Problems with fish dying in my 21 phx

[franklin18722]

anyone have this problem
I fish a tourney about every weekend and I rotate boats with my partner
he has a 16 legend and I have a 17 21 phx
now that its getting warmer I have had a rough time with keeping fish alive in my phx
we fish the same lakes every weekend and when we are in his boat (legend) it never happens
any thoughts?

[Wackyjig]

How are you cleaning your wells and how do you normally operate them as far as aerator and recirc? I've lost 1 fish since I've had my 721 and it wasn't because of the wells. Fish had just came off the bed and was in rough shape. Normally would have let it go but I was having a bad day and took the risk.

[franklin18722]

I just leave them on auto recirc all day...same as I did in my triton and never had a issue
what do you clean yours with

[txbass1]

I'm in Texas and haven't lost one in two and a half years in my 920 that wasn't a known factor from the start (deep hooked, gill/tongue hooked). I did install the V-2 vents as soon as I got my boat and have absolutely no idea if they work- but it makes sense. I use both wells during a tourney and treat them with Catch & Release. When a fish goes in, I put the recirc on auto. I split the fish throughout the tourney between the two wells and when one of them gets three fish, the recirc goes to manual on that well. I have plugged off my overflow on both wells with a removable plug and put more water in there than they're designed to hold from the start. That's all I've done. I have added a bit of ice when on Amistad and it's 105+ outside, but that's it. I have never cleaned my wells with any detergent or cleaner. I wipe them down with a big sponge after each trip to get the crawfish, shad pieces, and whatever else the fish might've puked up. On my previous rig I had a direct O2 injection system rigged up and it was outstanding. It is a bit of work and money to get everything and install, but I would have definitely done it again if I had lost any fish. Here is a link to TPWD powerpoint showing exactly what I did to my last rig.
https://www.slideshare.net/raminland...ection-8773301

[Wackyjig]

I wipe my wells out to get the gunk and whatever has been regurgitated out then put a few drops of dawn in them. When waiting around for blastoff I run fresh water and recirc till they're full, pump out, fill and recirc, pump out once more and I'm good to go. I only do that to kill bacteria that might have developed in the well and lines from sitting in the garage.
In the cooler months I just pump fresh water on auto. In the summer I run recirc on manual and fresh water on auto. Never add ice or anything unless I've got a bleeder then it goes in a well by itself with please release me. My fish are usually trying to jump out of the bag at weigh in and we fish a pretty long tourney(Weigh in 4-430)

[920Bassin]

On auto recirculate. How often does it recirculate? Or i should say the time intervals?

[clinebj22]

I run my fill pump on auto when the fish are in the livewell unless im making a long run in which case I will turn on the recirc pump and never have any die unless they get hooked deep and are bleeding. overflow outlets in the wells keep them from flooding the boat. I like having fresh water pumping in all the time instead of recirculating the water in there

[Bartman]

I run mine on auto fill and never have a problem. If I'm on a weedy lake, I'll also turn on auto recirc in case the fill inlet gets clogged with weeds.

[haus9393]

Fresh water all the time is the best soluation except for if the water temp is much hotter in the current area of the lake compared to where you caught the fish. I deal with this a lot when fishing smallies and largemouth. Main lake will be 70 degrees surface temp and I’m catching smallies in 40ft of water. I’ll run my livewell on manual 24/7 over that deep water to keep those fish as healthy as possible. Then a hour later I’m in 85 degree water throwing a frog. I always pump it full and put the plugs in the top before making that move.i bought the jon boat type of plug with the rubber insert and aluminum handle you twist to tighten because the plastic ones supplied by Phoenix still leak. Never pump in that 85 degree water. Then recirculate on manual and I’ll flip on my cool well system i bought on tacklewarehouse which consists of a recirculating pump I drilled into my starboard livewell with a supply hose running into my starboard rear storage. The hose runs through a radiator I installed in the bottom of that storage and has a return hose leading back to my starboard livewell. I usually put about 6 bags of ice in that rear storage and with the flip of my accessory switch on the console that pump will push livewell water through the system and automatically cool it down without having to worry about any ice chemicals or shocking the fish. Also saving me time not having to physically do it. By the end of the day my ice is usually all melted or very close to being gone and my starboard live well is much colder than my port side because I do not have the cool well on that side. Then add in rejuvenade a few times a day. I also have the vt2 vents. I’m also running dual group 31 agm batteries so I can easily afford to run 3-5 pumps at a time during a 8 hour tourney and not need to worry about a dead battery. If it does kill both of my batteries which it never should I have the e start system to jump to the trolling motor and a noco genius lithium jumper as well.

[duncankopprichardson]

I think just the full recirc and no fresh water could be the issue. I run auto aerate all day and haven't had an issue.

[BMork]

As the water gets warmer it holds less oxygen. Single best way to put more oxygen in is to run the recirc pump on manual. Way more effective than oxygenators. Auto in the winter and manual on a hot day. There was a good research paper on this from what I believe was Texas fish and game. I’ll try and find it and post it.

[paddleboat]

Vt2's put livewell on auto timed to pump in fresh water. If you have a bleeder pour some MTN dew on it, it stops the bleeding

[txbass1]

As the water gets warmer it holds less oxygen. Single best way to put more oxygen in is to run the recirc pump on manual. Way more effective than oxygenators. Auto in the winter and manual on a hot day. There was a good research paper on this from what I believe was Texas fish and game. I’ll try and find it and post it.

The report you're most likely referencing is what resulted in the direct O2 system I posted the link to above. James at Falcon Lake Tackle helped them with the research using the different boats and livewells. What they determined is the system linked above is the "single best way to put more D.O. in the water", but I agree that manual recirc is #2. I know guys have their own ways of doing things and as long as they're not losing fish I cannot disagree..........but auto or manual aerate and/or pumping water out and adding more water throughout the day would just get rid of the water I've already treated. Here is a good read from TPWD. At the end it provides another link to the direct injection oxygen powerpoint.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish...ivewells.phtml

[DREWTICK]

when its hot I auto fill and manual recirc until about 10 or 11am then I plug the overflows, treat water, and around noon I start adding frozen bottles of water.
sometimes if im in a cool shady pocket I might add a little fresh water and retreat

[boomow610]

Something that hasn’t been mentioned (and I learned the hard way last summer) is to avoid filling above the recirculate fitting. The water needs to spray and fall into the well water in order to properly oxygenate. If your wells are filled above the recirc outlet, you won’t get as much oxygen back in the water.

[DREWTICK]

[slipknobber bot]

Keeping it on recirc is your issue, they need fresh water all day...

[kry29]

Something that hasn’t been mentioned (and I learned the hard way last summer) is to avoid filling above the recirculate fitting. The water needs to spray and fall into the well water in order to properly oxygenate. If your wells are filled above the recirc outlet, you won’t get as much oxygen back in the water.

I wish I had my video but I made a spray bar for my recirc that is at the top of the livewell. To the OP, first thing is make sure your whole system is clean. At the house put enough water in them to recirc and let them do that a while and maybe add some vinegar in there. Then rinse them real good. Then its manual livewell settings once I get a couple fish in them. Normally its manual recirc and auto aerator. Like drewtick, once its warm I dont take in the outside water. I add ice and manual recirc but I also have the oxygen system I can turn on. I lost a couple fish at first but now I just run those pumps constantly and they are good.

[franklin18722]

thanks for all the info...will give it a try this weekend