Michigan Muskie Alliance

The picture in my next post shows my 53.5 inch fish in Coopers live well. Note the airation at the nose end of the fish. I torpedoed her back and she took off like shot for the bottom. Mike

Yes Will is correct. The fish tanks use surface water drawn in for the deck washer. Its the same temp as the water the fish comes out of. The difference is that warm surface water is low in oxygen content. The Tanks add airation (bubbles) into the water raising oxygen content. This is a win win situation as the fish is not shocked and gets an oxygen mask on so to speak. I was amazed at the effectiveness on both Cooper Smiths boat and Craig Millers boat. Live wells are great additions but there are also laws regarding detaining sub legal fish. As far as I know its not legal to put a sub legal fish in live well. I know , its ethical to use one to save a fish but its also illegal. We could use some new regulations regarding catch and release use of live wells. I wish I had a 60 inch full size top live well in my boat. Heres a picture of the fish tank in action. Mike

In the June/July edition of "Musky Hunter" magazine they have an article called 'Emergency Treatment For Stressed Muskies' (page 8, by Jordan Weeks & Steve Pallo). In the article they mention using aeration with a oxygen generator along the same lines of what Mike has been talking about.

For livewells without such a system they mention using non-iodized solar salt in a premeasured amount to increase the eloctrolytes and help the fish regenerate the slime lost during the netting and handling of the fish. The article is a good read for anybody interested in using a livewell for recooperating fish before releasing them.

Tight Lines,
Dan