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Transporting Fish In Livewell

eyepatrol
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eyepatrol Grand Master

eyepatrol

Posted
Posted

Just curious what everyone else does when transporting fish during the open water season. For me, I have a 45min. drive from most of the lakes I fish, if not longer. The livewell gets drained, and on those hot steamy days the fish can be a bit mushy by the time I get home.

Thinking this year I might stop and get a bag of ice to keep them cool.

What do you folks do?

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Bobby Bass Grand Master

Bobby Bass

Posted
Posted

i usually have a cooler with ice in it, when I am done fishing for the day I just dump the ice in the livewell after draining it. If it is just a few fish I might throw the fish in the cooler instead. I understand the reason behind the draining of the livewell but it was so nice just to dump ice in the well and drain it at home. Fish were alive and went from the well to the frying pan in just a few minutes. Shore lunch at home.

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clamtrap Collaborator

clamtrap

Posted
Posted

Freeze one or two jugs full of water or what ever you need and put them in your cooler or live well it seems to work, that way there you don't have to stop somewhere and you can reuse them. Just an idea

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guppie Enthusiast

guppie

Posted
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Just curious, but why do you drain the live well if you have a 45 min. drive. I normally don't drain it until I'm in the driveway

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harvey lee Grand Master

harvey lee

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Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I believe it is agaisnt the law to transport fish in a full livewell.

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Bobby Bass Grand Master

Bobby Bass

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Illegal to transport lake water from landing. Along with all vegetation that must be removed from boat, trailer and tow vehicle all live wells need to be drained at landing to prevent the transportation of unwanted vegetation and marine life. Has been in the rule book for several years.

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local_diver Contributor

local_diver

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Posted

A little ice works really well. When I lived somewhere warmer, we did this ocean fishing all the time. Since returning to MN, I do the samething when salmon fishing on the Great Lakes.

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