Likes Likes:  0
Thanks Thanks:  0
HaHa HaHa:  0
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread: Technical question

  1. #1
    Speck's Avatar
    Speck is offline MO/MS Moderator and Fishing Legend * Member Sponsor
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    MO
    Posts
    17,201
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Technical question


    Bugs, if this belongs on the O.T. side, please move it. Reading the threads about Crappie Masters made me start thinking. I am fairly new at tournament fishing and still have alot to learn. Most tournys now require fish to be checked in alive. What are the best ways to keep them healthy in the livewell and while waiting in line to check in. I have been investigating oxygen systems for livewell. Tried Tournament Ice, Yikess and I have even rigged a rolling cooler with an airator attatched but its a struggle keeping them alive in hot weather. How do the pro's do it? Thanks


    Crazy Angler Pro Staff
    Crappie Logic Pro Staff

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    missouri
    Posts
    5,651
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Speck here is what we done Saturday

    Fished the tournament with the nephew, he has a 519 Ranger, dual live well, since we had to put in early, we bought 5 bags of ice the night before, put 3 bags in one livewell in the am, when we got on the water we flooded the livewells with the ice in it and then some of that blue stuff and just re-circed the water all day and our fish were in great shape at weigh in time.... we have a aero bait 5 gallon minnow bucket with air pump on it for minnows, so at the end of the day we kept a little ice in a cooler in the truck, put a little ice in the minnow bucket dumped our 7 fish in it (hoping they would eat the rest of the minners while we stood in line) and we were given high praise for how well our fish were, jumping out of the weigh-in basket when time came and that is after standing in line for 45 minutes, which seemed like 2 hours.... in extreme heat......was told always recirc the water, never use fresh lake water to recirc like I would normally do........... you can also add a little ice if you like to the water in the livewell as the day goes along, Ranger397 freezes up bottles of water to throw in once in awhile.....
    A FISH IN THE PAN IS WORTH TWO IN THE LAKE

  3. #3
    Jigging15's Avatar
    Jigging15 is offline Moderator MO OT and MO Tournaments * Crappie.com Supporter
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Clinton,MO
    Posts
    11,484
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Rejuvinade, airator on all day and ice ice and more ice. Last year even if just fishing for fun I would put ice on them just for practice to learn how it needed to be done. I use frozen water bottles instead of ice. Some of the guys at the masters tournament said they used 80 lbs of ice. That is ten bags in one day. Great topic speck. Can't wait to see what everyone else does.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    missouri
    Posts
    5,651
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default The large but not all that large dead

    fish in last saturday's tournament, was mostly due in part from the heat, I do think if we have to stand in line and a lot of teams just use the bag to haul there fish in, I have fished where there would be several cool water tanks in the line so you could drop your bag in and help cool them down, this is what I think would have saved a lot of stressed fish..... now this is just a little cap guns opinion.....
    A FISH IN THE PAN IS WORTH TWO IN THE LAKE

  5. #5
    Speck's Avatar
    Speck is offline MO/MS Moderator and Fishing Legend * Member Sponsor
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    MO
    Posts
    17,201
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Thanks guys. We use the frozen bottles of water and it works pretty well until we fished Grenada. Then, no matter what we tried, the fish laid on their sides as soon as they went in the well. Yikess has some clips with weights on them. We clip them to the fishes pectoral fins to keep them upright in the livewells. I've also read that you should change the water out every so often to keep ammonia (sp) from building up in the water.


    Crazy Angler Pro Staff
    Crappie Logic Pro Staff

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    missouri
    Posts
    5,651
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Now Speck you

    are getting over my head, I have never had that problem, but would poop my pants if I had a pig doing that....... We did have two crappie saturday that the jig was down deep, so we just cut the line and leave in him and they made it all day okay...... told them at weigh in and they said that is okay.....
    A FISH IN THE PAN IS WORTH TWO IN THE LAKE

  7. #7
    Jigging15's Avatar
    Jigging15 is offline Moderator MO OT and MO Tournaments * Crappie.com Supporter
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Clinton,MO
    Posts
    11,484
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    You are right on Monty about the weigh in bags. Wally was the last one to weigh in and he had a cooler converter with an airator and his fish were very lively when he weighed them in. When I fished bass tournaments they sometimes would have 3 or 4 cattle water troughs set up with cool water and air pumping into them. It really seemed to help.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    LOZ area
    Posts
    2,902
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Did anyone there get to see how that KoolWell system worked? Its alittle pricey i think but i heard Pual say that the one team ran it all day in thier livewell and the temp of thier livewell never got above 71 degrees. At 245.00 it is alittle high for me but if you fished the summer Tourneys alot it would sure pay for itself in keeping your fish alive.
    There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Eva, AL
    Posts
    2,755
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by olesilverside View Post
    Fished the tournament with the nephew, he has a 519 Ranger, dual live well, since we had to put in early, we bought 5 bags of ice the night before, put 3 bags in one livewell in the am, when we got on the water we flooded the livewells with the ice in it and then some of that blue stuff and just re-circed the water all day and our fish were in great shape at weigh in time.... we have a aero bait 5 gallon minnow bucket with air pump on it for minnows, so at the end of the day we kept a little ice in a cooler in the truck, put a little ice in the minnow bucket dumped our 7 fish in it (hoping they would eat the rest of the minners while we stood in line) and we were given high praise for how well our fish were, jumping out of the weigh-in basket when time came and that is after standing in line for 45 minutes, which seemed like 2 hours.... in extreme heat......was told always recirc the water, never use fresh lake water to recirc like I would normally do........... you can also add a little ice if you like to the water in the livewell as the day goes along, Ranger397 freezes up bottles of water to throw in once in awhile.....
    Ype basically the same way I have learned to do it. The probelm with catching fish in the summer is that they are sometimes deep. That will cause you to have to deflate the air bladder or attach weights as someone else said. I have a thermometer in my livewell and I try to keep it about 8-10 degrees below surface temp. I am not sure how the KoolWell system works but I am working on my own system for cooling the water. I will take a round PVC pipe (tall as I can get in my livewell). I will then purchase a low flow recirculation pump and attach to the outside of the PVC pipe, run copper tubing from pump into PVC pipe and coil the tubing inside the PVC pipe then out the top and back into the livewell. the PVC pipe can be filled with ice that should cool the water in the copper tubing and then the water in the livewell. I an not sure how much tubing I will need or how well it will work but I am just trying to cool the water 10 degrees or so.
    Scott Echols
    Hi-Tek Stuff
    Crazy Angler Tackle

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Clinton,MO
    Posts
    102
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default livewell

    kool well is definately the way to go. If you got the duckets. Alot of money if you only fish 2 or 3 tourneys. Rejuvinate is worth its wieght in gold. They also make packs that are rejuvinate packs like a lunchbox cooler. but if they break they are harmless to fish. Tournament day fill your livewell and treat it with rejuvinate GRANULES. Turn on recirculate and dont pump in anymore water the rest the day. At 10am add 1 frozen rejuvinate pack and again at noon and 2 and you will be fine. P.S. Those pack are only 3 or 4 bucks I got em here and the granules 9.99 last 5 tourneys or so. Hope this helps. Jeff

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

BACK TO TOP