Livewell Additives & Oxygenating Systems: The TRUTH!

Glenn: Hey folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com. I'm here with the 2019 ICAST Show at the Sure-Life Laboratories booth. These guys make the PLEASE RELEASE ME formula and the CATCH AND RELEASE formula. These are additives that go in your livewell to not only keep your fish healthy in the livewell, but they're actually in better condition when you take them out of the livewell than they were when you first put them in.

Now the mastermind behind that, the guy who designed these, is standing right here next to me, Tony Gergely. I know you guys don't recognize him, but he's the guy behind this formula that keeps fish alive for so many, I don't know how many decades now you've doing this. But Tony, I have a quick question for you. I see this on other forums and I see this on social media, people will say, if you've got an oxygenator in your livewell, if you put these in there, there's some sort of negative chemical reaction that can actually kill the fish. And I hear a lot of debate going back and forth on this whether or not this is true. So I want to get it straight from you, is that true or not?

Tony: Not, it's not true, it's definitely not true. And that's what's amazing about the fishing industry because I've been in this since 1983. Doug Hannon and I, the late Doug Hannon, who was one of my best friends, we developed this first formulation in 1983. This is like the seventh version of it. I make over 55 different products for keeping bait alive and sport fish alive.

And what amazes me about this industry is how people go out, they only way they can compete against me is to bad mouth things and come out with things that are totally untrue, which gets a little infuriating after a while, I'll be honest with you, right? So I get calls all the time, people standing in Bass Pro Shops or whatever's like, "Hey, I'm reading this like you can't use your products with the oxygenator." And I say, that's...that's a lie, let just put it that way, to be honest with you.

Which really irritates me because to sell your product, why do you have to put another product down? Which makes you think about that product, to be honest with you. We don't do that.

We've manufactured the best chemical formulation for keeping bass alive in livewells, CATCH AND RELEASE and PLEASE RELEASE ME. It's totally compatible with the oxygenator. And that's the truth, that is truth. It works with the oxygenator, hydrogen peroxide, any type of device, pure oxygen and so forth. Why people have to say this? I have no earthly idea. And to be honest with you, it's a total waste of time and I've actually talked to people about it and I don't know where it came from, it doesn't make any sense.

Glenn: You're pretty passionate about this, I can tell. But I understand why you can take it personally. You've been doing this for so long, you created this and have people bad mouth that, I totally understand that, that makes sense. But that's the truth, guys. You can use this in your livewell, not only with an oxygenator but if you're using hydrogen peroxide, which by the way only use 4 ounces for a 15-gallon livewell. You don't want to use very much, but it's actually putting oxygen in your...

Tony: It totally saturates the water because I can tell you this, right? If you use your mechanical devices in your boat because of battery failure or whatever, if you've got hydrogen peroxide in there, it's chemical. It actually saturates the water up to 900 parts per million of pure oxygen and it's an equilibrium stage because it's H2O2 and as the bass breathes, it pulls out at an oxygen molecule and the H2O2 converts to an oxygen molecule and a water molecule.

So I've even told bait stores this before, if you've got $500 worth the bait in there and a hurricane comes through or whatever, you lose electricity, just put hydrogen peroxide in there, it's going gonna save you $500 worth of bait. And I've had bait stores over the last 30 years that come to me once in a while and say, "I remember you telling me this." And one guy here last year at this Big Rock Sports Show in Nashville, Tennessee, for instance, they had a major accident on the power poles out in front of their store, they lost electricity. And he remembered what I said, but he didn't remember the exact dosage but he just went to Walgreens, the CVS whatever he said, and bought $10 worth of hydrogen peroxide, they are 97 cents a bottle. He said, "Glug, glug, glug into it," and he said, "I hope this works."

He said," I went back the next day, they still didn't have electricity yet." All his bait was still alive. He said, "Thank you, I spent 10 bucks and you saved me 500 bucks." You see what I'm saying? But it works like that in a livewell situation at the same time. But going back to what we said, I get phone calls, I get emails, it's been going on for a couple of years. I'm thinking, I was like, why does a company have to tell another, say, don't use this product because it doesn't work which just totally untrue?

There's a lot of great products in here. In the fishing industry, it amazes me because I'm in it for so long like I said, since 1983. So coming up to 40 years, really. Fishermen buy into a lot of things and especially the younger ones now because of social media and so forth, like the truth is the truth. And I wouldn't be in business for as long as I have if I haven't been telling them the truth. And this is the truth, our products are compatible with the oxygenator.

Glenn: Well, there you have it. You guys got it? You can't get it any straighter than that, right?

Tony: Don't call and don't email anymore, all right? This really works.

Glenn: All right, guys, you got it.

Tony: I'll talk to you no problem.

Glenn: Well, there you go, guys, that's the truth, now let's hope that's all straightened out. You guys have a great day. Thanks for watching.