What does everyone do to keep their crappie alive for tournament weigh ins?
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What does everyone do to keep their crappie alive for tournament weigh ins?
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I don't tournament fish, anymore .... but, I do have a bottle of U2 Pro Formula Livewell Treatment (Conservation - T-H Marine Supplies) that I "inherited" from a buddy that did tournament fish in the Crappie USA tourneys & used it religiously. Knowing him, he probably tried a few different brands prior to settling on this one.
It is currently being sold under the G-Juice label name.
I don't fish tourneys either but try adding ice if hot and use a oxygen bottle set up . Sure keeps our Bream alive for baiting limb lines . They went from dying to jumping out doing this. :biggrin
Listened to podcast with crappie legend Charlie Bunting and he said uses frozen water bottles/jugs. Prefers this to aeration cause current stresses crappie. 65 degree water is time to get serious about keeping fish and minnows alive he says.
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I know some old timers that do nothing more than put a frozen 20 oz. water bottle in their minnow buckets during the warmer months. Once water temps rise above 70 degrees oxygen saturation starts to drop off rapidly. As far as keeping tournament fish alive, an oxygen set up with a real fine diffuser stone would probably be the best bet. Hardly any turbulence and the process of putting the oxygen in the water actually cools the water too. Better Bait or a similar type water treatment would be a plus too.
What are the weights I see people using on the fins of fish in the live wells?
They’re called fish life fin clips. I made us some.
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Meant to try to keep the fish upright and not floating on there sides.
Yeah just clip this on bottom belly fin and the will float upright. They say it only takes a hour or soQuote:
Originally Posted by slabbandit
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Maybe makes a difference in warm weather . I have caught them from deep water several times . They floated and got home added a air pump to livewell. The next morning they were swimming around upright just fine .:scratchhead
Ronnie Capps developed a tray for positioning the fish so a large hypodermic needle could be used to deflate the large amount of air trapped in a crappie's swim bladder. This happens when they are rapidly pulled up from deep water. Not sure if this is done much anymore.
Capps told me last year, “there really ain’t nothing to managing your livewell water quality even in the hot Dog Days of Summer… if you know how to do that and you also have the right livewell equipment: Capps is an expert at this and knows all about keeping crappie and live bait alive.
But, if you don’t know how to manage your livewell water quality and you don’t have the right livewell equipment, you are going to have problems every summer and you will worry about keeping your catch and bait alive and healthy all day every summer. Managing water quality is always your responsibility, all day long.
Pure 100% welding oxygen, maintain 100% DO Saturation continuously
Change thelivewell water a couple times daily, run livewell in closed system
Add non-iodizes,non-caking cattle feed salt to support the work of osmoregulation.
And that’s about all there is to insuring optimum safe livewell water quality all day/all night.
He said Google: Fishing Oxygen Systems Tips, Livewells, Bait Tanks
I did, I found plenty good information here.
Your livewell must be dependable and fail-safe, it is a real life support system.
what size weight do you use?
I have just used a quarter ounce jig hooked in the anal fin, but I prefer the clip like the one posted with a one ounce bell sinker.