Pressurized livewell

[goingtritonfishing]

So why don’t we see any pressurized livewells in any of the bass boats? Wouldn’t tourney guys appreciate this especially on big waters?

[Jeff Hahn]

So, a pressurized livewell would act like a decompression chamber to keep deep caught fish from getting the bends and floating on their sides? I'd expect that the cost would be prohibitive.

[goingtritonfishing]

We see them on lots of saltwater boats to keep bait from sloshing around. I would think it’s just a matter of installing a water pickup that will keep water flowing in while you run.

[MSranger]

AsgoingTriton said, they are very very common on high end saltwater boats in bait wells. Has nothing to do with bends and everything to due with keeping your bait from getting bounced to death. No doubt it would accomplish the same for bass but reality is most bass fishing is not done in waters rough enough to warrant the expense of adding it to boat.

[friogatto]

High speed pickups at 75mph does not sound like a good idea.

Pushing water right up to the top of the lid overflowing onto the carpet.

Drain into the bilge vs scuppers, if something goes wrong with the high speed pickup or pumps you can quickly overload the bilge pumps i.e. sink.

Time: Sealed, pressurized locking lid, fumbling with the lid while holding big fish vs lift and stuff?

[LTZ25]

It won't fly with bass boats , #1 bass fishermen are more fishermen and less boaters than salt water guys = #2 saltwater fishermen are more about the boat than the fish .

[Seguin Fisher]

My Lund Pro-V had a scoop under the hull, it worked wonderfully to keep the livewell topped up and bringing fresh oxygenated water in while running. Had a screw type valve on the intake for it, you could adjust so it didn’t bring in too much but honestly even at 65mph it never went any further than the overflow. Sure was nice on rough days for long runs.

[5 BASS ASSASIN]

Needle/tubing.. problem solved. And always put your deep caught fish in the box for a few before releasing. Make sure the can go back down.

[Team V-T2]

Needle/tubing.. problem solved. And always put your deep caught fish in the box for a few before releasing. Make sure the can go back down.

Exactly! And this is why even on Major League Fishing there will always be a need for a livewell. Some fish will need some time to recuperate from this and severe bleeds before being released immediately back into the water.

[catch5]

Needle/tubing.. problem solved. And always put your deep caught fish in the box for a few before releasing. Make sure the can go back down.

So putting them in a tiny box of water is better for them than putting them back in a giant aquarium..AKA the lake ....????

Ive caught plenty deep and when I release them immediately they go right back down. When I put them in the livewell then I almost always have to fizz them.. I don’t get what boxing them helps for. Same with a bleeding fish. What am i going to do for it in the livewell that the lake won’t??

[Casslaw]

Duh! You pour Mountain Dew on it!

[5 BASS ASSASIN]

Acclimate. I’ve put them in the box and there fine . Five minutes later on there side or upside down.Sometime they need fizzed more than once. I can’t speak of the ones immediately caught swimming back down, but I do know that a lot of the deep smallmouth come up very fast and I don’t think there bladder is done expanding when they hit the boat or will stop immediately upon release. When you come off the top of a mountain and make it back down your ears don’t always just pop. The pressure is slowly adjusting back to “ normal “ I’ll continue to box them until there’s a better PROVEN method.

[dabassking]

Acclimate. I’ve put them in the box and there fine . Five minutes later on there side or upside down.Sometime they need fizzed more than once. I can’t speak of the ones immediately caught swimming back down, but I do know that a lot of the deep smallmouth come up very fast and I don’t think there bladder is done expanding when they hit the boat or will stop immediately upon release. When you come off the top of a mountain and make it back down your ears don’t always just pop. The pressure is slowly adjusting back to “ normal “ I’ll continue to box them until there’s a better PROVEN method.

I’ve always thought that immediate release was the best thing for deep caught fish. Like you said, their swim bladder isn’t fully expanded yet when they first come up, so if you let them go quickly, they can swim back down and equalize themselves. I think putting them in the box just gives their swim bladder time to expand, hence the need to fizz. I’m not used to catching deep smallmouth though, so I don’t know about them, but I’ve never released a deep largemouth immediately and then have him come up later all blown up.

[dabassking]

Double post

[Mgunter]

If they are not over 30 feet an alligator clip with a 1-2 oz weight clipped to their anal fin will work. It holds their body upright until they equalize. I have done that in place of fizzing multiple times.

[catch5]

If they are not over 30 feet an alligator clip with a 1-2 oz weight clipped to their anal fin will work. It holds their body upright until they equalize. I have done that in place of fizzing multiple times.

I’ve tried this many times and seems like I can’t get the dang clips to stay on long enough for them to work. Love the idea, just wish I could get the clips to hold

[bpicinc]

So why don’t we see any pressurized livewells in any of the bass boats? Wouldn’t tourney guys appreciate this especially on big waters?

Live well lids would look like hatches on a submarine!!

[5 BASS ASSASIN]

If they are not over 30 feet an alligator clip with a 1-2 oz weight clipped to their anal fin will work. It holds their body upright until they equalize. I have done that in place of fizzing multiple times.

I have never tried this method , but I will.. how long would you say on average would you say it takes them to equalize?

[Bellevue Bobber]

Multiple problems. One, everytime you open the lid to put a new fish in, it decompresses instantly. Two, if you were planning to weigh the fish you would have change the atmospherics...but that would not work because you would have fish from different times of the day being introduced during different atmospherics. Stab them with a needle or weight them.