Looking ahead at the weather for my Champlain trip I’m seeing highs in the possible 90’s. I always have a cooler on board with ice, but I don’t expect it to be ice all day in that heat. My live wells are working just fine, but tend to get warmer as the sun beats on the darker carpet. How many guys add ice to keep the live well cooler for the fish? I’m debating frozen water bottles and having cubes and block in the cooler. General consensus?
Best thing you can add is a set of livewell vents , and I always run my wells continuos all day using lake water never had a problem ,fish live it what ever temp the lake water is don't want to shock them with ice .You can use some additive if you like but getting the bad gases out is the main thing in my opinion and keep it pumping ...if your gonna try ice try frozen bottles maybe 1 or 2 don't want to drop it too much ...
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fun fishing? why use livewell? i run main pump constantly and second pump some also and use lid to fan the water 2-3 times per hour works well
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I’m not a fan of ice personally, but don’t want fish dying either. This is a private tournament so weigh in at end of day.
This seems to be a very controversial topic.
Vents are nice until you run rough water and see all the water coming out of it
especially if your like me and plug the overflow tube and fill livewell to the top prior to making a run
There are plenty of things you can do
Check your fish often releases any gas and lets you know if you have an issue
keep plenty of livewell treatment in there
Install oxygenators
Run both fill and recirc pumps
Put a small amount of hydrogen peroxide in there to increase the oxygen content (2 teaspoons) at most
If you fish alone or your partner fishes up front with you toss a lifejacket or coat over the lids to block the sun also keep the livewell lids cracked open a little
Ice is a must and some freeze cubes or blocks with livewell treatment in the ice
but bottles are best because buy the end of the day the ice is melting even though the bottle maybe half melted the water inside is still cold and your cooler isn't full of water
But Twitch is correct dropping the temp to much can shock the fish even worse when they get tossed back in the hot water after the weighin so don’t add to much ice at any given time
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I carry 70lbs or more of ice for every event I fish on Champlain, Oneida, Ontario. Recirc is on manual all day, add rejuvinade or g juice. I run 225ah of cranking power to ensure my batteries can handle everything. Those fish live in extremely cold water 30-40ft down, they need extremely cold water in the livewell. Ill add a bag of ice every hour or so as I see fit.
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start before blast off by filling livewells add ice and some g juice. set pumps to recirculate on timer I usually have mine on for 1 min off for about 3min in hot weather. Add ice during the day as needed. Never want to pump warm lake water from the top of the water column when your catching fish in 10 to 40 feet of water. Can add little more g juice if needed half way thru day. I strongly recommend the vt2 livewell vents as well. Follow this and you wont have a dead fish do to any fault of your own. The g juice will combat any chlorine in the making of the ice so no issues there.
I freeze 2L bottles/icepacks and throw them in throughout the day. Keep the livewell on recirc and don't let any fresh lake water in once full. In the hot water temps of summer ice and gjuice or please release me are essential.
I fished a BFL a couple weeks ago and there were SO many big dead fish it was disgusting. Highly doubt many of those guys were using any form of ice to cool the livewells.
I fish a jon boat series where most guys use cooler livewell set ups and it's a 6 fish limit with no dead fish weighed rule....we hardly see any dead fish at weigh in. Really wouldn't mind seeing that rule or a heavier penalty than .25lb in the bigger events.
This is what I do. The 20oz soda bottles work well.Originally Posted by sbfishingtv
When by myself I put the frozen bottles on the opposite side so as not to beat up the fish. Also some pool noodles will only help with the hot lids by insulating more.
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One big bag of ice first thing in the morning, treat for chlorine, fill the tank...no more outside water the rest of the day...run recirc pump on timer, oxygenators or pro air...I have vents in my boat so that helps as well ...the system works...and it works well...water stays cool all day but not too cold as to shock the fish to where they can't recover...look up John Henry fish care on YouTube ...works very well in the south when done correctly...I don't want bottles or anything in the tank with the fish. It's just something else that they can beat their heads against...I keep pool noodles in my live well cause these big Pickwick smallmouth will beat themselves silly trying to get out...frozen water bottles make zero sense to me...
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This^^^^
Great video about using ice. Works like a charm. RIP JH
link doesn’t show up. Search Wired 2 Fish, John Henry - icing fish
Last edited by Brendan; 07-30-2022 at 06:59 AM. Reason: Link not attaching
I like Jon’s approach. Although if you have a livewell full of ice and wait until you catch a fish, that water is going to be 32° when the fish hits it. Everything else makes sense.
I do exactly what he does however I add my g juice and then add my water before tournament even starts .adding 80 plus degree water to the ice added melts the ice fast this way your not putting the first fish in ice water. Water is cool but not too cool then I add ice thru the day as needed. I too do not like frozen water bottles as it's more shit for the fish to bang into.
People under estimate the power of pumping fresh water all day. Thats what i do and dont have an issue. From the time my 1st fish goes in my fill pumps are running til they go in weigh bag. I have spray heads with a valve where i can regulate the flow. If i dont regualte it some mine will over flow into my rear compartments
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I have not had a problem with losing fish in the summer, fill the wells when I catch first fish, set it on recirculate and forget about it. My Triton wells and now Caymas have always been awesome keeping fish alive.
The problem with that, especially if you are catching fish deep, is that you are pumping hot surface water onto fish that are caught in much cooler water. That said, if you aren't having problems I wouldn't worry about changing anything. I think the vast majority of problems are from guys that are just running livewells on timers and not getting enough fresh or recirc water going. Also, aluminum livewells on a hot day can get extremely hot, and they need insulation / ice more so than glass / plastic livewells.
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