Live Well/Bait Well In Wheel House

[Chad Holst]

Let me just say, its not NEEDED, there are several things that could go wrong, there are other options, and...and..and.

For those of you that feel "real" fishermen only need a stick for a pole and a couple bent nails to wrap a bit of shoe string around...just move on to another thread, you will hate this one. For those that want to help me think a bit outside the box, continue reading...

I'm thinking about doing a live well, or a bait well in our Wheel House.(or both) I'm not really sure about the Live well yet, but i am going to do some sort of built in bait well.

So lets start with the live well first. When we hub fish, and are going to keep some crappies or pannies, we often will drill a hole or two, not quite all the way to the bottom, or JUST the tip of the auger goes through, to fill up the hole with water. We then use these holes as a live well until we know we have enough fish to make it worth the time to clean some. If we catch only a couple and dont want to clean them, we can then let the healthy fellas back in the lake.

In a perm, this isnt so easy, so i thought about making a small live well. Again, i know i can do a bucket and air-rator, but it would be cool to have it integrated into the house.

Bait well. I think this is a great idea, no bucket needed, etc...

So, my thoughts are to use the corner of one of the wheel wells and wall to do a corner bait well, like in the front of many boats. Simple water in and water out hoses that can go down the closest hole, or maybe do a hole just for this? A regular bait well pump in a box below the live well. Then a drain plug attached to a hose to drain all the water out before we remove the house from the lake. Obviously the key is always draining it after its done, but thats fine, we do this with our boats, why not our ice houses?

I cant seem to find the amps that one of those small pumps take, but i cant imagine is more than.. maybe .2-.3-.4 amps? if thats the case we could leave the pump on for a full night and it wouldnt be froze the next morning if we left the house on the lake and no heat on. the ciculated water from the lake should keep it from freezing, shouldnt it?

Anyway, ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

Again, i know its a wierd idea, but it is what it is, and i want to atleast entertain the idea.

[ur bobbers up]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. How about a box (insulated) with 12 v or 110 v aerator like the oxygenator or frabils style pump. Drain with hose into a hole. I have a spare bilge with hose and alligator clips that I keep in the boat that would work for filling and refreshing . You'd want to make it shut tight so not slopping when bouncing around on the ice. Let us know how it turns out. I'll do the same if or when I do one. Good luck

[DTro]

Today's Tackle---->Fish Well

[cribbageboy]

Way to go ^^^^^Buzz Killington^^^^^. Lol. Just messing with ya DTro. I've thought of the same thing. Two bilge pumps; water-in on the top, water-out on the bottom. Run the two lines into a hole. The part where I stopped thinking was about creating the tank. Not willing to give up any room in the shack permanently.

[ur bobbers up]

Today's Tackle---->Fish Well

That would use up a hole which I would not like and aerated minnows are much more active when you put them on the hook.

[ncesi]

I could be incorrect here and correct me if I am wrong but I believe it is against the law in Minnesota to cull from your live well so how would a hole drilled in the ice for the purpose of keeping fish alive be any different. Not trying to be mean but just asking for other opinions before one of us gets a ticket for such behavior.

[Bryce]

Yetti had one at ice show with both mounted in cabinet above wheels. Bait tank was set up like aquarium with plexiglass front. Have used the fish well for several years. Don't forget to pull up before moving. Fish might get road rash.

[kerryd15]

Something to consider is that I believe the pump must be submerged for it to operate. I don't think they will prime if above the water line.

[B-man715]

Why not put a spear hole hinged door in the floor of the house??? Like a hatch in a boat deck.

Then simply drill overlapping holes for a fish well and a single hole for extra bait, or just keep extra bait in an old shool floating yellow pail, coffee can etc. in the livewell.

It wouldn't eat up an inch of space in the shack. The only downside is you would only want to do it if you plan on parking in that spot for at least a day.

[Lusid]

Not exactly what you were looking for... but this is what I did with my clam bucket.

[Chad Holst]

It is legal to cull fish in mn, you can not cull once you have a daily limit, so you need one less than a limit in possession to cull. You can not cull on Wisconsin border waters or Mille Lacs.

Unless it's changed there are also no culling rules attached to tournament permits for the hotter months of the year.

Glad to hear I'm not crazy for thinking of a built in bait well or live well. Keep the ideas coming.

[Bryce]

When fishing a lake with a slot, they have to be measurable. Fishcicles laying out on the snow are not measurable and could result in a fine. Have never heard of a fine being given but have heard of several stern lectures.

[Hawg]

For your bait have you thought of using a floating bait bucket suspended from the lake bottom? A guy in Mankato makes one called a Bottom Bucket so you can see the concept. We make our own but they work great to keep minnows however long you want. Just drill your hole and reach down with a short pole and pull them up. This way when you find good minnows you can buy extra and keep them actually in the lake. I know they don't like links on here so just look up bottom bucket. A regular trolling bucket with the side ears cut off and some spray foam works just fine to make one.

[heyguy]

Hawg, any tips on how to make a home made bottom bucket? Love the concept!

[BartmanMN]

Yetti. Larger pics if you search iceforts

[randerson]

Engel USA just get the 30qt bait cooler to use as a livewell aerator runs on some batteries or it has a 12 volt plug. I'm getting a 13qt for sure

[heyguy]

I'm very intrigued by the Bottom Bucket idea! Hawg, would you be willing to give us any tips as to how you made your own? thanks!

