Livewell Management

[fishn]

What is the best way to keep fish alive in the livewell? From my experience in the spring and fall when the water is still cold I havent had any go belly up. The summer time is what concerns me. Do you guys turn the livewell on and keep recirculating the same water, change out water every once in a while or even throw in ice? I know you tournament anglers can relate to this but sometimes catching that big fish or big bag is the easy part keeping it alive is difficult.

[Buzzbait]

I keep the live well as full as possible and then turn on the recirc. in timed mode but you can always just leave the recirc on all the time if your battery will take it. If it's really hot put some ice in as needed. There are also commercial additives that you can put in the livewell to help keep your fish alive that work very well.

[Superduty]

90% of the time I run mine on the fill/aerator continuous cycle. I feel it is important to keep pumping fresh water in and stale/toxic water out. If you run it only on recirc, the fish can literally be killed by toxins that build up in the small amount of water in the livewell. Chemical additives can help prevent this. I will switch to recirc if I am running long distances or if I move up into really shallow warm/hot water from deeper cooler water.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

From what I hear recirculation water is better than pumping in fresh water nonstop. Moving water stays cooler and the recirculating water puts oxygen in and helps remove toxins that build up.

[TonkaBass]

I just run fill and reciculate the whole time.. Never had an issue

[jdkeehl]

Bass medics and recirculate every one in a while add new water add more bass medics. Never had a fish die. I have had mid july 24lb bag on erie all caught in the first 2 hours and couldnt even handle them at weigh in because the wouldnt sit still. Bass medics even will help stop bleeding from fish hooked in the tounge we all know how bad they will bleed from that!

[olski]

Same as Tonka. I also throw a couple pop bottles full of water in the freezer the night before then drop them in the livewells as needed.

[Pherris]

I use rejuvinade and recirc. I also will fill plastic bottles and freeze them. On my new HDS unit it shows livewell temps so it will be intersting to see how the temps hold in the hot weather.

Good Fishing!!

[shiltsy]

Great thread guys and something I've been thinking about... Pherris, how does your HDS unit read livewell temps? I've been trying to decide between the Humminbird SI or Lowrance HDS/StructureScan and curious how this feature works.

[PerchJerker]

In hot weather / hot water conditions you are far better off filling your livewell, then recirculating it continuously and not pumping in more hot surface water. Recirculating the water cools it, oxygenates it, and disperses the ammonia that builds up.

In the heat of summer I try not to fill my livewell with water from close to shore, where it may be a few degrees warmer --- I try to fill it from somewhere out in the lake. And I don't wait until I get my first fish --- I fill it right away, and recirc it constantly.

Keep in mind that the fish you catch in summer are most likly coming out of water that is definately cooler than the surface water we're pumping into our livewells.

Regarding monitoring your livewell temperature, you can install a temperature probe in your livewell, connnect it to the NMEA network, and monitor it on Lowrance units.

[Pherris]

Great thread guys and something I've been thinking about... Pherris, how does your HDS unit read livewell temps? I've been trying to decide between the Humminbird SI or Lowrance HDS/StructureScan and curious how this feature works.

Shiltsy

To be honest I have no idea. I have an HDS8 that I ordered when I ordered the boat and it on the info page it displays live well temps and cooler temps. I am assuming they had to put sensors in. Gotta keep those beverages cold I guess.

I had HB units and just switched to the HDS's and have not used the structure scan really yet. So I cant give an honest comparison. I did not have any problems with the HB's (937C,987C,787C is what I had on my old boat)but I really like the down structure option and some of the other features on the HDS units so I decided to give them a try.

Good Fishing!!

[olski]

I got out and really used the down imaging on my HB 1197 yesterday and I tell you what...... IT ROCKS! Wish I had a blank chip with me to do screen shots on some of the schools of fish I saw. Next time for sure.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Like many have said here.. Once I have more than a couple fish in there, I set it up on a timer all day.. If its warm out, I will just recirc.. but if its cool I will do the fresh water thing... Ice in the well is good too on hot days.

[Cecil]

A cheap pool thermometer comes in very handy at times...

[ricqik]

i just put it in auto fill n it kicks in every 5mins. never use recirculate, must have fresh well oxygenated water.