Aeration vs. Oxygenation
By Adam Johnson"It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen," said Jeff Beckwith, owner of Scenic Tackle. "I overloaded the bucket with minnows just to see how many would die."
Beckwith was guiding a few of us for perch on Lake Winnibigoshish and I let him sample one of the new oxygenation systems that is being built by Aqua Innovations. His minnow bucket was stuffed full of fatheads and crappie minnows with a few additional shiners, the toughest minnow to keep alive as far as most people are concerned.
"I can't believe none of these minnows are dying," said Beckwith each time he poked his nose over the edge of the bucket. "This is impossible."
In fact it's not impossible; anymore. Oxygen starvation has been a problem for bait dealers and anglers forever. You put a load of minnows in a bucket of water and after they suck the water clean of oxygen, they die.
We've tried aerators, but here's the problem with those. Aeration systems that try to pump air into a tube and push it through a stone put very little oxygen back into the water. This results in minnows dying until an equilibrium is established.
An example would be you putting a couple dozen minnows in a five-gallon bucket that has three-gallons of water in it. You add an aeration system which maintains about enough oxygen in the water to keep eight of the minnows alive. In the mean time 18 of the minnows are dying a slow death while the other eight are being stressed. Not a good way to keep your bait in good working order. You want your minnows to be lively and kicking when you send them down to find fish.
So what about this oxygenator. "It's a process where we take the water molecule and break it up," explained Jim Senkiw, the inventor of the oxygenator. "The oxygen molecule is extremely tiny and goes back into the liquid. The hydrogen molecule is bigger and just dissipates."
What this does is saturate the water with fresh oxygen and the minnows not only stay alive, they are hardy.
In the past we were always told to add ice to the water to slow down the minnow's metabolism so they used less oxygen. No need now with the oxygenator. "Actually, this did two things," said Senkiw. "Colder water holds more oxygen and this meant the minnows would live longer. They would still eventually suffocate, it just took more time.
"Temperature of the water is really not a factor for the oxygenator," Senkiw continued, "although the bait gets less stressed when the water is cooler. As long as you keep the water saturated in oxygen those minnows will be fine."
Beckwith had to really put his new toy to the test. He took the three-dozen minnows he had left after our trip to his house and put the bucket in front of the heating register to really warm up the water.
The next morning he looked in the bucket and could not believe his eyes. No dead minnows, and the water was luke-warm. He then set the bucket outside where the temperature was below zero. The water froze down half way from the top but when he brought the bucket in the next day and let it thaw out there were only two dead fatheads. My guide buddy is now a believer.
This concept for oxygenating water is cutting edge. It will revolutionize the way we maintain our bait. It goes light years beyond the pump-based aeration systems that are on the market now. It may cost more, but you make that up in short time in the amount of bait you save with it. If you are a minnow user you cannot be without one of these oxygenation units.
To get more information visit the Aqua Innovations web site at www.aquainnovationsinc.com. You technical guys will find some stuff there that will interest you more. All I know is that this unit works and some of my fishing buddies are believers too.
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