[alanw]

Originally Posted by YakDout

Please tell me all the problems I will have. Mr engineer sir??

I don't know, I'm not an engineer. But it's not too hard to imagine, like Jorge said, crap that makes it past the pump will get stuck in the mesh, killing your bait first, then getting flushed back through the pump when you drain the water. I like the solid pvc solution. Turn it 90 degrees to drain. Keep it simple.

Besides, it seems like your problem is scales, not the drain. Always better to fix the cause than to treat the symptoms. Why are you getting so many scales off your bait? Something is wrong, scales = beat up bait.

Also, to drain the water you could just dump it out. It's just a bucket.