Summer Fishing Tips for Keeping Livewells No Kill Zones
When you’re fishing during the summer months, there’s nothing worse than watching that hefty bass caught earlier in the day turn belly up in the boat’s livewell before dusk. So to help prevent all of you anglers out there from having to cry into your tackle boxes, we wanted to share a few warm weather tips for keeping livewells from becoming kill zones:
There are very few things out on the water that will kill a prize catch faster than lousy water quality and stifling temperatures. Thus, try and fill your boat’s livewell with the best cool water that you can find. Then drop a water thermometer into the livewell and turn on your vessel’s recirculating pump before ever casting your line.
Remember, some species of fish are more sensitive to water temperatures and oxygen levels than others. According to the experts, dissolved oxygen content in livewells needs to be at no less than 7mg/l for freshwater fish. Some freshwater species may need more than that. Like we said, it all depends on the species.
Saltwater fish, on the other hand, may inherently be able to stay alive in water that has a dissolved oxygen level that is at 6 mg/l. Thus, when setting up a livewell, it never hurts to know as much about the species that you’ll be fishing for as possible. Doing so will go a long way in making livewell conditions perfect for that monster fish.
If you find that the conditions in your boat’s livewell start to deteriorate during the fishing day, you may need to adjust your aerator pump usage and check the oxygen sensor often. Using blocks of ice and special chemical additives may help rebalance the livewell’s water too. Should all of that fail to correct the problem, consider pumping out and replacing at least half of the livewell’s water content every few hours.
To find the best fishing equipment needed for maintaining livewells during the warm weeks ahead, please contact us at Performance Product Technologies. We have everything anglers and boaters need to keep their prize catches feisty and their summer fishing trips worry-free.
Tags: aerator pumps, fishing, livewells