"Savin' our Fish"
by
"Billy Safeway"

     Billy Safeway says, “Let’s take good care of our fish in our livewells !” How do we do this, you might ask ? Didn’t ask ? SOOOOO !  First of all, I think we do a real good job of that now, at least for the most part. We have to do a better job of it now that summer is upon us and the water temperature is creeping up the Fahrenheit/Celsius scales.

     What to do ? What to do ? Here are some things you can do to preserve our ever so fragile fish as we continue to battle the little green guys.

     Always be mindful of the state of charge and the age of your starting/accessory battery. Charge this one as well as your trolling motor batteries before each tournament, and that is only the beginning.   Make sure, when you have to buy a replacement, that is of sufficient, or better yet, more than sufficient capacity to handle your electronics, your lights, and your livewells, especially if you catch fish early and run them all day. I keep mine on “manual” to keep a constant supply of flowing water into my live wells.

     You most often have manual/timed switches for your live wells. During the colder water temperature months, I think it is OK to run your livewells on “timed” during these tournaments.   This may allow you to start your combustion engine (that’s the “Big Motor,” Scott – ed.) after a long day on the water and you are ready to zoom back to the ramp for weigh-in. If your battery is not of sufficient size to handle the livewells running all day, then please get a replacement that will.

     The investment may be as high as $200.00, but the rewards are worth the price of the battery if you don’t have to realign one of your trolling motor batteries to get the big motor running. The new battery will last many years as they are better constructed then they used to be.

     Most livewells run on two or three pumps nowadays, but only two of them are most important. You will have an aerator pump that draws water from outside the boat to fill and top off your livewells.

     The second pump is for recirculation of water already in your livewells. I think you should fill your livewells when needed (that first fish), and then turn off that pump and turn on the recirculation pump and it will draw the water out of your livewell and pump it right back into your livewell, hence the name “recirculation” pump.

     I KNOW it is important to check your livewells on a regular basis to make sure that they are still working, and so you won’t observe any dead fish. You might have shut your livewells off by accident, and the checks will prevent killing fish that don’t need to die.

     Check them once an hour so you will get in the habit of doing so. Do not open the livewell fully. Fish may jump out, and that is a bad thing ! Keep the lid low and observe the flowing water.

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     Co-anglers, please remind you anglers if they don’t check the livewells. It is better to have an angler look at you cross-eyed then to have dead fish in the livewells. If he doesn’t want you checking his, then continue to check your side of the boat to assure live fish at the end of the day.

     You anglers can also turn on your aerator pump once in a while to pull some fresh water into the livewells which might be cooler and will assuredly be fresher than what was in the livewells. Please do this in open water that is not dirty or polluted in any way.

     Canals and the launch ramps are not good places to pull water in from outside your boat, unless you catch that first fish there. When you do get out into open water, flush the water in the livewells by adding water from the outside !

     Please use the fish rejuvenator crystals that the club has bought in your livewells as the day progresses. This may also help keep a marginal fish alive to get it through weigh-in and back into the lake.   Remember that this should be added after you have filled the livewells and the recirculation pump is on. If you add while using the aerator pump, the overflow will carry your new crystals back outside the boat.   Please don’t add the crystals before you have water in the livewells as they may harden on the bottom of your livewells and be of little use during the day.

     Maintain your livewell pumps. If you suspect that one of them is not performing well, please replace it. Your fish will love you for it, and the rest of the club will not call you “killer”.

     One more thing we failed to mention at the last meeting is the fact that we are under a microscope at the ramps we weigh our fish at. Granted, they may give your heave an 8, 9, or 10, but knowledgeable people will only shake their heads in disgust when we launch them up in the air. Please gently release your fish and make sure they swim away when you let them go. Mouth-to-mouth is authorized if they feel ill.

     Remember I said there were three pumps in some of the boats ? The third pump is used to pump water out of your livewells and onto the ground or any poor soul that is standing beside a boat with such a device. Beware of these boats. You may get drenched, and the angler may just sheepishly say “oops”, but he really meant to do it! Trust me !

     Be good to our use of the fish, and keep the bubbles coming ! Do it the right way the first time !

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