Livewell question. Fish health. How do you insure healthy fish?

Fished a tournament out of my 2006 198. My partner and I had a great tournament. Both caught our limits. However I have never lost a fish in this boat but we ened up losing 3. One I hooked deep on a rig so that did not surprise me. He lost two quality fish.

Here is what I did to try and prevent it from happening. Filled my livewell at 5:00 am with cool water. We had our first keeper by 5:45 AM. I ran the hydro air all day long on manual. I even put ice on the fish using gatorade bottles frozen solid. Even used catch and release. My partner had a Triton and said he could recirculate water all day long. If I leave my pump on manual I will over fill the livewell. I did put it on auto. after he suggested I do so. Usually dont do this.

I also thought you would be better off not pumping hot water back into your livewell so I very rarely use auto on my aerator unless cool weather and water temps.

All the other fish seemed to be healthy and very lively. I think the heat got to them as we battled it all day.

Hate to kill any fish but I noticed several other boats had the same problem and all different makes.

How do you guys and gals deal with the heat? If there is a better way I will change and do it that way.

Rich

i never have lost a bass in a champ livewell
pump on auto -- hydro on auto
too bad dead fish usually cost money
how hot is the water?

***SAVING BASS WEIGHT THOSE 5 HOT MONTHS***

1...fill the livewell before blastoff or at your 1st spot when water is much cooler; then stay on re-circ.
2...bring a large enough cooler (like 28qt Island Breeze) with a half dozen 20oz used soft drink bottles with frozen water...toss 1 in the well every 90 minutes or so if 3 or more bass.
3...get hydrogen peroxide (its very very cheap) and pour in about 4 oz after fish 1 then fish 3 (its on sale at times for $1 a quart!)
4...prop open the livewell cover a tad with needlenose or some such or buy Vents...which are super.
5...buy special chemicals if you have the $$ and want to go that route
6...toss a frozen water bottle in as you place your bass in the water bag
(also leave the water in your weigh bag, remove fish to weigh, then return fish to bag for release)
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GeorgeP applied some of these last Saturday on LSJ and lost only one bass (which was hooked badly)...George has an old tin boat with about the worst livewell setup you ever saw SO if it works for him...you might want that extra half pound or so come weigh time...your call.

At least this works well here where 5 months a year the water/air are way above 82 degrees...we had an event THIS month with heat index of 98 and another with 100...was 109 one day last August...so its critical for the coastal south IMHO.


Modified by reelman at 5:28 PM 6/13/2011

These might help. http://www.v-t2.com/home.html I do not have them yet, but still have never lost a fish.I run the hydro on Auto and the Aer on auto the last hour of the day. I also use please release me.

Usually if you have expired fish but nothing has changed from the past you have a toxin in your wells somewhere. Bleach them pretty good with a 50/50 water mixture and rinse them real well. You should be good to go. Sometimes you pick up nasty little bugs from time to time.

I have the same boat and I have never lost a fish. I don't fill my livewell until I catch the first keeper. If it's warm like it is now, I have some gatorade bottles filled with lake water. I put a little bit of "please release me" in the bottles, shake them up real well, then freeze them. Then as the day goes on, I take the cap off of the frozen bottle and throw it in the livewell. As it thaws, its releases the chemicals. I also add a cap or 2 full of hydrogen peroxide. I usually use 2 32oz bottles a day. I also add 3 teaspoons of the "please release me" to the water as well. All this and I also keep my hydro air on manual. This has kept fish alive for me in the hottest summer days.

I'd almost bet money that (if you had 10 fish; 2 limits on board) peroxide would have helped...

Be careful not to add too much ice though. Some guys get carried away. You don't want to shock the fish with too cold of water. You want to keep the liveweel water about 10 degrees cooler then the water your fishing and you should be fine. Also keep in mind that ice cubes (drinking water) is not great on the fish either...

Whatever you do, stay away from rejuvenade That stuff gets the fish hyper and amped up. Please release me keeps the fish calm and mellow which is what you want.....Rejuvenade is a terrible product!!!