Livewell -baitwell cleaning

[harvey lee]

At times, my live well and bait well can get a bit stinky. Typical if it gets that bad and the garage gets a bit smelly, the wife lets me know, I clean it out with a little baking soda and vinegar and it works pretty darn good.

Any other ideas on ways to keep it fresh as a daisy other than bleach.

I do not like to use bleach as it has a tendency to get on something I am wearing and then the spots arrive after a wash job.

[Kyhl]

Do you leave it open so it can dry?

I open all hatches when I get home so that things can dry out. Haven't experienced fish odors from my livewell like you describe.

I've heard of people putting charcoal in the livewell to absorb odors but haven't had to try it yet.

[fishnowworknever]

Kyhl is right, bacteria needs moisture, no moisture no bacteria, no smell.

Vinegar is a great cleaning agent, otherwise diluted water/bleach works great.

[mwal]

If my boat is in the garage all hatches including the live well are propped open. I started doing this about 10 years ago after always having to rinse out live well with bleach solution's couple times a year. Since I starting propping everything open all the smells have gone away and no mildew surprises in compartments either plus not having to deal with bleach spots on jeans or the carpet.

Mwal

[brmuskie]

Harvey, you better edit your post soon before the DNR finds it. You are supposed to dry your livewell out before you leave the landing. If there is no moisture in your livewell in the first place, how could it ever stink?

I prop mine open in the garage too so every drop of water evaporates and there is no smell at all.

[tunrevir]

The bleach and baking soda works well and then like others have said prop the hatch open to air dry. I have used windex and 409 in a pinch and they work well. One other thing is you can store a box of baking soda in the livewell when it is parked to help suck up odors and any residual moisture. One thing I found that keeps the boat fresh smelling is the febreeze spray. I use it on the carpeted storage areas and inside the boat on the carpet to get the stink out. Seems to keep everything fresh smelling and seems to also keep some of the pesky flies away when out in the boat.

Tunrevir~

[B-man715]

Same as a lot of you guys. Open to air dry, and clean a few times a year. I prefer Simple Green over bleach and other strong chemicals.

Works great on boat seats and spot stains in the carpet too I also use it on my wave wackers and graph screen.

[leechlake]

Harvey,

I have a spray bottle with about 1/10 Pine Sol/ Water in my boat. At the end of the day I spray 3-4 shots in the live well with water still in it and recirculate it for a few minutes and then empty it and leave the lid open. The next day when you get in the boat that overwhelming fishy smell is eliminated. Every once in a while while it's empty I will spray it around and get the nooks and crannies too.

I used to add a little bleach but found that I'd end up spraying it and getting on my tee shirt and soon enough even that little amount of bleach had created small holes in my shirt so I scrapped that part of it. Pine sol smells like the woods and vinegar smells too much like pickles for my liking.

The mix also works for spraying on your hands if you get a slimy northern or other "rough" fish in the boat.

[harvey lee]

Harvey, you better edit your post soon before the DNR finds it. You are supposed to dry your livewell out before you leave the landing. If there is no moisture in your livewell in the first place, how could it ever stink?

I prop mine open in the garage too so every drop of water evaporates and there is no smell at all.

N reason to edit my post. I empty my livewell before I leave the landing every time.

My issue is, there is always a little moisture in there and I put the boat in the garage and I do not prop my livewell lid open, guess I will start to do that, probably help it dry out.

It does not smell that bad, only when I open the lid after it has sat in the garage for a few days. The vinegar treatment does do the job after I rinse it and then I leave it open to dry.

Guess I will leave it open after I empty it at the landing, see how that works.

[guyonacouch]

Yeah - leaving mine open all the time when in the garage has made a huge difference in the funk that's left over from a day of fishing. I've sprayed it out a few times this year with the power washer, but this is the first year I haven't had to use any chemicals in mine.

[H2O Milfoil]

Geez, what am I doing wrong? All I do is transfer fish from the well to my ice chest while at the boat landing parking lot. Then I make one or two trips down to the dock, fill my minnow bucket with water and rinse out the well. Including splashing down the side walls. I never have a stinky livewell the next time.

[Northlander]

I found the best thing to be either baking soda and warm water or a dry clothes detergent and warm water. Let it sit and scrub with a good sponge. Dont use bleach it will kill bait and fish. You can never get it all out of the pores of the livewells.

[Dave]

Do you leave it open so it can dry?

I open all hatches when I get home so that things can dry out. Haven't experienced fish odors from my livewell like you describe.

Same here. Open up the hatches when home and never a smell. But, if I forget to open them, yup, little stinkers they are