Livewell

[NHmurph]

What do you recomend for rejuvenation for fish in the livewell. Want something that helps oxygen, slime, weight etc. Thanks in advance

[burleytog]

http://www.sure-life.com/

http://www.sure-life.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=27&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=55

[fishfordollars]

http://www.sure-life.com/

http://www.sure-life.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=27&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=55

X2

[Catt]

X3   

[Tin]

Bleach

x4

[TommyBass]

I'm not sure what all these people are doing to need extra help keeping their fish alive. All you need is an overly efficient system and the bass will be fine. They live in the lake just fine without all of the magic livewell pixie dust. 

I have an aluminum 18ft jon boat.  It came with an 11 gallon livewell that barely spits in water  :'(    So I fabricated a 37 gallon livewell for it (close to the total gallon sizes of most larger bass boats).  I use a 800 gph pump to bring fresh water in, and two overflows to keep up with it.  I also have a completely seperate circuit soley for recirculation at 500 gph. 

With both these systems running I've easily kept 20lb bag limits alive for 8+ hours on the hottest, nastiest days the midwest has to offer.  No magic liquids needed.  Actually they are too alive, and can be a little crazy to get out of the tank.  I can see using the basic stuff occaisionally in this instant just to help calm them down, but I don't feel like its all that natural for the fish. 

If your having trouble keeping it cool, throw a few frozen bottles of water in there occaisionally like they said.  Save your money on that stuff unless your livewell is just horrible.  I'm sure it works as advertised and may be nice to have on hand.  But I don't think its necessary.  I suppose a bottle of hydrogen peroxide would be cheap enough to keep on hand in the instant of a pump's failure... it would help.

I don't remember the video mentioning the ammonia / waste build up of the fish.  Do their products take care of that?  If not, you need fresh water occaisionally anyway, and you would be constantly adding more of their stuff the livewell as your previous application goes out your overflow.

On a side note: Sometimes I wonder what kind of livewells are comming on these new big rigs.  I fished several tournaments last year with not even a dizzy fish.  There were several top of the line rangers and tritons that brought in dead fish on more than one occaision.  Obviously there is more to it (such as hooked gills) but just a trend I've noticed.  Does the bilge / inner hull of a fiberglass boat retain more heat or something?  Do these boats come with appropriately sized pumps?

[Hot Rod]

On a side note: Sometimes I wonder what kind of livewells are comming on these new big rigs.  I fished several tournaments last year with not even a dizzy fish.  There were several top of the line rangers and tritons that brought in dead fish on more than one occaision.  Obviously there is more to it (such as hooked gills) but just a trend I've noticed.  Does the bilge / inner hull of a fiberglass boat retain more heat or something?  Do these boats come with appropriately sized pumps?

Making a long, fast run back to the weigh-in thru heavy chop/high waves can beat the heck out of fish.  Doesn't matter how good your livewell/boat is.    Could be another reason you've noticed guys in big bass rigs loosing some fish.

When I know I am going to be running back to weigh-in through rough stuff I try to allow extra time so I can slow down for that reason.

There are a couple great videos about fish care under the video section of this site and BASS also offers a great downloadable fish care manual.

[fishingj118]

i freeze water bottles too and add ice