Homemade Livewell

[cribbageboy]

Just got to thinking about putting in a cheap livewell in my boat. She is only a 14 footer, and pretty narrow so I want to keep the livewell small. Would a cooler work? I don't see why it wouldn't. Then I got to thinking. "How am I gonna fill it and drain it"? Bilge pump?? I want to try and spend less than like 100 bucks, but if you guys have better more spendy ideas, I wouldn't mind hearing them either. Thanks in advance!!!!!

[BoxMN]

This may sound silly, but what do you want a livewell for? For fishing in contests or tourneys, or to cull, or to simply hold your fish?

If to keep them alive until you will eventuallt release them, then make it a bit bigger and also make sure the aeration is well thought out and enough. A bigger cooler I think would work well for that.

If just to have a place to keep fish until you clean them, I would highly suggest a cooler and a bag of ice, and kill them and cool them right away. Even those frozen cooler packs.

If you just plan to keep them and then release them, then might as well release them right away so they have chance at living afterward.

I used to use livewells more, but now they basically are "deadwells" for me, as having fish you keep on ice seems to work better if you are keeping them. You have to drain the water nowadays anyway when you leave a lake, so if you keep fish you will want them iced anyway.

Good luck,

[looneyducer]

Deadwells are better than livewells for the fish you're going to eat. I used a cooler all the time in my old boat, and now I'm considering a bag of ice and a short bat for the front livewell on my new one.

[cribbageboy]

Maybe I'll just go with the ice thing. I just hate using a stringer. Thanks guys

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Deadwells are better than livewells for the fish you're going to eat.

This depends on where you fish and the availability of ice.

We camp out in Voyageur's park each summer and use the live well to keep the fish alive. When we get back to camp we put them in a large wire fish basket and keep them alive until we decide to have a fish dinner. Nothing better then fresh walleye flopping from basket to frying pan.

Otherwise you are probably correct about the ice idea. Even the big guys that net fish in the ocean for a living put their catch on ice.

[candiru]

If you don't feel like buying ice you can fill pop bottles or milk jugs or something with water and freeze it. Just rinse it off when you're done and refreeze.