Dead Fish

[bereabasser]

Fishing the BFL last weekend on laurel i caught about a 2 1/2lb LM around 10 or 11 olclock...i always check my fish every 45 minutes or so just to make sure there doing good and not floating...well around 130or so i checked my fish and we had a floater,but he was still breathing and if you would try and revive him he would move but still just float...well after a while he finally died,i did not have him hooked deep by any means,my boater said maybe i hooked him in a nerve or something but we couldnt figure it out,we had rejuvinade and everything on them...any suggestions on what happened to this fish,just wondering

[R.BRUGH]

did you catch him in deep water ?

[DJD]

Was he hooked in the tounge? That can be the kiss of death for a fish.

[bereabasser]

he was in probably 10ft of water,and no he was hooked in the jaw

[Col Forbin]

Post spawn fish are weak and exhausted to begin with - maybe that was it. I work my livewells constantly too. Keep it on timed recirculate, and about every hour and a half, I will pumpout half of the water and bring in fresh. Maybe your boater's livewells weren't working properly???

[bereabasser]

no we had them on recirculate...but what got me is that he didnt let them fill up all the way,there was only probably a foot of water or less in them,could this had affected it maybe?

[Col Forbin]

I keep mine filled, and don't have much of a problem with fish loss. The less water, the less disolved oxygen, and the quicker other harmful compounds like amonia will build up in the water. Also the lower the water is, the less stable it is in terms of temperature. Recirculate will help a little, but it is like breathing in and out of a paper bag - it is the same water being sucked in a spit out. Pumping out and re-filling is the best way to keep water quality at a better level - this brings in new/fresh water. The more fish you have the more often you should do this. And after runs in rough water, some of your water will be lost to the overflow drain and should be filled back up. The more fish you get in there the more often you should tend to the water. I weighed in five good ones today, and I had to put some work into keeping the water and in turn the fish healthy. I probalby went through 5 water changes in the last 2 and 1/2 hours - they all were released alive.

[BassNNutt]

Fishing the BFL last weekend on laurel i caught about a 2 1/2lb LM around 10 or 11 olclock...i always check my fish every 45 minutes or so just to make sure there doing good and not floating...well around 130or so i checked my fish and we had a floater,but he was still breathing and if you would try and revive him he would move but still just float...well after a while he finally died,i did not have him hooked deep by any means,my boater said maybe i hooked him in a nerve or something but we couldnt figure it out,we had rejuvinade and everything on them...any suggestions on what happened to this fish,just wondering

With out being there its really hard to speculate but when you use rejuvinade or things of this nature, "From past experience, you have to be careful how much you put in the livewell because I think sometimes this can be fatal if too much in the water, I always used less than what was suggested and had better luck" Something that work best for me in years past especially when the water gets really warm is too take 20 oz. pop bottles and Fill em with water and freeze them and then drop them into the water one or two every hour and then take old ones out. It help cool the water some but not at a drastic rate to where it would put the fish into shock. "IMO"

[MsgMills]

With out being there its really hard to speculate but when you use rejuvinade or things of this nature, "From past experience, you have to be careful how much you put in the livewell because I think sometimes this can be fatal if too much in the water, I always used less than what was suggested and had better luck" Something that work best for me in years past especially when the water gets really warm is too take 20 oz. pop bottles and Fill em with water and freeze them and then drop them into the water one or two every hour and then take old ones out. It help cool the water some but not at a drastic rate to where it would put the fish into shock. "IMO"

The 20 oz frozen water bottle trick is what I've used for the past 25 years.... I can honestly say I've never weighed in a single dead fish in a Tournament. I carry about 15 frozen bottles in my boat during tournaments and add them as needed to help keep the water cool. It works ...... Try it.....

But have had fish die that I was going to eat while they were in the live well.

[Bass_King2007]

i had brownie in that tournament that i hooked in the tounge and it was pouring the blood on the first jump and within 10 minutes the livewell was completly full of blood and she was deader than a hammer

[bevo]

Did you eat him or throw him in a trash can?

[BassJunkie]

I think the best way to keep fish alive in a livewell is water changes. My livewell has a fill timer on it. When I have fish in it and stop and fish somewhere I open the drain in my livewell and turn on the fill switch. It goes off about every 15 min. This changes the water. The livewell is no different then an aquarium in a house.

These fish have been feeding and are peeing / pooping as well as spitting up dead shad and crawfish in the live well. This decaying matter creates ammonia fast and ammonia is deadly to the fish! The best way to remove the ammonia is to replace the water in the livewell. Another issue is if there is ammonia present and you are just recirculating the water it will increase the ammonia levels faster as well as mess with the PH in the water. All three Oxygen , PH and ammonia effect each other.

Changing the water often equals less problems.