handling bass in warm water conditions

[Sac River Jim]

• Fill your livewell as soon as you launch your boat and turn on the aerator to build up dissolved oxygen levels.
• Run your aerator continuously, no matter what time of year. Fish confined in livewells use oxygen faster than an aerator can replace it.
• Add ice to the livewell. When water surface temperatures are higher than 85 degrees, adding ice will reduce the water temperature in a livewell by 10 degrees.
• Use block ice if possible. It melts slower than crushed or cubed ice, and it cools water more evenly. One eight-pound block will cool a 30-gallon livewell for about three hours. Carry extra blocks in an ice chest to use later.
• Add non-iodized salt, 1/3-cup per five gallons of livewell capacity, to help reduce stress on fish.
• Re-circulate water through your aerator rather than pump in hot surface water.
• Replace at least half of the livewell water two or three times daily to remove ammonia. Add additional ice and salt, and then resume recirculation.
• Commercial livewell additives help calm fish in livewells, helping reduce stress and decreasing their oxygen respiratory rates.

[fishinwrench]

Good grief, that's not a day of FISHING....that's a day full of livewell maintenance.

[Sac River Jim]

yea seemed a little overkill to me too. i fish mostly nights so not sure i need a crap load of ice and drain half my live wells. a little hydrogen peroxide and fishy valium goes a long ways.

[Deadstream]

I think I will just put them on a string.

[Unimog]

Makes catch and release an even more wonderful thing.

[MOPanfisher]

Yep my livewell is the whole lake, if it isn't something I want to take home back it goes, or if I am simply fishing for fun. I do however have a death well in my boat. If they get sent to the deathwell, their health issues are already settled, ice is good there too depending on time of year.

[kwall]

I'm like you MoPanfisher -- they go back in the lake or in my "ice well" ---never have understood why more people don't put their fish on ice immediately they are much better and the cold firms the meat a bit for an easier cleaning

[unclefish]

That sounds like a lot of work I'm out there for a little RR not fish maintenance. I carry a cooler with ice if I'm going to eat it in the cooler if not back in the lake. I bought my boat new 13 years ago and never used the live well for fish I use it for dry storage.

[slab slinger]

If you plan on keeping any fish to eat, my opinion Ice water is better than just ice. Just ice will cause the fish to lose there protective coating of slime and the slime Will settle to the bottom fish and just gets nasty. Make a ice slurry in your cooler and won't have to worry about it the little bit of water will hold the slime on them and not all over your fish and cooler.

I Keep them in live well till I see them start to fall off then throw the ones thats not looking to alive in the ice slurry in cooler. The most important thing I can tell ya about summer time meat fishing is as soon as you clean your fish rinse the fillets with cold water till they start to curl. You crappie guys know what I mean. They will get solft in summer and rinsing the fillets with cold water till they curl will firm up the meat and make for better eating.

[DADAKOTA]

Adding ice to a cooler can be tricky. Ice made with chlorinated water can kill your fish. Adding too much ice and dropping water temp too quickly or over 10 degrees can shock and kill your fish. I freeze water bottles and add them to the livewell as needed to cool the water. That way you have no worries about chlorinated water. I know of one fella that dumped an entire bag of ice in the livewell at Truman during a summer tourney instead of bagggin some up and adding a little at a time.. 3 of the 5 fish died and the other two may have lived after being released. Those 5 would have paid right at 1000 dollars had they been weighed.