Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

I am running a Ranger 177tr right now. I had 3 5lbers and 2 2 lbers in the live well. It seemed crowded. Up until now I have been fun fishing and not holding fish all day. But now doing tournaments what is the max a live well can sustain ? Would it be per gal of water or by size. I thought I would have been in a hurt if I had a non-boater with his catch also.

My boat has a single live well with a divider , I have removed the divider.

I added an extra recirculating pump and a pro air pump to ensure the fish have good oxygen .


Thanks
Rod

That's a good bag!
As long as your run the livewell full time on manual, and keep pumping fresh water through it, your fish will be alright.
Problems arise when people run a livewell full of fish on automatic and recirculate when they add livewell chemicals. It doesn't take long for five good fish to expel a lot of urine into the water, and recirculating that water, instead of constantly exchanging it for fresh water, will stress those fish quickly, even if you add livewell additive and oxygen.
For them, once there are three good fish in the livewell, it's like breathing in a smoker's air if it not constantly exchanged.
If you're worried about running the livewell full time, use a big dual purpose battery for your cranking battery.

I do all that but how big and how many fish will a modern bass boat live well hold.
Say 10 5lb fish ?

Rod Martin wrote:I do all that but how big and how many fish will a modern bass boat live well hold.
Say 10 5lb fish ?

My TR177 has a 16 gallon livewell, and it holds two tournament limits all day. I've had over 20lbs in it, and the fish were fine at the weighin.
I've never had 50 lbs of fish in it. I'd love to find out. I don't think it would be big enough physically , though. Not enough room.
But I had a 30" salmon in it for an hour, while it revived in Rejuvenade, and it swam away fine when I released it.

Thanks Mark
I couldn't find how many gallons on the 177tr. I'm just concerned about having a non-boater and his fish too.

So you have a 177tr. You're not the guy that bought my old 2008 are you ?

Rod Martin wrote:Thanks Mark
I couldn't find how many gallons on the 177tr. I'm just concerned about having a non-boater and his fish too.

So you have a 177tr. You're not the guy that bought my old 2008 are you ?

No, I bought mine new in 2008 from Anglers. Rick made me a "smokin hot deal". Hahaha
I'm the guy who made the Quatro Trout. You dropped off a bunch of jigs at my house on Sandmound for me to give to the local kids last year.

mark poulson wrote:

Rod Martin wrote:Thanks Mark
I couldn't find how many gallons on the 177tr. I'm just concerned about having a non-boater and his fish too.

So you have a 177tr. You're not the guy that bought my old 2008 are you ?

No, I bought mine new in 2008 from Anglers. Rick made me a "smokin hot deal". Hahaha
I'm the guy who made the Quatro Trout. You dropped off a bunch of jigs at my house on Sandmound for me to give to the local kids last year.

Yep, I remember. I like reading your posts always a level head

Rod Martin wrote:

mark poulson wrote:

Rod Martin wrote:Thanks Mark
I couldn't find how many gallons on the 177tr. I'm just concerned about having a non-boater and his fish too.

So you have a 177tr. You're not the guy that bought my old 2008 are you ?

No, I bought mine new in 2008 from Anglers. Rick made me a "smokin hot deal". Hahaha
I'm the guy who made the Quatro Trout. You dropped off a bunch of jigs at my house on Sandmound for me to give to the local kids last year.

Yep, I remember. I like reading your posts always a level head

I hope you have a big bag that makes you have to worry about the livewell!

mark poulson wrote:

Rod Martin wrote:

mark poulson wrote:

No, I bought mine new in 2008 from Anglers. Rick made me a "smokin hot deal". Hahaha
I'm the guy who made the Quatro Trout. You dropped off a bunch of jigs at my house on Sandmound for me to give to the local kids last year.

Yep, I remember. I like reading your posts always a level head

I hope you have a big bag that makes you have to worry about the livewell!

Hey, I can dream. Long time ago I had a 18 and I had a 12 in a tournament . Have had a lots of 5s and 6s. So a guy can only dream and what do they say in the scouts BE PREPARED !!!!!!!!

Rod Martin wrote:

mark poulson wrote:

Rod Martin wrote:

Yep, I remember. I like reading your posts always a level head

I hope you have a big bag that makes you have to worry about the livewell!

Hey, I can dream. Long time ago I had a 18 and I had a 12 in a tournament . Have had a lots of 5s and 6s. So a guy can only dream and what do they say in the scouts BE PREPARED !!!!!!!!

Good luck!