Livewell Question And Fish Care

[tpierce]

Had a question for anyone that has problems keeping fish alive during night tournaments. I just purchased a 2011 Nitro and have had major problems keeping fish alive. My old bass boat did not have this problem. Fished last night and had a nice limit with a 4 lb kicker. Kept the livewell on manual recirc and manual areate. Iced it twice with two block ice. Treated the water with catch and release. I ended up losing two fish, the 4lber and another keeper.... probably had 12lbs and a nice check but couldn't even weigh in due to the loss. Did also notice my water was hot by weigh in. I would think that 2 blocks of ice on just one side would keep the water cold enough. My fish are always well taken care. Have caught several big fish up to 30 feet and have had no problem keeping them alive.

I did look up a previous post about this that another member had, it was basically the same issue. I wonder if the issue was ever resolved?

[jmes]

It sounds like your doing most things correctly,First I would do a through cleaning of your Livewell sometimes you can get junk in there that can be harmful

I"m personally a big fan of Oxyenator it help enrich the live well with oxygen If you have this makes sure you have water in your livewell plenty early that way it has time to its job also, if you can your fill livewelll at home if you have well water that way the water already cool

Make sure you have the water and everything already done before you put your fish

Make sure you Fizz your fish

These are just somethings that I do

But remember sometime no matter what you do it just happens

[Bill Babler]

No need to fizz the fish if they are not caught deeper than 20 ft. and if they do not show signs of roll over. Your problem is that you are getting hot lake water in your tanks, or the lake is just to hot when you start for the ammount of Ice you are putting in.

Most livewells hold 20 gallons of water per side, or 40 gal total. MIne holds 30 gallons per side. If you are trying to cool 320 pounds of 85 + degree water with 20 pounds of ice, that may not be enough.

Fill your tanks up at home with the hose, running as cool as it will get. If you have a freeze proof faucet on your well pump head, fill it from there. That is going to be 55 degree water. From there, put in your livewell fish treatment and 1 10# block of Ice in each well. Make sure your valves are shut and run it on recycle.

IF you have a water softner at home, run water into your wells from that as the salt content seems to really help keep the fish on an even keel. You might have to add a bag of Ice to each if it is warm to start with, for a total of 20 pounds per side. Tap water is usually 60 to 65 degree and may require more ice to get it cool to begin with.

Another "HUGE PROBLEM" is if you have deep hooked a fish and you allow him to bleed into your livewell. If will not only kill him but usually every other fish in the well this time of the year. A biologist friend of mine said fish cannot process bloody water thru their gills in even very small ammounts. If you have a bleeder, for gosh sakes keep him by himself.

Great advice from jmes.

It's really time to stop derbying for the year. Fish care is a huge issue when the surface temps reach high 80's and now may be going into the low 90's

Good Luck