Aluminum Livewell problems?

[lhumphre]

Anyone ever ahve issues with fish dying in aluminum based livewells? Heard from a tourney guy all his fish died in his livewell so he ahd to build a new livewell with plastic interior? Just wonderin..

[Jigging15]

I know some of the more serious tournament guys around here that run an aluminum boat do not ever use their livewells. They all have large coolers that they have added pumps to circulate the water to keep the fish alive on tournament day. Some add water the night before or as soon as they get on the water and get the tempature right in it before they ever put a fish in it and then add ice as needed to keep the temp right. But I have fished with some guys in aluminum boats that as long as the aeriater was running the whole time we would have 2 limits of 15 at the end of the day that would all be alive when we cleaned them. So not sure if it is specific to certain boats or the other guys with cooler type livewells are just playing it safe.

[Wannabe...]

Aluminum itself for a livewell is not a problem. Now, size, temperature, capacity and shape do come into play though. Also, it is possible he has some residue in there that's causing a problem.

Give you and example. Had a War Eagle 542 with a "livewell" that consisted of a small box with a hole in the bottom. Pull the plug and it would fill to 10" maybe. Fishing in Jan - March you could load it with fish and expect pretty much every one to be frisky at the end of the day. Put 2 in the same box in June and it was curtains for 'em.

Same type, but larger on my G-3 with an aerator consisting of a pump in of fresh water that was sprayed in and a timer and I could keep maybe 8 or 10 fish fairly well even in the summer assuming they didn't come from too deep of water. I could do a little better by adding frozen water bottles though.

Now my Champion has something like a 50 ish gallon, rounded corner, insulated livewell with re-circ that is currently on the fritz. Don't think I could over load it and it be the cause of fish dying at my present skill level...which ain't saying much.

So...the answer is....it depends.

Wannabe...

[majflyboy]

Really glad you cleared that up WB.

[Jigging15]

Wannabe it is hard to beat a Champion for about anything. My 187 Elite has insulation "spray in foam" all around the livewells. Have never had any trouble keeping fish alive in mine. Turn on timed aerater and add frozen water bottles to keep temp right in the summer.

[Hanr3]

Think of it this way, most pots and pans are made from metal for a reason, they transfer heat to cook food. In this case they are transferring the heat into the water, and thus slowely boiling your fish to death. You have to compensate by running the airator, bringing in fresh cool water, and/or adding ice to the livewell. Best option is to insulate the livewell, keep the heat off the metal, and draw in fresh cool water.

[RagflyJigMan]

I know what ya mean by fish dying in aluminum live wells. I was actually accused of cheating in a crappie tourney cause most of mine in one of the live wells died. The ones I had in the front well were ok but the ones in the rear were mostly dead. I think it may be caused by the silicon sealant I put around the plug area. Don't know but maybe some of ya'll can shed some light on this for me.

[MePreach]

The livewell in my G3 is aluminum and I cant put many in it without them dying! I have found that I can lay a boat cushion on livewell lid and it helps alot but I dont fish tournaments so I now just throw them in ice chest to be cleaned later!

[brushnjigs]

Metal is not the problem, water quality is. After you get so many fish in a livewell urine becomes the problem. Change water thru out the day and use air stones of some kind if you don't have recirculating pumps . If you need to cool the water do what they do in the US Open in Neveda's 125 degree heat, save old 20oz water bottles and refill with lake or well water and then freeze. They also add please-release-me in the bottles. Every hour or so they will unscrew the cap and throw a couple of bottles in the livewell. Never use store bought ice, the chlorine in the ice will kill your fish because its made with city water. Fish will stop doing the back stroke if you follow the steps above.