After the catch.....

[justfishin175]

Live well all the way to the house, then peel them down and into the freezer or skillet.

[gabowman]

I have a walleye boat so it came with such a large livewell that keeping a mess of crappie, even during the hot months, isnt that much of a chore. I do take along a few ice packs to throw in the livewell to cool the water a few degrees if necessary, but all the fish are always active and swimming upright when I get home to clean'em.Thumbs Up

[RBeav]

In the live well for me till I get to the ramp then Iced down in the cooler. In Iowa you cannot transport fish in the livewell you have to drain the boat and livewell before you leave the parking lot.

[bluethunder]

I always have an ice chest with ice in the back of the truck.

[CrappyFisher]

Been fishing from the bank, so into the fish basket... too much of a hassle to put them on a stringer, plus too much of a risk of them tearing their mouth.

[crappiekiller2]

In the live well for me till I get to the ramp then Iced down in the cooler. In Iowa you cannot transport fish in the livewell you have to drain the boat and livewell before you leave the parking lot.

? when did it become illegal to transport fish in the livewell?
I have been doing that for 30 years. I found this:
Iowa law makes it illegal to 1) possess, introduce, purchase, sell, propagate, or
transport aquatic invasive species in Iowa, 2) place a trailer or launch a watercraft with
aquatic invasive species attached in public waters, and 3) operate a watercraft in a
marked aquatic invasive species infestation. The scheduled fine is $500 for violating
any of the above regulations. The law also requires the DNR to identify waterbodies
infested with aquatic invasive species and post signs alerting boaters. The DNR may
restrict boating, fishing, swimming, and trapping in infested waters.

You just don't want to dump water from one lake or pond into another.

[perchnut]

Livewell, then the first stop is the convenience store, etc, to get a 20 pound bag of ice, and i dump it into the live well, then pull the plug, and when i get home, I have nice, iced down fish to clean. some of my crappie lakes are 3 hours away, so sometimes i need to buy an extra bag of ice.

[NIMROD]

Live well if it is cool enough out, prefer em live when I filet them. But if it is hot out they go in a cooler of ice.

What he said x 2.

[RBeav]

Hey Crappiekiller2
I used to do the same transport home in the livewell for years. We were checked at Clear Lake on Friday and I was told I had to pull the Plug on my boat and drain the livewell. The DNR officer then checked and put a sticker on my trailer. He was talking about the spreed of Zebra mussles.

[slaters#1]

mine go into a cooler with ice.