Keeping Bass Alive - Livewell Care

[BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER]

Here's a good, long, detailed read on caring for your fish - A guidebook for anglers and tournament organizations

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx ... 195&inline

B.A.S.S. has since updated and condensed this original guidebook down from 48 pages to just 7 for those with shorter attention spans

https://www.bassmaster.com/wp-content/u ... 20comp.pdf

To give bass the best chance to survive not only to weigh-in time, but also for the next few days after being released, a little extra care is needed when summer water temps are 75 degrees and above. The biggest threat to bass in the live well is insufficient dissolved oxygen, followed by ammonia build up. Water temperature directly effects the amount of dissolved oxygen. Warm water has a lower capacity to absorb DO compared to cooler water and at the same time a bass' DO requirement to survive increases the warmer the water gets. The recommendation for summer months is to control your live well temperature using ice to cool them about 10 degrees, close off the inflow of warm outside lake water, and run pumps on recirculate. This will create the highest amount of DO in your tanks and also help lower the amount of DO your bass require to survive. Since your livewell will not be taking on fresh water you should also perform a 50% water exchange to reduce ammonia build up every 3-4 hourse. A lot of guys like to continuously pump in lake water which is what's recommended when water temperature is below 75. But this changes once temp exceeds 75, it's important to remember the lake water being pulled in comes from the surface which is going to be the warmest and have the least amount of DO in the entire lake. The authors make the point that bass alive at weigh in timewhich appear healthy can still die post release during summer months if they've experienced stress in the live well so taking a few extra steps to reduce stress gives them the best chance to fight another day.

The authors say they cannot officially recommend live well treatments since they are not FDA approved. This is not to say live well treatments are bad in any way nor to say they don't offer benefit to the fish, just that they are not approved for human consumption. Whether you prefer Sure Life Labs (Please Release Me & Catch and Release), G-juice, or Rejuvenade I'm a believer they all help the fish by sedating them (calm fish require less DO and reduce chance of injuring themselves), neutralizing chlorine from ice, add needed salt which helps lower stress and stimulate slime coat production.

The authors also state they do not recommend hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)because too much can be very harmful and possibly kill your fish. The flip side to that is used in the correct dosage (just like any medication) it can saturate your live wells with DO and be a tremendous benefit. Both the late Doug Hannon and Sure Live Labs have videos out recommending the use of hydrogen peroxide in the correct dosage of 1oz of 3% solution per each 3-5 gallons of water. Or about 4oz for a typical 15-18 gallons live well. Use a 3 or 5 gallon bucket to measure your live well up the the overflow (or wherever your normally fill it too) to know for sure.





On a personal note, a few years ago I had all 5 fish die in a hot tournament which cost us the win and was all my fault. I always plug the overflow drain during the hot months to prevent water from escaping when running around and to prevent warm surface water from coming in when moving in reverse. Well, on this day I filled my live wells beyond the level of the plugged overflow mistakingly thinking the more water in there the better. What I failed to consider was once we added 5 big post spawn bass, they displaced enough water so that my spray jets were completely submerged and all five quickly died from a lack of DO. So learn from my mistake. If your jets spray from the top (mine were re-plumbed to only spray from the top) the water MUST spray through the air before hitting the surface in order to create DO or else. A lot of boats brands have the MaxAir intakes which sucks in air through a venturi to the recirculate pumps and functions like an aquarium airstone to create DO which I have now but didn't back then and it cost us. Since that humbling day our fish have always been healthy and lively come weigh in time following the above recommendations. We have not lost a single fish during a tournament - except for a very few badly gut/gill hooked fish. Another benefit to following these recommendations is my livewells are always spotless clean at the end of a tournament. No more regurgitated bits of crawdads and baitfish left behind because the fish aren’t stressed - that could be lost ounces at the scales.

[ash]

Great read and reminder BDBR - when I had my boat I kept H2O2 in my boat in the summer time and night tournaments. I found two cap fulls on each side of my livewell was great for invigorating fish and not overly saturating. DFW is promoting that cooler water is recommended in the summer that is pulling water into the livewells in the early morning and keeping aerators rolling on recirc throughout the day.

[WRB]

Be careful with the amount ice you add. Drop the temps 10 degrees quickly can kill bass.
Over the counter 3% hydrogen peroxide 1/2 cup to 15 gallons is safe and creates life saving DO.
Night the green vegetation that produces DO during day light does the opposite in the dark and consumes DO, lowering the surface water DO around weed beds to low levels. Wind blown waves helps at night to oxygenate the surface water, flat calm isn’t good.
Trying to keep post mortality rates below 3% during hot water conditions is very difficult.
Keep in mind salt water will corrode oxygenators, so use Catch & Release that doesn’t contain salt.
Good post,
Tom

[coyote268]

I think this is a must read for all tournament fisherman. Big Daddy explains what you should do and even admits the mistakes he has made in the past. Last year at Clear Lake and I live here there was a tremendous fish kill. Many factors contributed to this as hot weather, hot water and fish and wildlife allowing tournaments in these conditions and lastly many fishermen not aware how to protect their catch or not really trying. Due to age I no longer fish tournaments but I enjoy going to the weigh ins and seeing old friends, but remember, the proper care of your catch is upmost important to protect this valuable resource. Again, thank you Big Danny for your post.

[mark poulson]

When the water's hot, I keep my livewell running on constant all day, and don't lose fish.

[jiggin4bass]

The most logic thing to do is after catch a bass is to release it back into the water no livewell needed. But that's to easy now isn't it.

[ash]

I think this is a must read for all tournament fisherman. Big Daddy explains what you should do and even admits the mistakes he has made in the past. Last year at Clear Lake and I live here there was a tremendous fish kill. Many factors contributed to this as hot weather, hot water and fish and wildlife allowing tournaments in these conditions and lastly many fishermen not aware how to protect their catch or not really trying. Due to age I no longer fish tournaments but I enjoy going to the weigh ins and seeing old friends, but remember, the proper care of your catch is upmost important to protect this valuable resource. Again, thank you Big Danny for your post.

Ive seen fish kills when there are not tournaments to blame, primary due to spraying and killing of aquatic vegetation, the run off of legal and illegal chemicals coming into the lake causing the DO to plummet before the fish have a chance to boogie - but I get it - it's the tournaments fault. This year Rodman had a ton of dead fish show up on a Tuesday that had a chum line of all sorts of species floating - but that's probably bass tournaments too....