Livewell

[boye]

Guys,
I have a little bit of a problem. I am planning on fishing some bass tournaments this year in Delaware. The problem is my boat doesn't have a livewell. Short of buying a new boat what are my options. I have heard I can use a cooler, but is a 120qt cooler large enough to hold a 5 fish limit(if I am lucky enough to catch a limit). Thanks for any tips or advice.

Blacklabde

[zman]

I think a 150 qt cooler should work, unless maybe you caught a couple 10 pounders or something. Don't forget to get a pump that will circulate the water in there. Over the course of the day the bass will need oxygen from the running water. Also maybe get one of the small aquarium thermometers at walmart and make sure the temp doesn't get very hot.

[macgyver]

http://www.basspro.com

This is a link to bassproshops. There is a Self contained Livewell systems that they sell. You could also feel inventive and build your own, buy whatever items you want. There is also a Live Well areator designed specifically for coolers. If you look around perhaps Cabela's or do a google on livewell's you can find tons of stuff. Just depends on what your boat can handle.


Lizards

[fredhatch]

Before I got my current boat I used a cooler. They also sell an aerator at wally world for 12-15 dollars. Has battery clamps and everything just fill up the cooler and watch it go. Had zero problems w/ it in Fl. 8)

[basstard]

you can get the rateaters at walmart cheap
:P

[bennersj]

I have the solution ;D I bought an aluminum boat a few years ago that didn't have a livewell so I thought about getting a new one but the aluminum livewells ran around $100-$250 so I thought of using a plastic barrel (55 gallon I think) because we had a plastic barrel sitting in the yard that never got used. I cut the barrel in half using the bottom half for a livewell and cutting the bottom out of another barrel to make a lid with. Then I got a 500 gph areator(bilge pump) at Wat-Mart for around $10 and used a high pressure washing machine hose to run around the top of the barrel attached by drilling two small holes and running thin copper wire through the holes and using it like a twist tie around the hose and plugged the end of the hose then drilled holes in the hose (pointing toward the middle of the bottom of the livewell) with a small drill bit so I could get good areation. Next I extended the wires of the areator and put some battery clamps on the wires. I wrapped the areator with screen so scales would not clog the areator. This is a cheep portable livewell and I think it is better than aluminum because plastic does not conduct as much heat as aluminum. I have been in many tournaments during all times of the year and I have never had a fish die during the tourneys.

[catfishtonyd]

I've got a livewell from Cabela's in my boat. I don't have it plumbed up with hard piping because I don't want to drill holes in my boat. So, I took a bilge pump, put a long enough hose on it to reach the livewell from the water over the side of the boat. When I want to fill the livewell, I toss the bilge pump over the side, run the hose into the well, hook the power up to the battery (alligator clips) and fill the well with lake water. I use the same pump to pump the water out of the well, and refill it with fresh water. (I'm going to put a recirculating pump and sprayer on it if the snow ever melts around here.) It works great, and I still have the pump avaliable to use as a bilge pump, or to pump water off the boat cover, or any number of handy uses for a small pump.



As you can see I use the livewell as much for dry storage as anything else, but it does the job when I need it too.