Live well or cooler?

[Crappieday]

I have always used a cooler to put fish in that I was going to keep to eat and never used a live well to keep fish in. The boat that I have now does not have a live well and I never put one in it. I see most on this forum have and use live wells. Pros cons?... I ask this question because I will be purchasing a new boat in the next year or two (need one with a flat floor, getting too old climb over the seat to get to my casting deck) and was wondering about the live well setup I should look at............

[foul hook]

Live well is for catch and release.

[PIGINTHEPIGPEN]

I have never used a cooler. Due to the fact that, I have never had a crappie die in my livewell. Then again, I don't fish if the temp is above 85..I'm sure that has something to do with the fish not dieing. I have 3 livewells in my boat and I use them all. Depending on wich one I'm closest to when I take the fish off the hook. Cooler just takes up space.

[BigRiverMarine]

If you're not tournament fishing and don't need to keep the fish alive, especially in this heat, just use the cooler. You can always put an aerator in a cooler if you did want some alive. As stated before, a live well is for keeping fish alive. Who cares if all your gonna do is eat em. I'll be waitin for my invitation to eat em!!!!! ;-)

[IkenI]

I use a live well in cool weather and ice in a cooler during hot weather. Lately, since it has been over 100 degrees for a bazillion days it's been catch and release only. The last ones I kept and immediately iced down tasted like they had been par-boiled. I still have some in the freezer from cool weather.

[PIGINTHEPIGPEN]

Live well is for catch and release.

My thought is. If your going to release the fish. Why put them in the livewell to begin with

[Splitshot82]

With me it depends on temp. I use my livewell as much as I can, but I take a cooler full of ice in the summer just in case.

Unfortunately I dont always slay em and I personally don't like to clean just a few fish. It's kinda nice to be able to release fish if I don't have enough to mess with at the end of the day.

Be nice if our buddy BRM used his leverage as a boat dealer to suggest to some boat manufacturers that us crappie guys sure would like a sufficiently insulated livewell that could also function as a cooler. :D:D:D

[funbun]

Who cares? When I get back to the house, they're going in the grease!

[roybuoy]

Since I have 3 on my boat why carry a cooler.

[Crappieday]

Unfortunately I dont always slay em and I personally don't like to clean just a few fish. It's kinda nice to be able to release fish if I don't have enough to mess with at the end of the day. Be nice if our buddy BRM used his leverage as a boat dealer to suggest to some boat manufacturers that us crappie guys sure would like a sufficiently insulated livewell that could also function as a cooler. :D:D:D

Same here