I really wanna do a tournament coming up in early May on the lake I fish a lot, we have a livewell in our boat but it doesn't have an aerator. It just has a hole where the lake water goes in and fills it up when you put the boat in the water, what If I bought one of those portable aerators from the store and put it in there? Would that be good enough?

It also isn't a very large livewell so If we caught 5 big fish they would be kinda cramped in there shoulder to shoulder....

It will work.. If they croak, then can you say.. Catch & Grease? Lol.. I think you can get by just fine. Good luck & post your earnings at IRS. Com

Cabellas has a live well aerator kit that would most likely work for you. It is made to fit into a cooler but I'm sure it would work for your situation. Believe it is about 40 dol. you should fish the tourney. Good luck.

I have a follow up question to that.  Will most tournament officials let you fish in their tourney if your live well is not adequate?

That should work for you as long as you throw in some fresh water every now and then. You could add a permanent install to it for not much more than the cost of the cooler setup.  

Rambler, every tournament I've been in required s working live well, and they always check. Though, I figure they're making sure you don't already have fish in there.

I bought something called a "bubble box" this morning because a friend recommended it... It wasn't very expensive, hopefully it'll do its job.

My buddies boat that he had before he got his new one was the same way. Natural fill livewell with no aerator. It worked well, even in the summer months. Just be sure to keep an eye on the fish, keep them covered up and you should be fine. Like others have said, you could turn your existing livewell into a permanent aerated/recirculated system for pretty cheap.  

The bubblebox will help, but I'd be sure to bring a bag of ice especially if the day is hot.

It will help with any bleed and with keeping the water "fresher" without a recirculater.

Mike

The bubblebox will help, but I'd be sure to bring a bag of ice especially if the day is hot.

It will help with any bleed and with keeping the water "fresher" without a recirculater.

Mike

How much ice should I put in the livewell? And how often?

A 10lb bag will be more than enough.

Not knowing how big your box is, I'd put just enough in so that no more than half of the surface is covered at one time.

Put a little in at a time so as to keep the temperature as consistant as you can.

Mike

Well I went ahead and signed up for the tournament today... Wish me luck!

Have fun and do report back! Best of luck & catch em good!!

How much ice should I put in the livewell? And how often?

Be careful adding ice. A lot of times it has chlorine in it that can kill the fish in heavier concentrations. I like to freeze gallon milk jugs and just put those in the livewell so they're kept cool but none of the ice water gets into my livewell water. 

You might want to contact the tournament folks and ask if your setup will allow you to fish in the tournament, before you waste a lot of money and time.

You might want to contact the tournament folks and ask if your setup will allow you to fish in the tournament, before you waste a lot of money and time.

All the lady that signed me up could do for me is give me an info packet and all it says is you need a livewell and aerator.

In any tournaments I have fished an aerated live-well was required. Be sure to check regulations.

Taking what bluebasser said, 20oz soda bottles frozen make nice big ice cubes..

FYI, when you freeze chlorinated and fluoridated water, you freeze those chemicals in the water. You want use a treatment like Sure Life to eliminate them, since they're bad for the fish.

Yeah I'll probably just freeze some water bottles like bluebasser mentioned

Water bottles are good, as is having some type of conditioner which will help offset any chemical impurities, but the bit about chlorine levels in bags of ice is a bit overblown, IMO. I've never heard or seen of a livewell full of dead bass in 25 years of tourney fishing from a bag of ice in these parts, and the Maryland DNR actually did a test on local suppliers many years back and found no issue with bulk produced store bought ice: http://dnr2.maryland.gov/fisheries/Documents/IsChlorineinLiveWellsaProblemdoc.pdf

 

-T9

Probably not from a bag of ice purchased, but some of the municipal water up here can be pretty bad, so homemade ice may be an issue. Like a lot of things, it depends on the source.

I have used those portable ones before, they work just fine and have kept all my fish alive..... You should be fine

You can also bring an old cooler in case you get 5 big ones and need to move a couple so they aren't too crowded.