I am in the process of designing and making my bait tank for holding shad for striper fishing, crappie minnows, as well as mud minnows and shrimp for coastal fishing.  It would be real nice if I could use the same tank for a limit of bass as well.  I had been reading around, and from what I hear, 20 gallons seems to be plenty ample to hold a limit of bass.  BASS says a minimum of 10 gallons. A lot of people use 40 - 70 qt. coolers, which is 10 - 17.5 gallons.  However, these guys are all using standard rectangular coolers.  My bait tank will be a bit different.

This isn't mine, but I am buying one of his spare barrels later in the week to make my tank out of.  It is a standard 20 gallon plastic barrel.  Obviously, if I thought it would be practical for a limit of bass, I would redesign the door to allow them in and out easier.  

What do y'all think.

Yep.  You need the round tank for the shad from what I understand.  And for the bass you just need it a couple inches longer then the bass.  Your tank looks like it is about 16 inches across so you would only be able to put a couple of 14 inch bass in it.  

2" longer than the fish.  Okay, that is what I needed to know.  I will get the exact over the weekend, when I pick it up, but from the sounds of it, it is probably out.

It will be the absolute perfect shad setup.  

This could be a stupid question, but what about designing it sideways? Could that work? Like say you turned it over on it's side, and then you cut part of the side (the side that would be the top part now).

Kind of the idea like this?

What this actually thing, but a the idea with it sidways and then you would have more length.  But then it might take up more room which we all want the most room possible.

Well, the reason the tank needs to be round, as the shad will swim around the perimeter.  If it is round, they will just keep swimming in a circle, which is good, but if it has square corners, they will get into a corner, be to stupid to get out, and will keep ramming the corner, making their nose all bloodshot.  Stripers, for whatever reason, do not like to eat shad that resemble Rudolph.  

Now, if I could get shad to swim in loops, as opposed to horizontal circles, that idea would work. ;D

Definately use round for shad.

What if you used a standard cooler but but places a round insert in it with air holes cut in the bottom and sides to allow for aeriation when you have shad?

Bill

What if you used a standard cooler but but places a round insert in it with air holes cut in the bottom and sides to allow for aeriation when you have shad?

Bill

That was the original idea, but my boat is rather small, so a 70 qt or more cooler doesn't give me any place to put my feet while driving.  This uses up more vertical space instead of horizontal space.  I may have the cooler just for T's, which I fish very few of, even fewer in my boats, but for my shad, I need it to fit better, as I fish for stripers quite a bit more than I need the tourney livewell.