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This tip isn't only for summer time fishing. It is ALWAYS a good idea to keep your livewell clean to help prevent fish care issues. There are many different ways to clean your livewell after a day on the lake but, if you click the button below, it will take you to a page that details my personal favorite way to do it.
On those hot summer days out bass fishing, it is not unusual for the surface temperature of the lake to reach upwards of 90 degrees. Typically, when this happens, most of the bass in a lake like to find deeper water where the temperature can actually be 10-15 degrees cooler than the surface temperature. Therefore, a lot of the fish you catch will be from that deeper, cooler water. So, to help your livewell water temperature better match that cooler water that the fish came from, here are a few tips to lower cool down the surface water you have been pumping in to your livewell.
* Keep an eye out for regurgitated food floating around in your livewell. If you see that some things have been spit up in to your livewell then it is a good idea to go ahead and pump out water and add new water. The regurgitated food that has been spit up in the water will contaminate the water and cause harm to the fish.
There are many different opinions on whether or not livewell additives actually work, but in my personal opinion, they absolutely work. There's a few different companies out there that offer livewell additives such as Fishlife, Sure-Life, and G Juice, but my personal favorite is G Juice. Below are some of the reasons that G Juice is my favorite;
I have personally used this product for a few years now and I have never had an issue with it. I am not endorsed or sponsored by this product this is just from my own personal experience with it. You can read more about G Juice or purchase some by clicking the link below.
Keep a bath sized towel on your boat. When the sun gets up high it will start to warm up the floor of your boat. That heat will transfer through the floor and in to your livewell which will elevate the temperature of the water in your livewell. Just dip the towel in the lake to let up soak up some of the lake water then lay the towel across the floor covering the lids to the livewell. Every time the towel starts to dry out just dip again and lay it back over the livewell lids. This will help prevent some of the heat from the sun from transferring in to the livewell.
A bass' first line of defense to protect them from bumps, cuts, and bacteria is the slimy coating on their bodies. Any time that fish comes into contact with anything other than water there's the risk of removing that slimy layer. So any time we scoop a fish up in a net or grab a hold of them we are removing some of that protective layer from the fish. This is why we want to limit the use of nets and handle the fish as little as possible. Here are the key points for interaction with the fish;
So practice your boat flippin' skills and keep those fish as healthy as possible!
During the summer and winter fishing seasons, a lot of fish are caught in deeper water. When an angler catches a fish from deep water and reels it up through the water column quickly, barotrauma can occur. Barotrauma is when the swim bladder expands due to a quick change in pressure and this can be fatal for the fish if it is not properly taken care of. To relieve this pressure from the swim bladder, the fish needs to be "fizzed" or "vented". "Fizzing" a fish has to be done properly or you can actually cause more harm and potentially kill the fish. Most people don't realize this but even if you properly "fizz" a fish you could potentially infect a fish with bacteria by using a dirty needle which can be lethal for the fish, especially in the summer time. Make sure to sterilize your needle and only use a clean needle. Click the button below to learn the proper methods to "fizz" a fish.
Fin clip weights were designed as an alternative for fizzing fish that were caught deep and have expanded swim bladders. Personally, I don't believe that the weights completely cure barotrauma or that they can always be used in place of fizzing. However, I do believe that the fin clip weights reduce stress on the fish and help keep them floating upright in the livewell which may start a natural process for the fish to relieve the barotrauma on their own. I believe that these clips are beneficial and will keep the fish healthier while in the livewell so I do recommend using them during the summer or winter months.
Culling tags make managing your limit so much easier. You are able to tag a fish with a certain color or number so that you can identify which fish in your limit is smallest and needs to be culled. However, sometimes culling tags can do more harm than good. Some culling tags require you to puncture a hole in the fish to secure the tag. This can be very stressful for the fish and in the summer months it can actually be fatal. If you feel that you really need to use culling tags, it is better to use the variety that clip on. The clip on type do NOT require puncturing a hole in the fish but they still add stress to the fish. I recommend not using cull tags at all but if you are going to, use the non-puncture clip on type. I have used the non-puncture clip on tags for a few years and I never really thought they were a problem, but recently, I have had fish that weren't doing so well in my livewell and I removed the cull tags and their health and comfort seemed to improve.
Finally, you kept your limit alive and healthy all day and it is time to weigh in. In the summer months, it helps a lot to fill your weigh bag with plenty of water before throwing your fish in. Sometimes, in the cooler months, we can get away with keeping our weigh bags lighter by having less water in there, but in the warmer months we need that extra water. If the tournament you are fishing offers holding tanks with aerators in the line for the scale, make sure there is room for you to squeeze in there and get some oxygen dropped in your weigh bag before taking your fish out of the livewell. If the tournament doesn't have that available or there isn't enough room for you, it is best to just keep your fish in the livewell until you can go directly to the scale.
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