Thursday Tournaments

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

Last week all the fish lived and that is a good thing. At least as far as I could tell when I released them. I was out the next morning at 6 and looked around, didn't see any dead fish but guess you really never know.

This week, please bring a bag of ice to help cool the water in your livewells. Hot surface temp lake water does not hold enough O2 to keep fish alive. As you pump lake water into the livewell you are actually hurting the fish more than helping them. Even if you leave your recirculate pump running nonstop, you still run the risk of the fish sufficating. So please don't pump lake water into the livewells except to fill the livewell at the beginning. Once the livewell is full, start the recirculate pump, put enough ice in the live well to cool the water approx. 5 degrees, and keep the recirculate pump running. Also use rejuvanate to help the fish with their slime coat and relax the fish. Don't cool the water to fast as this could shock the fish and harm it also. Add just enough ice to lower the temp about 5 degrees. In extremely well oxygenated water, the oxygen content is only 8 to 12 parts per million (PPM). Your bass will begin to suffocate when livewell oxygen levels fall below 6.5 PPM. Standard livewell aeration systems use the 21 percent atmospheric air to replenish the livewell oxygen. Unfortunately, oxygen and water do not mix well, especially during hot weather. Therefore, the "recycle" pumps are not very efficient at mixing oxygen into the water. Even with the best "recycle" pumps, livewell oxygen levels will drop below 6.5 PPM when the water temperature increases above 90 degrees. Add ice to this equation and leave the recycle pump running and you can increase the O2 level to up to 12 ppm and save that fish.

If you are fishing shallow water, remember that the surface temp in 5 foot of water might be 90 degrees or better. Pumping this water into your livewell can easily kill you fish. Try to fill the livewell with water from the middle of the lake and then add your ice etc.

We had a great tournamnet last week and things are looking really positive to get this thing going on a larger scale. We will be fishing this week till 9:15 pm incase you don't hear the announcment.

If you don't understand about the recirculate method to keep the fish alive, please take a look at the BASS site or google something to learn what you need to do to keep them alive.

DON'T FORGET WE DON'T WEIGH DEAD FISH ON THURSDAY NIGHTS SO YOU MUST WORK HARD AT KEEPING THEM ALIVE.

If you have any questions or comments on ways you KNOW will help us keep these fish alive, feel free to post something on here.

Good luck and see you all on Thursday.

One last thing, If you would like to use your boat to release fish, let me know at the end of the tournmant and we can switch off each week.

[Whack'emGood]

Amen Bob. You couldn't have made a better post!! We have been doing it exactly as you described all Summer down at TR, and haven't even had one dead fish. We use Catch-n-Release chemical and ice. It works great. And don't forget fellas to check on your fish periodically to make sure you don't need more ice or something. Take a quick peek in there to see how they are doing, and also see that your pumps are working and working correctly. If you don't look in there all night, something could be wrong in there and then its too late!

Top notch Bob. Hope to make it up there soon!

Whack'em

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

Tips to keep fish alive in hot water conditions:

1. if you use ice, make sure the ice is not chlorinated. This will kill your fish faster than lack of oxygen.

2. The best water additive that I have found that lowers fish stress levels and helps to maintain a slime coat is 1 cup of table salt per 10 gallons of water. Try it, you'll like it, and it's far cheaper than any commerical products that are designed to do the same thing.

3. Divide your fish. If you have 2 aerated tanks, put some fish in one and some in the other.

Guide's note to walleye fishermen: walleye are even harder to keep alive in the tank because they require more oxygen than warm water species like largemouth bass. That's why some states have outlawed walleye tournaments in the summer. In other words, if you want to take photographs of a big fish and turn him loose, the longer you play with him or leave him in the livewell, the better chance he will be the main course for the turtles.

Marty Thompson

Thompson Fishing Guide Service

www.fishstockton.com

417-424-BASS

Often imitated, never duplicated. Fish the Finest!