the day


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## Lightload (Nov 30, 2007)

*Mullet*

Three problems, Uric acid, water temp and oxygen. 

I use a 48 qt "cube" cooler as a live well. I've got a 12V Big Bubbles aerater(sp) pumping air into the tank, I use Baitsaver granules to neutralize the acid and I use frozen bags of water to keep the temp down. Even with that, you have to change the water pretty much daily.

Also, you have to watch the number of mullet you're trying to keep in the livewell. As they die I pop them into the bait cooler and use them as "freshly dead".

It's a lot of work but short of freshly caught, it's the freshest bait you'll get.


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