handling bass in warm water conditions

[Walcrabass]

Guys,

One more thing. After the fishes body has cooled down they have to be gradually brought back up to the lake temp before being released. It takes some time. A four pound fish does not adjust quickly. This is one of the reasons that a study done showed that 40% of the weighed in fish die after being released. Putting them in the livewell and hauling them around is just really tough on them. The paper trail tournaments are the best for the fish. But then honesty can get in the way if you do not have a certified ( that is lie detector test) judge in the boat.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

[mjk86]

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

I had a live fish flop when i was cutting it and the knife went through the fish, through my thumb, and out the other side. After passing out and a quick trip to the ER to get sowed up I decided that ill never again clean a live fish. It sucked cuz the urgent care in kimberling was closed, so i had to go to the hospital in branson during traffic hour. Gettin iced from here on out!

[Walcrabass]

Also,

There are articles on the internet about how to make a "cooler" for your livewell. They actually work pretty well. Still have to remember to change out the water every once in awhile to keep the fish poop to a minimum.

Wally

[MOPanfisher]

I will tell you a quick story just so you can laugh. I don't like to clean live fish, not because I am squeamish or don't want to be cruel, simply for the reason mjk86 noted, they flop around a lot and sometimes bad things happen. So I generally keep an old fish scaled or even a screwdriver at my fish cleaning station to give any live ones a good whack. Well it so happened one day that both were missing, however for some reason lying there was a large eye-bolt, eye was maybe an inch and a half in diameter and a good heavy duty bolt. Decided to use it, worked fine for the first one or two, being careful to hold it right. But got careless and a good hard whack caught the fish on one side of the eye and the base of my thumb-nail with the other side. I would have liked to have seen the video, it will fold your knees, and make you sick to your stomach, if you smack just the base of the nail. Way worse than smacking your thumb with a hammer.

[Walcrabass]

OK,

Here is one device. Look up Koolwell on the internet. I have never seen one of these units but it looks pretty much like it would work. I think the thermostat is the key as you could send them into "Polar Shock" if you did not have one. I personally have iced my bait and caught fish for years. It is kind of a hassle but a livewell cooler would make things a lot simpler.

Wally

[fishinwrench]

Here's the thing though....Yes cool water helps fish calm down, but eventually you plan to release them, right?

When you release them back into the heat, that's when you likely do them the most harm.

They might seem fine when you first pull them out of a nice cool livewell BUT they may not handle being released from there back into the 82+ degree water.

You might wanna ask a BIOLOGIST to be "sure" (since you won't believe it until you hear it from one of them) but keeping their environment STABLE is probably best for the fishes welfare.

[dtrs5kprs]

Here's the thing though....Yes cool water helps fish calm down, but eventually you plan to release them, right?

When you release them back into the heat, that's when you likely do them the most harm.

They might seem fine when you first pull them out of a nice cool livewell BUT they may not handle being released from there back into the 82+ degree water.

You might wanna ask a BIOLOGIST to be "sure" (since you won't believe it until you hear it from one of them) but keeping their environment STABLE is probably best for the fishes welfare.

Good point. Those temp shocks are hard on them.

Very important to factor in when and where they were caught as well. Fish caught at noon in 4' of warm water have different issues than fish caught at 7am in 30'.

[Walcrabass]

You guys are exactly correct. That is why I said that it takes a while for the fish to warm back up. It has to be done slowly to prevent shock. Maybe a biologist who reads this can give us a rule of thumb for Bass according to their weight as to how long it takes them to bring things back to normal. Along with the cooler water in the livewell we also have to remember LOTS AND LOTS OF OXYGEN !!!!.

[dtrs5kprs]

You guys are exactly correct. That is why I said that it takes a while for the fish to warm back up. It has to be done slowly to prevent shock. Maybe a biologist who reads this can give us a rule of thumb for Bass according to their weight as to how long it takes them to bring things back to normal. Along with the cooler water in the livewell we also have to remember LOTS AND LOTS OF OXYGEN !!!!.

Yep. Too many guys run their pumps on auto in the summer. Fishies like bubbles.