Keeping "em alive

[rnvinc]

Ok, you ingenious crappie fishermen..this thread (which may be in the archives somewhere, I'm not sure) is kind of an offshoot to the thread "keep 'em or give 'em away"

How do you guys keep your catch alive.. bankfishermen and/or boat fishermen?

I'll share my method as soon as I can get pictures uploaded of my livewell system......

[Gamblinman]

If I put them in the livewell, I've found that I have to keep the aeration on all the time, and only put 8 to 10 fish per well to keep them alive. If I'm putting them in a basket, I tie it off about 10' down in the water. For me, this only works while the lake temperatures are still fairly low. In the summer, I just throw them straight on ice, because nothing seems to keep them alive.

[Scrapper]

gamblin is right...you have to keep the fish cool....ecspecially in the summer when they are deep. I pulled a 7#bass from way down deep...20 or better last summer and he was floating when I got him to the top...water had been hovering high 80's low 90's in august.

Minnows, you should try to find article that Keith "catfish" Sutton put in his crappie book. He puts them in ice chest....Ice on bottom...towel on the ice...lays bags in there...I think he keep them alive a couple months like that...did nothing else...minnows with air shot in the bags. Did it over thanksgiving break....it does work. We ran out after a week so didn't get to see how long they would last.

In livewells in the summer, put alot of ice in there and that will prolong life...keep aereated...the oxygenating pills supposedly work very well...might try those. I had bad luck when putting them over the side...lol. When I was in high school with my first boat..."14' flatbottom"...I remember a couple instances when I pulled up heads...if you know what I mean..lol. :rolleyes:

[Cane Pole]

Well, if I were a professional, I would install an air diffuser system. Since I ain't, I just use a Frabil aerated bucket and keep frozen bottle water in it. Pain in the butt to dip miners with the bottle floating, so I am gonna get one of those square Frabills that has the lift out net and put my frozen bottle water below the net. Maybe this will work.

I went thru a lot of trouble trying to insulate built in minnow wells on my Tracker. Minnows still died, but it worked lots better than no insulation.

[rnvinc]

There's several pix in this explanation so please bear with me...

I designed this livewell system for 2 reasons:
1. To keep fish alive until I knew I had enough to take home (4 or more)
2. To be able to easily grab my "livewell" out of the boat and take it to the
cleaning station.

I have an Atwell livewell pump installed in my boat's lowest bilge area

I use an aerator timer to power the Atwell pump




The Atwell supply pump sends water to this female brass garden hose 'quickconnect' fitting




To this brass 'quickconnect' I attach a 5/8 inch i.d. vinyl tubing with a male brass 'quickconnect' fitting




This 5/8 inch vinyl tubing supplies the water to my 108 qt. cooler (livewell)





The vinyl tubing is connected to the lid of the cooler by means of more brass 'quickconnect' fittings




The supply water is sent thru the cooler lid and dumped into the livewell (cooler)




The water rises until it reaches the shelf in the livewell (cooler) that supports an "automatic bilge pump" (above photo).. at which point the excess water is pumped back out thru the lid to another vinyl tubing that hangs over the side of the boat




This cycle of pumping water in (from the Atwell supply pump in my boat's bilge) and pumping water out (from the auto pump in the livewell) is continuously automatic by means of the aerator timer seen again here




Hang on...there's more.....

When I get ready to leave the lake I disconnect the brass 'quickconnect' fitting (that supplies water to the livewell) and connect the other end of the vinyl tubing (that dumps excess water into the lake) into a "loop"




Then, I drop the livewell bilge into the water which pumps the livewell water up thru the "loop" and right back into the livewell creating "circulation"



I hope that's a clear as mud......

[speckfinder]

I installed the Oxygenator in my livewells--really helps even when water gets hot

[Cane Pole]

This is the one....

KeepAlive Aerators, Bait Tanks and Oxygen Systems

[midnight_f150]

ttt

[Spoonminnow]

The basket works for the most fish except for rnvinc elaborate and perfect system which is on board and which you can go on plane. (Never go on plane with the basket still in the water - fish drown - strange but true.)
Water in /water out, ice and no overcrowding or many large fish will keep crappie alive. I'm assuming you'r talking about crappie and not bait fish. The larger the fish, the more oxygen they need; the smaller the container, the faster the O2 is used up without circulating lake water. Bubble or spray aerators don't work near well enough by themselves and I risk
running down my batteries if left on. (The timer doesn't work).

[deep_fried_crappie]

I really like your idea with the cooler. I may steal this setup from ya, lol. I have a 14' flatbottom and have been wanting to do some sort of live well for those days I go out all day and want to keep a few. How well does it work in keeping the fish alive? What size cooler did you use? And one more, how much did it cost ya to build it? Excellent build bud!