Maximize Your Hookups with Proper Bait Care
Keeping bait alive and active isn’t just luck—it’s strategy. Conditioning live bait like pilchards, goggle eyes, threadfin, and crustaceans requires more than just throwing feed in the tank. Frozen feeds alone often lack the essential nutrients needed to maintain fish health in high-stress environments like pens or livewells. That’s why Keys Feeds, trusted by captains across the Florida Keys, formulates premium bait fish food designed to promote vitality, reduce stress, and improve survival. You can see our whole line of products here. But nutrition is only one piece of the puzzle. A complete bait care program must also consider feed quantity, frequency, timing, and species behavior to ensure optimal performance and reduce aggression within the pen or tank.
Ingredients
Each component in Keys Feeds is carefully selected to serve specific nutritional and functional roles. Ingredients like krill meal, fish meal, and fish oil not only provide essential proteins and fatty acids but also enhance palatability, making the feed highly appealing to fish. Additional ingredients are incorporated to alleviate stress and boost immune responses, thereby improving the health and vitality of the bait. We ensure that all our ingredients are fresh and free from pathogens. Furthermore, our proprietary vitamin blend is designed to maintain the quality of the feed, enhancing the overall performance and health of the fish. Keys Feeds also include specialized ingredients that fortify stress resistance and increase the thickness of the slime layer on the fish. These additions elevate enzyme levels in the mucous layer on the skin, improving the effectiveness of this protective barrier against parasites and pathogens.
Food Storage
Storing formulated feed under appropriate conditions can be challenging, especially in climates that are rarely cool or dry, such as the Florida Keys and similar coastal areas. A practical solution is to store the majority of the feed in a cool, dry area, taking only a week’s supply to the dockside when needed. Keys Feeds are packaged in screw-top buckets, which are effective at keeping moisture and humidity out of the feed. Additionally, we’ve enhanced our feed with extra antioxidants to help prevent spoilage. Despite these measures, it’s important to avoid using feed that shows signs of mold, discoloration, or has an off smell.
Feed Training and Weaning
We’ve successfully introduced nearly every species of bait fish to Keys Feeds from the onset. Initially, fish introduced to a new pen may be stressed and reluctant to eat. Typically, it might take a few feeding attempts before one fish, driven by curiosity or hunger, takes a bite. Once one fish starts feeding, the rest of the school usually follows quickly, recognizing the pellets as food.
An effective strategy to accelerate the transition from natural to Keys Feeds is the use of a “teacher fish.” These are fish that are already accustomed to feeding on pellets. Keeping a few feed-trained fish in the cage, instead of removing all for a fishing trip, encourages newly added bait to accept the formulated feed more readily, especially if they observe others feeding aggressively.
For species that are hesitant to switch from natural feeds, co-feeding with Keys Feeds for a day or two can be beneficial. However, it’s important to note that natural feeds, particularly when frozen and thawed, can dilute the nutritional value of any feed due to loss of vitamins. A suggested method for weaning fish off natural feeds involves a phased approach: start with a 50/50 mix of natural and Keys Feeds on the first day, shift to 25% natural and 75% Keys on the second day, and then switch entirely to Keys Feeds by the third day. Although this rapid transition may seem drastic, especially if natural feeds have been a staple, it is crucial for enhancing the fish’s overall health and nutrition.
Frozen vs Keys Feeds
Some believe that offering a combination of frozen natural feeds and formulated feeds is the best strategy, assuming that each fish will consume a bit of both. However, gut content analyses have revealed that typically, certain fish will exclusively consume the natural feeds, while others will only eat the formulated feeds. This pattern suggests that while the average health of the fish population may appear robust and vigorous, there are likely to be individuals that suffer from nutritional deficiencies, manifesting as sickness and lethargy. Therefore, it is important to monitor feeding habits closely to ensure that all fish are receiving a balanced diet that includes all necessary nutrients.
Feeding Rate
An optimal feeding regimen takes into consideration feeding rate, frequency, and timing, to ensure all fish receive adequate nutrition. Ideally, fish should be fed only as much as they can consume in about 3–5 minutes. To maximize health, feed them multiple times a day, with smaller fish typically requiring more frequent feedings. The more you feed fish, the more they will grow.
These recommendations apply to dry formulated feeds like Keys Feed, which contain less than 10% water, unlike natural feeds (75–80% water). A pound of Keys Feed delivers four times the protein and energy of natural feeds, making it a more cost-effective and efficient option when adjusted for water content.
Feeding Frequency
While feeding bait fish six to eight times per day may be optimal, it’s understandable that such a frequent schedule may not be feasible for many people. At a minimum, feeding twice per day is recommended if more frequent feedings are not possible. The optimal time of day for feeding can vary by species. For instance, pinfish and sand perch typically do not feed well at night, dawn, or dusk and prefer to eat during daylight hours. In contrast, species like goggle eyes and threadfin are more adaptable to different feeding times.
The best approach to determine the most effective feeding times and frequencies is through careful observation of how your specific species responds within your system. Monitoring their behaviors and preferences will guide you in optimizing their feeding schedule to ensure their health and vitality.
Fish Handling
Anyone experienced in raising, feeding, or utilizing live baits understands that rough handling can severely impact the quality and vitality of the bait. This is true for all stages, from catching and transporting to holding the bait fish. Handling methods, like feeding programs, should be tailored to the specific needs of each fish species and the conditions at each location. Proper handling is crucial, as it is as vital to the survival rate of the bait fish as feeding.
All fish possess a mucous layer over their skin, which serves multiple protective functions, including shielding the fish from parasites and pathogens, and aiding in osmoregulation—the balance of salts and water within their bodies. Physical contact, such as touching fish with bare hands or using a dry net, can damage this slime layer. Once in a holding pen, this layer can regenerate through proper nutrition and water quality management, but until then, the fish remain susceptible.
Particularly for marine baitfish, which have lower salt concentrations in their blood compared to their environment, stress can lead to significant water loss from their bodies into the surrounding water, causing dehydration and other physiological issues.
When handling bait fish like ballyhoo, goggle eye, or threadfin caught by hook and line, it is preferable to use a dehooking device to transfer them directly into the live well without physical contact. When removing fish from a live well or pen, avoid overcrowding the net and opt for a “wet net,” where the fish are transported in water, to minimize damage.
On docks significantly higher than the water, stocking a pen without causing stress can be challenging. Traditional methods, such as “dry docking” where the pen is loaded on the dock and then placed in the water, can remove much of the slime layer and cause physical injuries to species like pinfish, whose spiny rays may injure other fish. While this might not pose an immediate problem if the fish are used quickly, it can reduce their longevity and lead to rapid fungal infections.
For those whose docks are far from the water, using a length of 4 or 6-inch diameter PVC sewer pipe can facilitate loading the pens more gently. Angling the pipe towards the water and sliding fish down into their cage can significantly improve bait quality. Similarly, studies with salmon and trout have shown that even dropping fish from a height (such as from a bridge into a river) can result in good survival rates, provided the volume of water is adequate.
Keys Feeds includes various ingredients and nutrients designed to increase stress resistance and enhance the slime layer’s thickness. Specialty ingredients boost enzyme levels in the mucous layer, enhancing the skin’s protective barrier against parasites and pathogens. While Keys Feeds is formulated to support fish health, starting with undamaged fish always yields the best outcomes.
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