Anyone know where I can pick up a Bait Saver Livewell in the 20 gallon size for the back of my pickup? I want to go and get one and not have to wait a week or two for it to arrive by UPS.

Alternatively, anyone have a suggestion for a better product than the Bait Saver, at a reasonable price, or a gerry rigged system that works?

I just need a unit for occasional livelining purposes but that will keep herring alive long enough for a 60 pounder to eat one of them! I'm usually just going from Gilbert Stuart to salt water right away but sometimes have to keep them alive for, say, 12 or 14 hours.

Mike T (mikecc) at M&D's sells the keepalive baitwells , he's in Wareham. I hear they work very well. ask him if they have any in stock.

I'd recommend the 35 gallon as it is still very compact... If there are any in stock...

Thanks for your comments.

I contacted Mike and he has a 30 gal tank left, but no pumps--they're on order. :'( They don't make a 35 gal. unit. The only issue now is whether to spend $200 when the herring run is about over.

Bob, do you plan on keeping any other baits live?

I intend to switch mine (after a modification or two) for eels when I'm done with herring... Yeh, tough call on whether to get one now or not but those keepalives are nice and will last you a while...

In what way do you have to "switch" it to accommodate eels? I would normally use a shiner bucket on top of some ice for eels. I would be afraid that eel slime might clog up the pump in a Keepalive.

We'll be cast-netting bait for fluke in a couple of weeks and this unit will work great for keeping them alive. We usually get bait at the Bay Campus dock and at the lobster dock in Jerusalem (sp?).

BTW, a guy caught a 26 incher last night inside the causeway at the WW, from the last rock up inside the chute, across the causeway from George's. Poor guy didn't have a tape measure and just kept it swimming on the line until I happened to come along and measured it for him. He was crushed that it wasn't legal. He also broke the tip of his rod on another big one.

I'm going to get the Keepalive unit (the problem is that I'm also setting up a big conventional rig for plug [and bait] casting off the beaches and I don't have a bottomless money well for fishing stuff!!) I'll take a drive down to Mike's to get it.

Those are the "switches" I'm going to make. I'll use the tank to keep my eels in the "eel cellar" between excursions. I'll still use the shiner bucket, improved for actually fishing them... I don't think I'll use the 12V floating aerator for the eels but I'll get a higher powered conventional aquarium air pump for when using the tank at the house.

What kind of "big conventional rig for plug [and bait] casting off the beaches" are you looking for? I'm selling my 1089 nine foot Sabre that was used for one year (caught a lot of nice fish on it) as I'm building another one (I want all of my rods to be "My Rods" :P ).

I was dunking those herring last night at Salty Brine and GIB to no avail. But in the process, I saw another potential spot to swim buckys ;D near there...

I want a rig for surf casting and have been focusing on the reel, for now, and haven't thought much about the rod. The reel choices I'm down to are the Shimano Calcutta series and the Abu garcia Morrum series. I really like the new Calcutta TE units, but I don't know how practical they are--they're expensive as hell but seem to be beautiful reels. But, then again, the Morrum line is really nice too. I like the Penn Ambassador line but everyone said that I should get additional stuff for one of them and the cost would end up being about the same as one of the top-of-the-line Morrums or Calcuttas, both of which have twice as many bearings as the Penns.

My thoughts have been to get a 10' or 10.5' rod so as to optimize the ability to keep line out of the surf, while I'm up to my neck in foam. However your 9' Sabre sounds good for a jetty rod.

I now have several Fenwick spinning rods which I am really partial to but they don't have a conventional rod that's as long as I want. I have a bunch of fly rods that I made years ago with Orvis blanks and I'd rather buy a custom than build my own again. Just getting old, I guess.

Send me an email and describe your vehicle so I'll know when I run across you at the WW or elsewhere. I'm usually in a red F-150 Off Road 4x4.

Bob, all I can say is that the Morrums are known to heavily corrode and that no ABU, and I really like them, can compare to the Calcutta 400. It's just that nice of a reel. If you are going to spend that kind of coin, the Calcutta is great...

I like that rod for eeling. A little stiffer than many eel rods but alot of good backbone for working the bouldered areas. OK for tossing bait too but not specialized for that like alot of other rods. It's a great breachway rod... I see alot of guys frishing the 10s and 11s off the breachway but there is really no need...

I drive a two-tone 92 Bronco with black cooler rack in front and home made rod racks up top. The typical surf ride. I traded my 98 F-150, Supercab, 4x4 Off-Road for a little Focus :'( so the wife can more easily manage transporting the baby. Wasn't easy for my 5-2 wife to put a child in the back of 6-6 truck....

BAHHHHH!!!!!! John, John, John.....you should have told her that "it builds character"!!! I use that line for many things....very universal, and rarely do people have a come back for it...they just roll their eyes and walk away.......but at least its keeps them quite! hee...hee

A new F-150 for a Focus--now THAT's selflessness!! I'll be looking for you at the Wall and around.

Yuh, it seems to me that the Calcuttas are beautiful reels. The TEs, with 10 BB, look good by have low line capacities. I'm sorry to hear about the Morrums and corrosion--I was tending in that direction.

I've been talking to Ron at Breachway B&T about a custom rod. I might go that way. I've had a couple of custom spinners in years past. One was stolen and the reel seat came loose on the other because the guy didn't mix the hardener and epoxy well enough, so I'm not so hot on customs.

The best rods I've ever used are the high-end Fenwick graphites that I have now, especially the Salmon/Steelhead M 8.5'--fantastic little rod with a little Prion (great reel, too) and 8 lb. test, and that includes my son's VERY expensive G. Loomis rig.

For casting bait, 2 or 3 oz. wood, or surf spoons, a broomstick works best IMHO. But for tossing 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigs a country mile, I find that fine craftsmanship works best on soft, near-tiny blanks.

The Fenwick rep showed me a M-H 10' HMG that they made up but decided not to produce. He said they figured there was too little demand for such a specialized rod. He wouldn't sell it to me!!