For some time now, my fellow “blanglers” and I have chosen to fish live shrimp on our kayak outings. To keep the shrimp jumping, we have employed 5-gallon buckets outfit with bait aerators like the ones displayed above. We usually stow the bucket in our tankwell inside our milk crate. These aerators are great at the onset. They keep the shrimp lively nearly all day. The one drawback is that they don’t handle the elements while aboard a kayak. Despite being positioning as “water-resistant,” I have found they really don’t hold up well. Even with thorough cleaning and drying afterwards, mine usually crap out on me after a trip or two.

In order to stop repurchasing an aerator every trip or two, I’ve been looking into some alternatives. I recently came across the Shimano Live Well Bag pictured below.

It’s a little costly at roughly $200, but I think it would save me some money in the long run. It is a waterproof, soft-sided bag much like the popular coolers of today. It uses a 12 V battery to pump saltwater through an intake system that hangs over the side of your kayak. It also features a waterproof switch and rod holders. I haven’t seen many reviews on this bag yet, but I’m hoping to get some user feedback before I decide to invest in this thing.

A slightly cheaper option is to go with the Hook 1 Live Well. It is a similar setup using a hard-sided cooler.

Another alternative for the cost conscious angler is to build one yourself. Read this article on how to do it.

All-in-all, there are a lot of options for keeping bait alive on your kayak, but the cheapest solution is to just fish lures. At $15 bucks a pop for shrimp these days, you can’t beat the savings of going with many of the effective lure options available today.