Aerator cooking bait

[polk county]

I have a bilge pump type aerator that I use in a 30 gallon cooler. The problem is that after a few hours of aerating the water heats up and kills the bait. This happens in salt as well as fresh. Even in the cool of night. The bait starts to jump around and then goes belly up. This is basically what I have http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_1283____SearchResults

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Aerator cooking bait

Well, when you pump water you're adding energy to it, so it get's warmer. As you've seen if you keep pumping water around in circles in a well insulated container long enough it will heat up quite a bit.

For one thing I wouldn't think that aeration would be needed continuously. It might take some experimentation to find out what works, but maybe something like 2 minutes on and 5 minutes off.

Also, you could regulate the temperature with ice - a few quart milk jugs worth ought to last a long time. And a cheap aquarium thermometer will help you keep the temperature in the ballpark.