Live Well Question

[amateurfishing]

I understand the purpose of a live well is to hold/keep live fish but why would someone do that unless required for tournament or something. I keep my tackle in the live well and any keepers automatically go in cooler on ice. Plus i think according to regs, for the recreational angler, the transporting of live fish is illegal, right? Why would a person choose to keep fish alive for a few hours just to clean after getting out of boat? Is not putting them on ice better to cool down immediately for preserving better? thx all

[Northlander]

Transporting meaning off or away from a body of water not while on the body of water. Myself I hate cleaning frozen or semi frozen fish. I like to keeep my fish alive as long as possible if Im going to keep and then eat them.

[tcwin]

I hate cleaning frozen fish too; plus I don't have room for a cooler of ice in my boat. Any fish we keep to clean go in the live well and on our way back to the dock we pull the plug; nice and fresh. If I trailer the boat, I usually don't keep fish.

[delmuts]

I blocked off both the live well and bait well in mine for storage.I use a cooler to keep my fish in. If the weather is cool enough i will just put water in it til i go home. If it is warm then they go on ice.I will put the very cold fish in water when i get home to thaw, and make handling better.

[JohnMickish]

I use my livewell for bait as well as fish, thatway I do not need to keep an extra cooler or pail in the boat. IF I keep fish, they go in a cooler in the truck after being bled out for the ride home. All the water stays in the lake and not on the road. For me, it's about floorspace and having room to move.

[Esox_Magnum]

Mine stay alive in the livewell untill I get home to clean them.... I hate cleaning dead or frozen fish....Most times though both baitwell and livewell are filled with muskie baits.....

[amateurfishing]

thx for the great info...i guess i kinda think like delmuts and want to keep fish as cold as possible for preserving till cleaning time especially in summer heat/humidity weather. coming from a restaurant background, i want my fish as cold as possible to keep bacteria and any possible spoilage at a minumum. May have to think bout just dumping ice in the live well though to save some space. thx again

[grizrunner]

Mine stay alive in the livewell untill I get home to clean them.... I hate cleaning dead or frozen fish....Most times though both baitwell and livewell are filled with muskie baits.....

How do you keep them alive on the way home w/ no water in the livewell?

[Esox_Magnum]

I live in Iowa, we don't have that rule....

[JohnMickish]

I live in Iowa, we don't have that rule....

Yet.

[grizrunner]

I live in Iowa, we don't have that rule....

Good answer, Magnum. Duh. Sorry I'm always thinking MN when I'm on this site, and the OP commented on the MN reg, so...

Anyways, I keep a cooler in the truck for transport. Put some water in it when I leave home. Put some ice in it later w/the catch. Never have a prob with them being too hard to fillet. Personally, the transport reg is annoying. I pull the plug on my hull at the landing, but I don't like having to drain the livewell. The lake water would get dumped at home on the gravel behind my shed and the livewell flushed out. Same for my baitwell. Can't see how I would cause any invasive species threat doing it that way. But I never fish more than one lake in one outing either. For those who puddle jump I maybe can see the point.

[Esox_Magnum]

Honestly never even seen if the livewell works on the new boat, just tried out the baitwell for the first time last week.... This is what they normaly look like.....

[grizrunner]

For the amount of use mine is designated for, it might as well look like yours!

[Esox_Magnum]

Thats just spares and bucktails, there 3 more lakewoods boxes full not in the pic lol

[Raider4ever]

I put a drain plug in the baitwell on my 1750 Fish Hawk a couple of years ago. It makes a great place to keep sunglasses, extra spark plugs, the transom tiedowns, snacks, etc. Seeing how I only kept one fish last year (out of choice), I might just put one in the livewell this year. Can never have enough storage in the boat.

[delmuts]

"

I live in Iowa, we don't have that rule....

Yet."

Esox and i wil be long gone before Iowa changes that law. Look how long it took to FIANLLY get limits on panfish!

[Down Deep]

I like a livewell and keep my fish in there until I leave the lake. If I'm traveling a long distance and don't have a place to clean them I use a cooler during transport. Once a fish dies it starts stiffening up pretty quickly even on ice. I'm mostly a live bait fisherman and primarily use minnows so I'm running the livewell anyway. I do think that with all the emphasis on C & R and reduced limits, slots and other regulations designed to reduce take, it's time for the manufactures to at least allow an option of one, two or even no livewells and allocate the space to storage.

[h8go4s]

I do a lot of boat-in camping, so ice isn't available. If I'm keeping fish for a meal, they go in the livewell until I get back to camp to clean them. I also use the baitwell for minnows & leeches.

[PerchJerker]

If I'm keeping fish and staying on the lake, the fish stay in the livewell and I recirculate the water until it's time to clean them.

If I'm keeping fish and trailering the boat, the fish stay in the livewell and I recirculate the water until I get the boat on the trailer ...... then I drain the water, hit the road, and stop at the first place that sells ice. I toss a bag or two of ice in there on top of the fish (ice still in the bag), and they stay in great shape for a few hours or more.