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[size 2][font "Comic Sans MS"]Recently, I was fishing Willard with a fellow and his Trophy boat. We put 5-6 wipers in his live well but when we returned to the marina to go home, I looked in the live well and all of the fish were belly up. I was surprise that they weren't all in better shape than that. Is that typical? If the fish are belly up, are they still considered good for tournament competition? Since I've never owned a boat with a live well, I was just wondering.[/font][/size]
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That's a consistant problem with live wells. The fish are under extreme duress and in a confined area the toxins build up quickly. Like an aquarium the water needs to be charcoal filtered almost continually. I have a home made one in my boat(a cooler with an aerator pump) that I have to be mindfull to put fresh water in and take the old out every few minutes or the fish go belly up. Some fish are more robust and less affected than others by it, but still I have to replenish the Oxygen and remove the toxins consistantly - I use the manual bucket method to take out the old and put in some new water.
In tournaments there are specific guidelines for keeping fish and they must be in top shape - so many pros have live wells that filter and replace the water automatically and are operated either continueally or are on timers.
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The trophy boat probably has a 2-way switch for the livewell, the first one is for the timer which circulates water every ten minutes, and the other switch is for manual which only fills it up and does nothing. I'm guessing it was on manual which explains the belly up.
Another likely scenario, the livewell was too small and got too crowded with the boat's motions in the waves prolly gave them the headaches...[shocked]
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Not all fish can be maintained in a live-well, like trout strippers and wipers if the water temp is to high.
The upper 2 to 3 feet of a lake is warmer then where the fish live so if the live-well does not pump the volume of water an oxgen mix the fish can die.
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[font "Arial Black"][red][size 3] Old Coot, I have had the same thing happen with my livewell, but I don't have the means to re-oxygenate the water as the day went on. I am going to work on that problem.[/size][/red][/font]
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[font "Arial Black"][#ff0000][size 3]AFDan52[/size][/#ff0000][/font]
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I would guess two things.
Of course this is based on my personal expirience.
The boat is new, the livewell still has glue chemicals and nasty stuff in it. The water was tainted and the fish didnt agree with it.
Another guess would be the size of the well.
I found this on a couple of the boats I have owned.
If the size of the well is too big, the fish will have enough room to get up some speed and they will try to run, and beat the heck out of themselves on the sides.
The smaller the well, or I should say the smaller the compartments in the well, the less banged up they seem to get.
Or it could be that they just got over heated, over stressed and gave up the ghost.
If you keep fresh water recircualting into the well from the lake, and keep the sloshing around of the water under control, you will have much better success.
Also I use bass medics livewell treatment when I have to put a fish in the well.
Its got a stress reducer chemical in it that clams the fish down. Kind of like an anti depressant for us humans, plus it helps preserve slime coat ect. But you will always want to recirculate, and on hot summer days its best to have some ice in a cooler to throw in there on occasion to keep the temp down.
Bassmedics stuff can be bought at sportmans whse. It runs about $10.00 for a bottle that will last you a very very long time. In the riverdale store they keep it on the end cap with the scents.
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Not all fish can be maintained in a live-well, like trout strippers and wipers if the water temp is to high.
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Right you are. Other than a needed steady supply of oxygen and waste removal (due as much to the fish breathing as crapping), water temp within the well is a huge factor and will effect the longevity of fish being held very quickly.
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I have the same problem with my live well . Wipers don't do well in it but the walleye and crappie have no problem . Wipers did bounce around so maybe that is it . I tried it out on trout and they did fine , so it must be something with the wipers . My live well feeds water in all the time so it gets fresh water coming in all the time .
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I use a 35 gallon bait tank and it works great. I can keep wipers, walleye, and even kokanee alive in it all day long. I leave the tank pump on all the time to let fresh water circulate and flush out debris. [/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Also square shaped livewells don't work very well. You want rounded corners, especially when using live bait. Go look at the large bait tanks that are meant to keep fish alive. They all have rounded corners. Fish can't run into the corners and get beat up.[/size][/black][/font]
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[size 2][font "Comic Sans MS"] Thanks much for the information. Pretty fascinating. Now I'm wondering if live wells come in round circular shapes. Obviously, that would take up much more space but would seem to be the better way to go. I guess it comes down to .... Am I going to filet the fish soon or do I truly need to keep them alive?[/font][/size]
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Hey Old_Coot,
I know what you mean about live wells. I have been trying for months now to get my home made one to work and I always seem to end up with belly ups and floaters. Dang it ! If I put it on constant circulate, the battery dies half way through the day. I've tried several different approaches and none have worked out that well for me.
So, I am going back to my old method. I'll still use the same cooler, but instead of the live well approach with lake water, I'll just put a couple of bags of ice in the cooler in my boat and put the fish in and let them chill from the start. Yeah, the ice does turn into ice and slush but,the fish always seemed fresher that way when I got them to the cleaning station or the fillet board at home.
Unless someone else has a better idea that I can try for a small boat like mine.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]As Fishhound pointed out, icing down fish just as soon as you can is the best way to go if they are headed for the fillet board. It gives the meat a chance to chill and set up. It's a lot easier to fillet firm, cold flesh than warm, softer fish. I prefer blocks to crushed only because it lasts a whole lot longer though it may not chill things down quite as fast.[/size][/black][/font]
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[size 2][font "Comic Sans MS"] Fishhound and BLM … that does make perfect sense. In fact, a while back, someone gave me that idea and I forgot all about it. Again, a good and simple idea. [/font][/size]
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Hey Old_Coot,
BLM reminded me of something I forgot to include in my diatribe there. I also used something like his comment about the blocked ice. To save some money in that area(I a cheapsake) I freeze a few small plastic water bottles(don't fill them all the way or they break) and put them in the cooler with the bags of ice(or ice cubes from your fridge, if you have that luxury) - they don't take up much room(that's important with big fish like wipers) and they help keep the crushed ice from melting so fast. That way I can get a medium between the best of both worlds - quick chilling and longer lasting ice. You can also reuse them over and over again and the other advantage is that you can remove them from the cooler if you need more room for fish without throwing money away - I like that part especially.
Just my "half-o-scent" there.
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From what I've seen with wipers from Willard and stripers from Lake Powell they are really difficult to keep alive even in a well aerated livewell. Oxygen is a concern but water temp is even more of a concern. Stripers at Lake Powell usually only move above the thermocline during the summer to feed. This is when you see boils on shad. During they day they will drop below the thermocline where the water temps are cooler, but the oxygen level can be minimal. There must be some type of metabolic trade-off, where water temp outweighs oxygen. In Willard this must be difficult for the wipers, because there is no stratification.
The best way to take care of the fish, when the water temps are 70F or above, is to keep what you want and put them on ice. The fillets will be in better shape and much more pleasing to taste. Good luck!
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