Keeping Them Alive And Well.......

[Fontana Finesse Man]

Here is your scenario:

Tournament tomm and the fish you are on are 60 ft deep. Lake averages about 180-220 right now. Surface temp is 52. Fish are mostly spots.

You catch them, you fizz them if necessary, put additive in livewell.

What else can you do to help keep fish caught deep alive and healthy for weigh-in?

[McAlpine]

guys in our club swear by ICE in their livewell but I just use an additive and make sure to recirc plenty and have never lost one.

If I remember right, I am using Catch and Release addative. At weigh in I swear the fish have more gumption then when I put them in the livewell.

[J Francho]

Click the Catch and Release link to the right.

[Glenn]

Excellent question! Let's get started here: https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos

Watch those, then come back and I'll give you some more info. We have tons.

[lmoore]

Not necessarily going to fall under your scenario, but this is a little trick a guy taught me in a tournament one time. If you hook a fish bad where it's bleeding a lot and probably not going to make it (usually a tongue/throat type), take some of your livewell additive and put it on your fingers, then use those fingers to apply pressure to the wound. I don't know it it's just the pressure or if the additive actually helps, but I've never lost a fish since I started doing that.

[quanjig]

If they have a problem staying upright, try the fin weights. I was amazed how they keep the the fish in a good respiratory position in the well.

[loodkop]

If they have a problem staying upright, try the fin weights. I was amazed how they keep the the fish in a good respiratory position in the well.

What are fin weights and how do they work?

[quanjig]

Alligator clip with about an oz of lead, clipped to a pec fin and keeps the fish upright. Only tried it a couple times on fish caught deep or a fish that was exhausted after a fight. Simple! Could probably make them on the cheap to try.

[loodkop]

Alligator clip with about an oz of lead, clipped to a pec fin and keeps the fish upright. Only tried it a couple times on fish caught deep or a fish that was exhausted after a fight. Simple! Could probably make them on the cheap to try.

Thanks. I will try it out this weekend. If this works it will save me loads of fuel and time.

[Fontana Finesse Man]

All fish we caught saturday deep wound up swimming away after weigh in. Had a largemouth that swam on it's back in the livewell most of the day I didn't think was going to make it despite using please release me, and fizzing it. Got to weigh in and didn't want to come out of the livewell. Released fish and they swam around for a second and then swam as hard as they could straight down.

Watched all the videos, but one thing that I don't think I heard addressed is do you use your recirculate pumps all day after you treat the water? Do you pump in any freshwater throughout the day? Do you follow the same routine year round or does it change based on the water temp of the lake?

[quanjig]

As the water temps increase, I use frozen water bottles thru the day to try and keep the temp cooler than the lake water. Please release me and I do not introduce new water to the well after the initial fill and treatment. You also don't want to go overboard with the ice. I think I read you don't want the temp to be colder than 10 degrees of the water you are fishing. I recirculate throughout the day. A live well timer is always nice.