Thread: Keeping Caught Fish Alive

Unless you are fishing a tournament and you must keep the fish alive, I always take a cooler with 2 bags of ice and throw the fish on ice. They generally fillet better when they are cold and then you don't have to worry about the fish dying and spoiling in the livewell. Just sayin.
Ringo

Just freeze a couple gallon jugs of water drop them in your livewell works well in hot weather.

My livewell isnt great for sure nuff hot weather either so I use a metal stringer if I am bass fishing. The rest of the time I cull pretty hard and throw the keepers on ice.

my livewell isn't aerated either and i installed a 12 volt bubble aerator from grizzly jig...it has 2 air lines...ran one into the livewell and one into a small cooler for when i carry shiners...works pretty good

frozen jugs of water helps!!!!!

I use a twin stone 12V aerator in my livewell and it works great. Depending on the number of fish I have then I throw them on ice for the trip home.

I echo what everyone else says, the two biggest factors are temperature and oxygen. Water holds less oxygen at higher temperatures. If you can keep the water cool (frozen milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottles are perfect), as well as some form of aeration (either one that runs off of your boat battery, or one that runs on regular batteries), you will have the best shot of keeping fish alive. Though, I have to agree with previous posters, if you are going to eat the fish, just throw them on ice.

Once the water temp hits about 75 to 80 degrees, I quit trying to keep them alive. I really like the single handle, 28 qt. ice chest from Wal-Mart with the hinges on the lid. 2 frozen 2 litre coke bottles will lay right in the bottom perfectly.
Also, this way, I can cool off and take a nap before cleaning my fish. I also agree that chilled fish fillet alot cleaner and easier.