Livewell killing question

Guys....

I'm not sure why, but when I use my livewell, it doesn't seem to keep fish alive like I think it should. Not all fish die, but I would think that they should all live.

It is a stock aluminum well that I can have recirculating constantly or on a cycle of about every 4-5 minutes (haven't actually timed it). It's been cleaned and sanitized VERY well. Not sure what's happening there, but I'm going to fish some tournys this year and you can't weigh dead fish. Something I'd like to solve before I am faced with an issue at weigh in.

i.e. a couple days ago, I put 3 crappie and 4 nice white bass in there. Time elapsed from the first fish to the last was about 4 hours. 1 bass was floating on its side by the time the 4 hours were up. Can't tell you if it was the first in, but it wasn't the last. I did have the recirculation on a timer the entire time fish were in there. What am I missing??

fresh water??
when i use my live well during tournaments I have mine set to bring in fresh water I only use the recirculating pump when i pull the boat out of the water
I can run both my fresh water and recirculating pumps at the same time and do that during real hot weather. I will also add 64oz bottles that are frozen to keep the temps down
the stress level of the fish is very high and unless you change the water in the well it will become toxic in a very short time.
the chemicals that you add( stay alive, release me, and rejuvinade will help and I add them when i pull the boat but you still need fresh water

What redbug said.

Recirc adds oxygen to the water but it does nothing for removing the other toxins that can build up quickly in a livewell with several fish in it. Aluminum livewells also heat the water up pretty quickly adding additional stress to the fish. Running fresh water will help keep the water temp down as well.

Thanks guys....I bet I'm not changing the water fast enough. I need to hit the "other" switch. #-o

Yep, fender, what they said. Let us know how it goes after you actually change the water.

Try using some livewell additive and some ice to cool the water.

I seen one of the pro bass guys on tv a couple of months ago ssaying to use about a half cup of peroxide?
Haven't tried it myself,but according to him its just liquid oxygen.

Anthony Sisk said:

I seen one of the pro bass guys on tv a couple of months ago saying to use about a half cup of peroxide?
Haven't tried it myself,but according to him its just liquid oxygen.

Click to expand...

DO NOT DO THIS!!!! this is only a temp boost to the O2 level and will remove the slime coat from the fish.
In a pinch and your fish is not gonna make it and you want him to make the weigh in this will get you there
but your fish will not survive

yeah no go on the H2O2 (peroxide) Most people do not know that this is actually posionous to living things. In fact they are now using hydrogen peroxide to sterilize or terminal clean hospital rooms at my hospital. Process is called Bioquell. Kills all the bad bugs, MRSA, C-Diff, and VRE. Peroxide can be nasty stuff!

One other thing you might consider is most stock aluminum livewells are square. The corners create dead pockets. Most fish will nose into the corners. My bay boat is rigged for tournament redfishing and has a oval live release well. Offshore fisherman learned years ago that by making livewells with little or no corners will keep large baits alive for longer periods. They would gang up in the corners. A long time ago, I saw a video of a square livewell and they dropped dye in it. You could see the water in the middle mixing and the corners stayed clear for a long time. Another thing I noticed about my release well was the inlet shoots the water to the left along the wall creating a whirlpool effect (no stagnant water anywhere).

Ha! I have a livewell.. for the first time.. in my new boat. Never even thought about one before. I learned a LOT just reading the above comments. You all probably saved a lot of future dead fish today.

thanks guys. Rich

I think temperature may be the biggest question here. We pull the fish out of water one temp and shock them into our live wells at another temp. When farm ponds turn over in summer the sudden flip of cool and warm water kill off a vast amount of fish. Could we put a thermometer in the live well to check against lake water temp?