Dead,dying,sloppy live bait is common this summer, it’s not cheap

[cricket george]

Benton B - You are spot on. You have to be a fisheries biologist or you raise minnows and have done so for a long time.

[Benton B]

Benton B - You are spot on. You have to be a fisheries biologist or you raise minnows and have done so for a long time.

You certainly don’t have to have a college degree in fishery biology to be successful keeping healthy live bait in livewells all day, but you have to maintain excellent livewell water quality or your fish will surely die in your livewell every summer for years.

Forget the salesman’s line, all the facts and information how to be successful is only 1 mouse click away for anyone with the desire to fix the summer livewell mortality problems. If you are a live bait fisherman you know that sloppy dying bait not fit to fish with. All you have to do is read it, learn it and practice it… it is as simple as that.
If you plan or by accident overstock your livewell in the summer it dies.

This is all that is necessary to keep your bait alive and healthy all day in any overstocked livewell in the summer:

1. Oxygenate livewell water with pure oxygen – 100% DO Saturation or greater guarantees and insures safe oxygenation in overcrowded livewells and bait tanks in the summer. More bait requires more oxygen – maintain 100% DO Saturation is how professional live bait transporters (fish hatcheries and shiner dealers) transport all live fish, they use 100% compressed oxygen.

2. Ventilate livewell water – Total or partial water exchange several time daily guarantees elimination ammonia, acid pH, dissolved CO2, nitrites, nitrates and metabolic waste.

Google: “keeping live bait in livewells in the summer”

Plenty of great info here. “Thinking out of the box,” be successful every summer and you can learn how to really manage your livewell water quality and bring all the live bait you want bring if you really want to learn to learn about maintaining great livewell water quality.

[Dave and Lynn]

Ok my here's my . I fish with minnows, not shiners but tuffies, year round. I use a float and troll minnow bucket. First thing I do when I get to the lake is dump some of the water from the minnow bucket into a plain bucket. Then I ad some lake water to both buckets and dip a nets worth out of the minnow bucket and put them in the bucket I have just filled. This offsets the shock that the minnows will get from the water temp change. Sometimes you will put them on the hook right out of the minnow bucket and they die as soon as they hit the water. The water from the bait store is normally colder then the lake water during the summer and shock will kill them. Acclimate the minnows to the conditions and temp of the lake water and they will live longer. The more minnows in the bucket the more often you will have to change out the water to lake water. After a few minutes the minnows in the minnow bucket will go in the lake water and survive well. Plenty of oxygen and minnows at lake temp equals minnows that survive on the hook. Just don't forget and bring the minnows in from the lake when you get ready to take off or you will get wet. Good fishing everyone.
Putting the minnows in the live well also works but you must maintain water changes in the live well.

[Benton B]

Ok my here's my . . Plenty of oxygen and minnows at lake temp equals minnows that survive on the hook... you must maintain water changes in the live well.

You are right on the money. That's really all there is to transporting live bait all day or keeping it overnight.

You must simply insure minimal safe dissolved oxygen saturation for all the bait and ventilate (flush) the livewell/bait tank water every now and then to eliminate the ammonia, CO2 and carbonic acid and acid pH.

[Mt Nebo]

Two or three caps of Hydrogen Peroxide will do the trick...

[Benton B]

Two or three caps of Hydrogen Peroxide will do the trick...

Although your recommendation are always touted in fishing forums as great, harmless, cheap method to oxygenate livewell water… there is much more to it.

I certainly do not mean to insult you or belittle your opinion, but many fishermen have probably never seen the scientific facts, published research and expert fishery biologist opinions about using hydrogen peroxide as you described.

Please know and understand the information cited below is not my personal opinion, but the opinions of a couple bass fishermen promoting the use of H2O2, expert fishery biologist, B.A.S.S. and the FDA that have published their research and regulations regarding the use of H2O2.

Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) –

Why don’t we take a moment and review a few opinions from these expert fishery biologist, published scientific research, FDA regulations and FDA prohibitions that apply to “food fish.” Then let’s compare the fishery experts research and go beyond the popular fisherman’s opinions, i.e. Doug Hannon’s H2O2 infomercial “Hydrogen Peroxide in Livewells | Bass Fishing” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8K0AjcFqK0 and Jay Kumar's BassBlaster | Science: Livewells and Peroxide Jay Kumar's BassBlaster | Science: Livewells and Peroxide and many more similar opinions about using H2O2 on the net.

