Bait Tube... Torpedo Design

OK... this may be my last cabin fever project for a while. 

I came up with what I'm calling the Bait Torpedo. 

Think it'll work?  I guess we'll have to wait until spring to find out.  I thought the little expansion cap made a pretty nice and easy to remove lid.  It should float if dropped too.  I've never used one of these, but any suggestions on how to make it mo' better would be kindly appreciated.

I just finished my bait tube and my snare. I wanted to finish the new school power supply but finding a 10AA battery holder is near impossible in a store. Not even Radio Shack carries them. I did however order one off the internet. Hopefully it will be here in time for me to have it completed by Saturday.
I made the snare 36'' long as Erik said he wished his was longer. I can always cut it down if it proves to be too long.
I took a heat gun to my bait tube near the top to rough it up a bit to be able to get a better grip on it. The rope is attatched to the tube and the cap so I won't be losing either to fumble fingers. It is easy to unscrew the cap with the eye bolt and the rope doesn't twist as you unscrew it.





The beer and whipped cream??? Hey, it's bed time.

I'm wondering if you wouldn't want some weight at the nose of that torpedo...  that'll keep the nose down while travelling and keep the whole thing submerged while you're sitting still...

Looks neato.  Not sure if its true but I read somewhere that you have to make it out of the black tubing as it is slightly bouyant, while the white kind sinks??? 

Damn I bought all this stuff for a bait bucket about 4 months ago and then the bait tube thing comes up  maybe I can use the other stuff for transport to the fishing spots.

I see some good idea's on these bait tubes, good job on the snares too. 

the beer and whip cream just before bed time has me a little worried though 

Hey Gowen4bigfish~
It might have you a little worried, but racks up HUGE GAF points!!!!!

Beer, whipped cream and a snare?!?! Now that is kinky man... 

Where does one find an expansion cap?   I'm liking the look of that badboy and planning on spending the next storm in the garage with a drill and some PVC.

I found mine at the local Yardbirds hardware store.  They are in the plumbing section (obviously) and usually with the black ABS plastic pipe and accessories.  Home Depot locally only had metal ones.  Yardbirds was the only place I found the plastic ones.

Erik

 Looks good!  How much bait will it hold, and what is the bait?  I don't fish salt water (yet) so I'm a little clueless.

Bait would generally be anchovies, jack smelt or maybe a herring, I think it is a bit to small for a little perch.

I took my bait tube out for a test run at Buck's Saturday. I had it in the water while I was anchored fishing..ZERO slap on the hull. I forgot it was in the water and pulled anchor and started paddling. Didn't notice any drag at all. I didn't realize it was out until I anchored in a different location and noticed an extra rope over the side.
I will be taking this thing with me every time I fish with live bait.

I took my bait tube out for a test run at Buck's Saturday. I had it in the water while I was anchored fishing..ZERO slap on the hull. I forgot it was in the water and pulled anchor and started paddling. Didn't notice any drag at all. I didn't realize it was out until I anchored in a different location and noticed an extra rope over the side.
I will be taking this thing with me every time I fish with live bait.

Hey Tote, can you post a close up picture of yours also, I was wondering about the size of the holes for transporting anchovies,  plus, when I went to radio shak to get my battery holder, the guy asked me why I needed 10.  he said that the double a's are 1.5 volts each and if you add them up, 8 will make 12 volts.  He wasn't wrong either, i've been using an 8 pack the whole time and with duracells I get about 12 to 16 hours of ff time.   I buy mine from home depot and then just write them off with the rest of my business expenses, er,,,   I mean, expendable fishing items.  Does anyone have recomendations for rechargeable batteries brands.   John

All small alkaline batteries make 1.5 volts, so 8 will work.  Most rechargeable batteries only make 1.2 volts...X 10 += 12 volts.

JTF~

My bait tube is 21" from bottom to tip of eye bolt. Start with a 16 1/2" piece of 1 1/2" ABS.  Wherever you want a rougher area on the tube to grip, take a heat gun to it for a few seconds. Works great.  2" from the bottom drill a 5/16th" hole. then drill 4 more in a straight line 1 1/2 " apart. The next 2 holes are 2" apart ( 7 holes total ). Run a piece of rope through the last 2 holes ( see pic ) to connect to the eyebolt. Drill 5 holes in the bottom cap before gluing it on. Glue the threaded adapter to the top. Drill a hole through the top of the screw-on cap and put the eye bolt through it but don't bolt it on yet. Screw on the cap then tie a knot around the neck of eye bolt with the rope you ran through the holes. It is easier to fine tune the length before securing the eye bolt to the cap this way. Once you have the length fine tuned, secure the eye bolt to the cap and glue the rope to the side of the tube near the top. I wrapped it with red electrical tape to hold it in place. It also makes it easier to see when I bring it up.
The eye bolt makes it easy to unscrew and it adds just enough weight to keep it under. I use a quick clip on a rope to secure it to my kayak.
This is the top half.



The bottom half.



I also finished my battery pack. I got the 10 battery holder on line along with 2500mAh AA rechargeable batteries from http://www.thomas-distributing.com/battery-holders.htm The battery holder is $2.30.
The battery holder has a connector on top like that of a 9V battery so it makes it easy to take out.