New Study: Ice livewells or not

[tom redington]

New study published this month on livewell temps and how adding ice and temp changes in general affect bass. Some interesting findings, but as I note at the end, definitely need more follow up research to really nail this down. But yeah, kind of makes me rethink things a bit...

[billnorman1]

I've often been concerned about releasing bass from chilled livewells into water that's 10-20 degrees hotter.

[csurp]

Did anyone catch if he gave the source of his information?

[mikeky]

Did anyone catch if he gave the source of his information?

A brand new study just released in May 2025

[Sportsmanscreed]

Tom do you have the link to the orginal study?

[csurp]

Tom do you have the link to the orginal study?

[PatriotAW4]

I keep mine pulling in fresh water on a timer and the only fish I have had die are ones that were hooked deep and bleed out, which would happen no matter what you do. Ice and all the other additives are just a waste of time and money in my opinion.

[pbmang]

I keep mine pulling in fresh water on a timer and the only fish I have had die are ones that were hooked deep and bleed out, which would happen no matter what you do. Ice and all the other additives are just a waste of time and money in my opinion.

I do something very similar. I never put ice or additives in my livewell. Once the first fish goes in, the fill pump runs constantly. IMO a bigger risk for the fish is the lack of fresh water, and not the temperature of the water. When people ice the water, that means the fish stays in the same water pretty much the entire day. So those fish go into a shock from a drastic temp change, and they do not get fresh water. I very rarely have a fish die.

I've also been a coangler for a long time in FLW/MLF tournaments. In summer tournaments I've seen more dead fish come out of "treated" livewells than ones that just kept pumping in fresh water all day. I'll always decline if a boaters asks if I want to ice my livewell, and instead ask if we can just pump fresh water.

[wmitch2]

I've never been a fan of using Ice in the live well. I will run the pump to circulate fresh water in thru out the day. I also have the V-T2 vents to rid the toxins and have never had the "Foam" form on the surface ever since. My fish are FISTIE when the day is done !!