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i have a ? about keeping fish in livewells. first off my livewell is a cooler 102qt with catch saver aerator kit.people say put ice in it so it kepts the temp down and won't stress the fish, fine i understand that. but i have seen people go overboard with ice and the water feel's like a frozen pond ,doesn't that stress the fish. and when you throw them back in the lake talk aboult stress going from the frezer to a hot tub. so if anybody can help me figure this one out, let your fingers type away. hey joe would love to here from you on this . it was nice to see you at whaley.

Hey Ray!

I know you are waiting to hear from the one and only "Mr. Moe" and some of the other veterans here, but I couldn't stop myself from entertaining your livewell question.

I truly believe that even though bass are not tropical fish, a drastic change in temperature to any living creature, even humans for that matter, will have poor results.

I have never used ice in my well, and I find that it is a better idea in very warm weather to keep aerator running constantly, keep adding fresh water (about a gallon every half hour to an hour provided you didn't over fill livewell right away), and be sure to change water completely whenever possible!

I have only weighed dead fish twice. One time was due to a faulty aerator, and the other because the fish swallowed a hook. Other than that I have never had a bass die due to poor water quality in my livewell.

You already have one major factor on your side, and that is the size of your livewell. I have always said that bass stand a much better chance of surviving in livewells that are considerably larger than the required 48 quarts, and I have always sacraficed space on my boat to accomodate larger livewells for this very reason!

Gentlemen- This is a democratic board.(Unless someone uses a profanity or writes nasty things about an individual.) Also, We have no "One and Only" personnel! First come; first served.

Ed makes a good case for not overdoing the ice! No living being likes going from very hot to very cold or vice versa. But, one of the real reasons for cooling the livewell water is to take advantage of one of the properties of cooler water- It retains oxygen better than warmer water. Oxygenated water is what every angler wants in his/her livewell.
And remember, I said cooler water, not ice cold water.
I'm sure some of our Southern Pro Staffers like Mofish and RiverRat can add their expertise to this thread. Guys?
JoeMo

PS- Ray, good to see you posting. Ed is also right that a 102 Qt. cooler is much better than any smaller livewell/cooler. Don't forget your additives like "Catch & Release"

Well let me see. I been fishing in tournaments for a while now and I too can say that I have lost two fish in the livewell. Both fish were deeply hooked and bleeding. I have never lost one to stress or lack of water. I feeze Ozarka water bottles that I use in my cooler to keep my water and Dr. Pepper cold. I also carry extas for the live well. I put one 12oz bottle in the live-well. This keeps the water cool, notice I said cool, not cold. I also use Keep-Alive live-well treatment in there with the bottle of ice. I use the bottles because I do not want to contaminate the water with clorine. Alot of bag ice has clorine in it and can be even more harmful to the fish than the stress of the heat. The Keep-Alive is suppose to take clorine out and calm the fish and replace slime coating. I don't take any chances and keep the frozen water in the bottle. (it also last longer that way). Oh yes and leave some space for air at the top of the bottle so that it floats. This will keep it up out of the way and not cause damage to the fish when running down the lake.

Like I said I take care of my fish and it has paid off in the long run. Not money wise but consevation is the key to our future in this sport. If every person in a 100 man tournament loses one fish each, look what impact that has on the lake!

My boat (2001 Statos 20ss) has the Pro-Air live-well and I leave them running the whole day also. Another good tip is to fill your live-well in the morning when tempitures are cooler.

Hope this helps.

Excellent post, Conley. Your concern for the bass' health is reflected in your description of how you prepare for a tournament. For example, the filling of the ice bottles to allow them to float. Now, that is a good suggestion.

Thanks for posting. JoeMo

thanks!!

I ran the Bass Wranglers tournament circuit for 3 years. In that time there were only 2 dead fish weighed in, which made us very proud. All boats were required to use Jungle Lab's Catch-and-Release formula in the livewells. The fish were also treated with the formula in the aired holding tank. A few of the anglers used some ice, but as a general rule, including myself, we just made sure the fish were getting plenty of bubbles.

By the way, the two dead fish came from aluminum livewells, which was of some interest to the people at Jungle Labs since these were not on hot days.

In addition, it has been said that rounded livewells reduce stress. I don't know how true this is, but if it doesn't hurt them there isn't any harm in trying.

Back to the water temperature factor, I believe it is more important to keep the temperature in the livewell as close as possible (on the cool side) to the water from which they came, and will be reintroduced. For that reason, you may consider keeping some sort of unbreakable temperature reading device in the livewell to see how it is matching with the one on your depthfinder (if so equipped).
Dan