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Re: livewell failure = expensive dead bait = short fishing t
Posted: July 30th, 2015, 7:22 am
by FUTCHCAIRO
H-O-T-------W-A-T-E-R KILLS BAIT .
PA
SEMPER FI
Re: livewell failure = expensive dead bait = short fishing t
Posted: July 30th, 2015, 4:11 pm
by Dubble Trubble
One thing I thought about that could be tried in the hot summer is to lower the intake of the livewell . This could be done by using a pipe on some sort of swivel that would go down 5 or 6 feet into the water column to pull up cooler water. Most of the time you are using live bait, you are in deeper water anyway. Would not work using shrimp on the flats though, but i have not had issues with my shrimp dying. They seem pretty hardy!
I would think it would not be too hard to rig up something like this with a valve to switch from intake at transom to the deeper pipe intake. A little hose, and some PVC pipe and a two way valve.
Dubble
Re: livewell failure = expensive dead bait = short fishing t
Posted: July 30th, 2015, 9:06 pm
by reelhandy
http://www.amazon.com/Keepalive-KA1100- ... B001NZZ1P0
That product throws a cloud of bubbles into the baitwell and supposedly does a good job of adding oxygen to the water. It looks like a bilge pump with an air hose attached to it down at the intake. When it sucks the water up it draws air into the pump through the hose. I bet it could be made for $20 in about 15 minutes.
Re: livewell failure = expensive dead bait = short fishing t
Posted: July 30th, 2015, 10:35 pm
by Ifishtoo
Frozen 1 gal jugs still work..... 2-3, will cool 5-10 gals water for an hour or two. Hard to cool 85-88 deg water for very long.
Re: livewell failure = expensive dead bait = short fishing t
Posted: July 31st, 2015, 6:17 am
by MudDucker
Years of live baiting for Kings taught me a couple of things. Have an adequate size tank for the amount of bait you are keeping, use an oversized pump and push lots of water through your bait well constantly and keep the water reasonably cool. Usually lack of oxygen and waste levels are the culprit. Bait that has been cooled and then thrown into warmer water is excellent, because the bait becomes much more active until it acclimates to the water temp.
Re: livewell failure = expensive dead bait = short fishing t
Posted: December 8th, 2015, 7:00 am
by Tommy 881
Fast forward a few months to winter time - It’s December 8, 2015 now and the water is in the 60’s I have absolutely no problems keeping my bait fish alive now. I can keep even them in a 48 qt. ice chest for several days with a cheap $5 Mr. Bubbles aerator and change the water 1 time a day.
180 degree difference than last summer when the bait was red-nosed and dying like fly’s on sticky-paper.
Barry was right, cooling the livewell water with ice helped, but only while the bait was in the livewell.
*When I hooked-up the bait and cast it into that warm July water… well Barry, you know what happened then, the bait died real fast in that warm bay water in seconds not minutes. Is that the same experience you have chilling baits in the summer?