Smallies dying in my livewell during tournaments

[BigBellyBassn]

Hello Friends,

I have a 2000 Ranger 518 VS with a 26 gallon livewell that has dual aerators (750gph each), V-T2 livewell lid vents, the venturi air system and a TH marine oxygenator combined with Gjuice. What I do on hot days is fill the live well, add gjuice per the instructions and ice then I don't add anymore water for the rest of the day I just recirc whats in there to keep it cool and keep the oxygenator on full time with my aerators on the cycle that turns them on most frequently during the day.

Someone told me it may be what the fish cough up and or shit out that can cause them to die while in there if I don't drain most and add fresh water in a couple times during the day of the tourney depending on how much they may be dropping off in the tank.

What are your thoughts? I am not sure what else I can do other then add a 2nd oxygenator to the tank.

Tight Lines my friends
Check out my FB page @Bigbellybassn and my other page @Catch&Release New England give them a like and feel free to share with fellow anglers of all kinds :)

[bradjames12]

Drawing a blank on the name, but there's a sponsor (I believe) that sells something that's supposed to help with venting.. ugh.. can't remember it sorry.. hopefully someone knows what I'm trying to remember

[Walkabout7781]

Were they caught deep? May need fizzing or just fin clips.

I'd consider deleting the ice...perhaps it has Chlorine in it? Chances are good that it was made with city tap water. for Smallmouth!

[BigBellyBassn]

Oh and I have the V-T2 livewell lid vents as well sorry I forgot to put that in my original post.

[g352nv]

I have a 05 TR21X and it always has water in it because of a pocket at the bottom. I have fish in there each time I go out and not one dead smallie.
Has to be something else.

[AKRISONER]

you definitely are killing fish by running recirc. I dont care how much people claim oxygenators "put oxygen" back into the water. They dont do so efficiently enough to keep fish alive all day. Dependant on water temperatures where you are, you are far better off continuously pumping fresh lake water into your livewells to keep your fish alive. Ive kept smallmouth in water up to 80 degrees all day and never had a single issue by continuously pumping new water into the system.

Call me crazy, but having fished over 40 derbies (not a lot by some standards) but having literally never lost a single fish thats over 200 fish without one dying in the well...

Putting air bubbles into old water does not restore the Oxygen to your water, the fish are putting back all sorts of other gasses back into the water that they are being forced to breath all day. Being from new hampshire I dont see how your water temperatures would vary much from what we have here in southern ontario right now. Speaking from experience, fresh lake water with a bit of G juice is all you need.

[BigBellyBassn]

Not caught deep Walkabout7781. I do have fizzing needles if need be. It may be the ice but that is what part of the gjuice helps with. I have never had a largie die in there just smallies from time to time. I hate to lose a fish so I want to do everything I can to prevent that.

[Bobby8]

I live in South Central Texas and have never had a fish diein a livewell. I just pump out the waterand back in every hour-and-a-half or so. No ice, no additives, just changingwater and aerator.

[PJ-Rohlf]

We just run the fill pump and recirc on auto all day and have never had an issue with fish dying. They're always kicking good at weigh in

[printman71]

Have you cleaned your livewells lately?
Pump some hydrogen peroxide through them, wipe them out well, go to the lake and run water through them to get rid of anything you didn't rinse away.

[BigBellyBassn]

I will scrap the ice and cooler water idea and just do the fresh water with a little gjuice, aerator on auto at is fastest setting (pulling in fresh water) and the oxygenator running. Thank you for the tips and ideas I really appreciate it

[BigBellyBassn]

Printman71 I clean them out after every tournament with dawn dish soap and water, rinse the shit out of them and then use lake water to rinse once more.

[NumberOne]

Yeah you live in NH. I doubt you really need the ice anyway.

[1BADAIR]

New water all day pumps on the longest run time or on constant. Rarely have an issue

[21XDC]

New water all day pumps on the longest run time or on constant. Rarely have an issue

Do this and the fish will live to be caught again.

[BigBellyBassn]

Thank you guys again I will not use ice and just go with fresh water and see how that goes.

[Bassman Ia.]

I have never lost a fish in the livewell. When I am fishing the timer kicks on and off. When I am running I recirculate

[ECobb91]

For smallmouth I fill the pumps in the morning, put them on recirculate and leave the pumps on manual once I get a fish in the livewell. I add G-juice a few times throughout the day and the fish are more active getting them out of the livewell than when I caught them. The other day I had one turn around and bite my thumb, then another jumped out of the livewell completely when I was trying to get them in a weigh bag. So far with this boat I’ve only lost one fish that was gut hooked.

for largemouth I fill the livewell, switch the valve to recirculate and put the pump on auto. My issue with continuously pumping in fresh water is you’re increasing the temp of the water constantly. Catch a smallie 30’ down and you’re pumping in hot surface water the entire time. Filling with cold water in the morn then Recirculating has been my go to and I never had an issue. If they look like they are getting sluggish, go out to the middle of the lake and fill the wells with new water then cool it down with a frozen bottle

[jb882]

How many pounds of fish are you putting in that well at once? I was always told that its 1 gallon per pound of fish and that seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb. I fished a tourney on Champlain years ago as a non boater and between the two of us we had over 30# of smallies in the well and by the end of the day they were croaking despite it being a cool day, the water temps being in the low 70's and both the intake and recirc pumps running on constant. They simply did not have enough water.

I have had guys on my boat plenty of times and we have loaded the wells when 10 smallies and I have never had an issue with loosing fish. i do have a 40G livewell and i suspect that makes a difference.

[eyra_kid]

Just a thought....are you using the no-puncture cull clips? I have only heard on herethe larger plastic clips cause some mortality problems with smallies in the livewell. Doesnt seem to affect largemouth, so it likely has to do with mouth size. Maybe the smallies cant close their mouth enough to get a good flow of water through their gills. I keep a set of small metal no-puncture clips in my boat just for smallies after hearing that. Just a thought