You don't need to drill the tube full of holes. Just the drain (green) end caps. Glue (ABS glue "black") the trailing end. Glue the leading cap into a slip to thread coupler. Glue a male coupler to the tube. Now you can unscrew the leading cap and tip your tube and out comes a bait.
Always put your bait in tail 1st so they are pointing forward. They won't drown. Also make sure the bait is the size so it can't turn around.

How much bait are you holding in it?

I personally had issues with the threaded caps getting sand and salt in them then getting stuck.

My view on it is no holes in the side but lots in the caps. Slip caps only and sand the tube down a little to make getting off slightly easier. I dont drill holes in main tube just because i feel that it holds a little more water when retreiving bait (while tube isnt in water). Put bait in head first from the back and take them out head first from the front. No need to be fancy at all.

Oh and like Mike said, make it long enough to go all the way behind your kayak.

Alright I'm gonna have to try it. I'm not convinced sharks will be an issue, especially if you don't have to drill the tube full of holes. Thanks doe the real world experience, nice to clear up the speculation

Thanks, so you use slip caps on both ends huh. They never have fallen off? What do you attach your tow line to on the bait tube? zip tie loops?

I have never had any issues even with sanding the tube slightly.

I run my tow line in though the front cap out the back cap and then knot it. Run the line off to one side obviously.

Why didn't I think of that? Simple is always best.

In the picture I added two stainless steel washers, then clip a short length of bungee to the washers, then clip a tow line onto the bungee.

After reading about the sharks and seals going after the tubes, I will be adding a short length of 10 or 15# breakaway fishing line. Something grabs it, and snap, they can have it. I will get it back hopefully with teeth marks (a tooth would be even better) for another good kayak story.

So my bait tank battery does on me during my islander trip and I was love bait less for the whole afternoon so I want to build a bait tube as back up to take along.
Is there a reason that we want to build or use floating pipe instead of sinking pipe? I heard both ABS & PVC float
Thank you for your help!
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You want to use the black ABS not the gray schedule 80 or the white schedule 40.
If your in or close to the carlsbad area I can make you one for the price of materials. No worries.

Thank you very much for the offer but I'm in la/OC area
I was just wondering why we need to use floating ABS
Is it because of dragging issue? I'm thinking if you are using for live bait then don't you want it somewhat sink down to have water in the tube?
Thank you again!
45

I think the explanation is with tubing that doesn't float it will sink when water is added whereas the tubing that floats will remain neutrally buoyant and stay near the surface, not float on top, this will in turn reduce drag as apposed to having what would be essentially a rock at the end of a rope...

don't forget to send me your $.25! ........royalties you know :D

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...highlight=tube

Not just drag when paddling but also when you stop paddling it will sink and be sitting vertically instead of horizontally making your bait far less happy and making the odds of tangling it in kelp or such far better.

Thanks Andy!
But I can't see the pic of your bait tube.. :cheers1:

Thanks a bunch for all your help!
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Just made one ima try it out tomorrow at new port. Any1 wanna come? Gonna try n hit corona Del mar kelps or rockfish if someone comes with me http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/05/upegu8er.jpg

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

This is becoming more and more interesting. The more I go out the more I realize I only use a few pieces of bait. For the size of my current bait tank would not mind saving 30 less pounds to two around all day and also free up valuable space on the outback. I do like the tank for storing my rockfish as I am not a fan of dangling fish off the side. Will try this as well soon.

So I went to homedepot...

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/06/arysu8u7.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/06/ryhyvyve.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/06/umupabyz.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/06/gapa9uda.jpg
I made 2" and 3" version. I am planning to take 2" version with bait tank as a back up and 3" version when I am not taking my bait tank.
We will see how it works this weekend.
Thanks for all your help!
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That second one with the green drain caps is exactly what I made, 3" ABS pipe, glued one end up, put some duct tape on the other end so the cap would fit in there snuggly, ran a line all the way through and left about 10' to tie off to the yak so the tube will trail the rudder.

Great ideas on her thank guys! Havent tried it yet, can't wait to give it a go.

So I was out at Marina Del Rey briefly this morning and tested out the bait tube and it worked perfect. With the drainer cap the water flows so much there didn't seem to be much drag.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/08/8agyzude.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/08/ary9evy7.jpg

By the way swell was pretty high with short intervals.. Magicseaweed forecasted 1-2' but it was more like 3-5' at 2-3seconds
Almost got sick and made my trip shorter
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Good Job.
Easy Peasy. You just shaved 40lbs off your kayak.