Thanks air1and Duane. I hear you on the salt. I'll be careful and give some salt a try next time. Maybe I need a bigger boat so I can just go out and get a real bait tank and still be able to get from point A to point B in the boat - haha.

That shallow livewell/bait tank is the biggest problem. The height of the overflow keeps the well pretty full.. Then on the way to boat plane the water runs out the back.I could reduce that height of the overflow but that would eliminate a lot of the capacity Yeah, I could empty it some manually every time I move or put the boat on the trailer. Trailering creates a lots of unavoidable splashing-even my usual mile and a half. Probably not good to have ultra salty water in the bilge of an alum boat all the time.

I'll check the 1/2 net for scales next time and compare that situation to my 3/8 mesh net.

Thanks for the tips.