Let’s look closer at what’s really right and what’s really not right for the captive tournament “food fish” and about soaking the fish in H2O2 chemical all day for livewell oxygenation on food fish. Let’s not forget about nor discount all the families that may eat these food fish you have chemically treated and then released alive back into the lakes.

So much for the food fish’s health and well-being, but does it matter at all the families who may eat the chemically treated fish or no? That’s a fisherman’s personal choice and decision. ”No other forms of hydrogen peroxide, including those sold for human use, are approved for use [by the FDA] with fish.”


If insuring safe livewell oxygenation is the point of using H2O2, you can be absolutely sure that there are far safer, much better and more effective ways to oxygenate livewells than using hydrogen peroxide any day.
So let’s learn some new stuff about hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

*Keeping Bass Alive A Guidebook for Anglers and Tournament Organizers
[PDF]Keeping Bass Alive – ESPN http://assets.espn.go.com/winnercomm...Bass_Alive.pdf
http://assets.espn.go.com/winnercomm...Bass_Alive.pdf

By: Gene Gilliland [Gene Gilliland is currently the B.A.S.S. National Conservation Director effective January 1, 2014.]
Oklahoma Fisheries Research Lab
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
Norman, OK 73072

By: Hal Schramm
US Geological Survey
Mississippi Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Center
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762

By: Bruce Schupp
National Conservation Director B.A.S.S.*
Montgomery, AL 36117

Published by: ESPN Productions, Inc./B.A.S.S.
5854 Carmichael Rd.
Montgomery, AL 36117
Copyright 2002 B.A.S.S.* Montgomery, AL

Pg 21 – NO HYDROGEN PEROXIDE - Another chemical that has sometimes been used to treat livewell or holding tank water is Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water in the presence of organic matter. However, this chemical can injure fish and should not be used. Most people have used this colorless, odorless, tasteless liquid to disinfect a cut or scratch. You can see it fizzing and bubbling on the skin as it oxidizes. Now imagine what it does in a livewell full of bass. The bass’ mucus coating protects its skin from the oxidation reaction, but there is no such protective coating on the delicate gill filaments. Unfortunately, anglers that use Hydrogen Peroxide think that is a little is good, a little more should be better. Wrong! Damage to gill filaments, suffocation, and death may result.
DO NOT USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE IN THE LIVEWELL

Hydrogen Peroxide for Bass Boat livewells - by Fishery Biologist Randy Myers TPWD, Inland Fisheries Division, San Antonio, TX Publication 2-14-2012 - A total of 12 one-hour experiments were conducted with oxygen levels measured every 10 minutes.
Hydrogen peroxide for bass boat livewells

The Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Fin Fish Aquaculture by Roy P.E. Yanong
Hydrogen peroxide is commonly used as a disinfectant for cleaning wounds in people. Hydrogen peroxide has also been used in aquaculture as an immersion (bath) treatment against many different disease-causing organisms, including external parasites, bacteria, and fungi, on different species and life-stages of fish. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a hydrogen-peroxide-based aquaculture product, which has spurred greater interest in its use.

Is hydrogen peroxide legal for use in aquaculture? In 2007, 35% PEROX-AID® (Eka Chemicals, Marietta, Georgia) was approved by the FDA for control of mortality in (1) freshwater-reared finfish eggs due to saprolegniasis (a common water mold), (2) freshwater-reared salmonids due to bacterial gill disease (Flavobacterium branchiophilum), and (3) freshwater-reared coolwater finfish and channel catfish due to external columnaris (Flavobacterium columnare) disease. No other forms of hydrogen peroxide, including those sold for human use, are approved for use with fish.


Can hydrogen peroxide be used on other warmwater finfish species intended for human consumption and for other indications not on the label? A veterinarian can prescribe 35% PEROX-AID® for an extralabel use provided that all the provisions in Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 530 (21 CFR 530) (http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/script...fm?CFRPart=530) are followed. In brief, the client must be working with a veterinarian within the context of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship (see description below), and there must be no residues that pose a public health risk. Research using food fish species is much more common in the literature, and biotests will most likely be required to determine the best dose and treatment time for specific disease problems. A summary of unapproved doses and indications used by researchers in foodfish species is outlined in Table 2. As for approved uses and species, follow label instructions and contact the appropriate regulatory authorities regarding discharge of treated water.

[jnebgud]