We all know these hosts are getting crazy. Soon we should see auto regulating live wells and app based controls. When will we get chillers for the live wells?

We have them at pretty low costs for all kinds of other applications such as cold plunges 

 

 

Ikon boats has this - the livewell system has a chiller, auto-level maintainer, and auto-inject of additives like Sure-Life products...all controlled from a touch-screen.

https://ikonboats.com/our-systems/

10 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

When will we get chillers for the live wells?

 

I didn't watch the video but there is a much easier solution than chilling the water.  Just do an immediate catch and release format.  Duh

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

I didn't watch the video but there is a much easier solution than chilling the water.  Just do an immediate catch and release format.  Duh

I hope so. Every weekend my home lake is hit with tournaments and prefishing from February until June.  I don't think we've had a healthy spawn cycle for years.

I wish mine dispensed ice instead of water 

I'm fine with live well use during certain times of the season.  There should be two exceptions though: during the spawn cycle, and when the water is warm.  We do not need to be plucking spawning bass off their beds and hauling them across a lake to a weigh in just for glory photos on stage.  I am not sure what the critical thresh hold is for water temperature and increased mortality.  I would guess maybe 75 degrees.

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Ikon boats has this - the livewell system has a chiller, auto-level maintainer, and auto-inject of additives like Sure-Life products...all controlled from a touch-screen.

https://ikonboats.com/our-systems/

Nice!!

Back in the 80’s the Lowrance paper graph upgrade technician located in Longbeach CA was also installing refrigerated temp controlled systems in livewell or bait tanks.

I was at Bob’s shop getting my graph updated when he was installing his system in a local rod builders bass boat to keep live bait fish* strong and healthy, so the technology has been around for a few decades. 

Tom

*trout

We used to call them “ bait wells”….. they kept our minnows in, even back before we had boats, made bait wells outta coolers, small air pumps with air stone. We took small Tupperware containers froze them, put them in the cooler trying to keep the water cooler for the bait.

Now they’re called live wells, the size of a small jacuzzi, and going to put chillers in them. 
Wonder what the power consumption is. 

Tupperware works, so do plastic Coke bottles, but now I use Arctic Ice packs in multiple sizes. They are expensive, but so buying ice every day.

 

 

 

I use a few of the millions of plastic water bottles that people throw away.  Being a much thinner plastic they shed coolness much better than thick walled containers.  Best part is they are free and reusuable.  Most of what I keep is for food, so livewells get little use in my boat, but keeping my bait cool is critical. When alone my small aereated bait bucket is fine, but when I have guests, I often use the small livewell for the bait.  I take along a dozen frozen plastic water bottles in a small bag in a cooler along with beverages they stay frozen for many hours if packed in a snall cooler.  I just add a couple to the livewell on ocassion to keep the bait cool on hot days.  Rinse them off and refreeze for the next trip, havent bought ice in years !!

Many boats come with a baitwell. Just not bass boats.

 

Deep V walleye boats here often have both a livewell and baitwell. My parents Warrior does. They rarely use either one.

It would be nice to just set the temperature for your livewell to 74 degrees and the on board chiller would keep it at that temperature.  The technology obviously exists.   The problem is it would take a lot of power to do it.  My guess is you would need an extra deep cycle battery or two to power a chiller and it wouldn’t cool the water very quickly.  If the lake water is 85 degrees and you put a bass in the livewell you can’t wait 4 hours for the water to cool down into the 70s.  So to answer the question,  I don’t think we will see livewell chillers until there is  a significant advance in power storage.

We use to freeze lake water in ice cube trays, put in a cooler, and then add it as needed to the live well or bait bucket.  It wasn't rocket science but it worked. 

For those that have money to spend, a chiller might ve a great accessory, but for me, I have far better things to spend my money on.  Water bottles are free and work excellent, but, to each his own.  If I had money to burn, I would consider a massues on board to massage my shoulders while reeling in big fish!!

The technology has been around for some time. Inverter compressors are becoming the norm in residential air conditioning and refrigeration. Guess it all depends on how much money one is willing to spend. 

Keeping fresh oxygenated water in the livewell is key. My Lund had pickups on the bottom of the hull. I could run pumps, pickups, or both. In all the years I fished tourneys, I never weighed in a dead fish that wasn't foul hooked. The dead ones were always tongue or gill hooked.

Any update to 3rd party livewell chillers ?

Are you willing to carry an extra battery to power your chiller?  My guess is most people would rather bring ice.

The first thing I did when I got my Lund was plug the live well to keep it dry. Now it's the best tackle storage, extra sweatshirt, storage I have. As for fish- catch, picture, release- then repeat ( hopefully). 

The key to keeping fish alive is controlling the water temps and DO levels plus filtering out loose scales. This like having a home aquarium in your boat.

The issue using surface water in the live is the water is hotter or colder then the bass are acclimated to, 10 degrees difference and the bass will rollover.

Keeping bait alive is similar on a smaller volume of fresh water.

Tom

I'm not a "fishologist" but I'm wondering if pulling a fish out of warm water and putting it into much cooler water would do more harm than good.

 

Seems like it could be too much of a shock to their system, to a fish that already is exhausted from getting caught and handled.

Between keeping the aerator on auto, plenty of Rejuvenade and occasionally tossing a frozen 2 liter bottle of water in there, I’ve never lost a fish.