[brian6715]

I want to do this as well, probably over the top of the wheel well. My concern is the minnows will not live long at all if they are kept there, being they would be slowly brought up to room temp. You would have to almost have a constant flow of lake water to keep them alive and cool, right?

[Lusid]

I want to do this as well, probably over the top of the wheel well. My concern is the minnows will not live long at all if they are kept there, being they would be slowly brought up to room temp. You would have to almost have a constant flow of lake water to keep them alive and cool, right?

The lake does that all for you, that's why the bottom bucket is a great idea.

[leechlake]

you probably have 5 coolers in your garage and most of them you don't use. Take one of those "free" coolers and get a battery powered aerator. I do this in my pontoon. The batteries last forever and even in July and August the walleyes are pretty lively after a couple of hours. Your minnows can be in there too.

I thought of all sorts of ways to make this more difficult than this. Put a livewell under a seat, how to set up pumps etc. The cooler does the trick. When your' done fishing open up the drain plug and empty cooler of water and your fish are in a cooler ready to be brought in for cleaning.

[aanderud]

For your bait have you thought of using a floating bait bucket suspended from the lake bottom? A guy in Mankato makes one called a Bottom Bucket so you can see the concept. We make our own but they work great to keep minnows however long you want. Just drill your hole and reach down with a short pole and pull them up. This way when you find good minnows you can buy extra and keep them actually in the lake. I

I looked it up and I'm confused as to why, for ice fishing purposes, or off a dock, or off a boat, you'd want a bottom bucket that's tethered to the bottom and floats up, versus a weighted bucket that you could tie off at the surface and sinks. In the boat scenario they have to put a float up to the surface so you can find it anyway. In the dock situation, they have a string tying it to the dock. I'd conjecture that in the ice fishing situation, under-ice current might make that bucket harder to snag than it looks in this diagram as well, so you again have a string running into the house to pull the bait bucket up. So, I don't see a situation where you're being helped by anchoring it to the bottom, it's just extra 'stuff' to me.

Spear fishermen have been just putting their extra decoy suckers in a metal cage and letting it sink below their holes forever. I think I'd just do something similar to that, tethering it at the surface (to a dock, boat, or ice house) and letting it sink, rather than this floaty-anchored bottom-bucket contraption.

[Dave]

If you tie the rope to your ice house, the rope will freeze in. How you going to pull it up. I would say floating in the middle of the water column would be less likely to fall on its side or drift across the bottom. I don't think the boat picture is meant to depict having the float right alongside the boat.

[Chad Holst]

This may sound wierd, but it as much about having a built in bait well, as it is about practicality. Yes, i like the idea, for use, but we are putting this as a house for Ronald McDonald House families, event promotion, sponsor events/shows. Basically it will be a show house that is also used. So we want to have some "special" things in it. We dont really need 12v plug wall power at all 8 hole, for our flashers either...but it is pretty cool.

Like some people have said, space is a premium. And we are designing everything to keep the floor as open as possible for wheel chairs. So my thought was to use one of the front corners of the wheel well. there is a space between the door side wheel well and the door. I dont want to take up the floor space though, so that idea would be to make the top level with the wheel well, and have it only extend down 1 1/2 feet or so. Simply frame in a box, that would be attached to the wheel well on one side and the wall on the other, then a round "bin/conatiner" of some sort could be fit into this box, the sides could be finished like the rest of the walls with car siding, and then a latch down top that has a seal for the top of the well.

With a false bottom or a side compartment, i could roll up the 3 hoses. small diamiter fish tank tubing would be plenty for the "water in" and "water out" tubes and then a 3rd would be connected under the bottom to drain it down the nearby hole. I would think a small fish tank pump would be plenty, and they run 24/7 on very little power, so it should last and also be easy on the batteries.

As always, sorry for the quality of my art skills.

Im gonna post some new pictures of the build from last night, there may be a picture that shows the area im think about doing it in.

Tight lines.

[Chad Holst]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I know there are easy ways to do this. A bucket and airrator, etc..in fact the simplest, so they stay fresh and cold, is to drill a hole almost to the bottom of ice, then fill it with cold water from another hole. Get a small scoop net and your set.

Im really looking for a built in bait and/or live well. Think of "pimp my ride", but for ice houses. I can think of zero reason we have a 32" LED TV, but it sure is awesome. I can think of no real need for Satalite, but it sure is nice. Heres a great example... we are putting in a swivle out platforms that will go about 2-3 feet above each hole (8 total). this platform with have a U bracket that our flashers screw into. On the wall, will be a 12 volt supply at each hole that you can plug your flasher right into. no need for packs or flasher bags. under the platform that holds the flash screen will be the rattle reels, and the front of this will have a jig holder. Again, no NEED for this, a genz pack or bird bag or marcum bag works fine, but its kind cool, and it saves some floor room.

Someone said the water would het up over time... I agree. We would have a pump that circulated water from the lake to the bait well. also, this would keep lines from freezing. So if you left the house for a day, and had a small 10 amp battery it would run for a few days.

[brian6715]

I really like the idea, I would go with it. At the bottom where the hoses come out of the wheel well and go towards the ice hole I would put a male end for each hose. So the system in the wheel well is completely self contained and no hoses are exposed, just two little male ends sticking out where the hoses exit the finished wheel well (kind of like the male ends on a water softener). Then I would bring two short hoses (2 feet?)to attach to these male ends once everything is set up, and I would have weights attached to the end that goes down the ice hole. I'm doing it!