A popular Bass Tournament Rule at all summer bass tournaments says that – every bass boat has got to have a “properly aerated livewell” or a “fully functional livewell”, and that’s the rule. If a tournament official says your bass boat livewell is not properly aerated or fully functional, well, you and your boat will be disqualified and you will not be allowed to play today. Would a fully functional livewell made with an ice chest pass the test and qualify? Does a non-functional bass bag disqualify you too?
One fish dies in your livewell or weigh-in bag, you will be punished, you will lose the tournament prize and dead tournament bass are very, very bad public relations matters for tournament organizers.
Question of functional or non-function bass boat livewell and plastic bass bags - does anybody here have any idea what a “properly aerated livewell” or “fully functional livewell” or functional bass bag actually means? How would a tournament official actually test a livewell or bass bag to determine what is ”fully functional” or totally ”non-functional?”
What is a livewell? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livewell A livewell is a tank found on many fishing boats that is used to keep bait and caught fish alive [during live transports]. A “functional livewell” can and does sustain minimal safe water quality sufficient water to keep bait and fish alive and healthy during a summer 5-10-15 hour transport for tournament bass… from the initial capture – weigh-in holding tanks – hospital tank-live release boat haul tanks. A non function livewell cannot and will not keep bait or fish alive all day during transport captivity.
Dig this: July 22, 2012 - DNR suggests ways to keep bass alive in livewells . . . but http://genemuellerfishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/dnr-suggests-ways-to-keep-bass-alive-in_22.html
Many black-bass anglers hold onto their catch for an hour or more throughout the fishing day, says a Maryland DNR report from Dr. Joseph Love, PhD, the man in charge of tidal bass -- a man who also appears to be firmly on the side of bass tournaments. "Keeping the bass alive in a livewell can be a challenge especially during summer months," he says. “Many people have different ideas on how to keep those fish alive. We recently studied some of those ideas and just how good water quality is in the livewell. We learned that recirculation with fresh water every 30 minutes for at least 3 to 5 minutes is very important.” For questions or comments, respond to Joe Love, [email protected] and you can read more of the work in the attachment Keeping Bass Alive in the Live Well
However . . . bass boat livewell oxygen levels and weigh-in bags that were tested in Texas revealed disturbing dissolved oxygen (DO) content and clearly demonstrated that the livewells were "deathwells" and in the case of tournament anglers waiting in line to tally their catches, holding the bass in a bag, the bags might be "kill bags.” So says the study made in July in the Lone Star State.
Carl Wengenroth, the National Conservation Director of the International Federation of Black-Bass Anglers, writes that when livewell water pumps are running, spray bars aerating the livewell water as usual, such a boat would be classified by most tournament officials as having a "functional livewell."
"Functional livewells" in July and August when water temperatures can exceed 80 degrees? Wengenroth says it’s a shill game played out thousand of times [on hot summer days] by tournament officials responsible for certifying bass boat livewells as "functional.”
A functional livewell must contain water that must be safe for all the fish being transported all day long in the summer or any other time of the year. Bass boat livewell (aerated) water quality can be deadly according to dissolved oxygen (DO) meter test results. Wengenroth says the reality is that aerated livewells are not safe, nor functional, when they contain a tournament limit of bass in July in Texas [ed. note: or any other state when water temperatures reach 80 degrees.]
Carl Wengenroth and his dissolved oxygen meter tests have blown the lid off current tournament beliefs because the tests showed a consistent lack of oxygen. According to his DO meter, all is not well in livewell land. Check out what Carl has found and published http://lonestarbass.com/bass-fishing/livewell-care-for-bass-step-by-step-a-day-on-the-water/
Wengenroth wrote, “Everytime I have tested [my livewell] without [added] oxygen, running just aereators --- after a full 8 hours I was lucky enough to have 15 lbs. or better for 5 [hours]. The ppm in my livewell was less than 4 ppm. I was basically slow-cooking and oxygen-starving my fish."
Posted by Gene Mueller's World of Fishing and Hunting at 7:20 AM
How many tournament officials do you know that actually test the DO in boat livewells containing limits of bass, release boat livewells, weigh-in holding tanks or “hospital tanks” containing a limit of tournament caught bass when the angler arrives at the weigh-in site to actually confirm that the bass boat livewell water quality is safe to transport all the fish in that livewell?
One fish dies in your livewell or weigh-in bag, you will be punished, you will lose the tournament prize and dead tournament bass are very, very bad public relations matters for tournament organizers.
Question of functional or non-function bass boat livewell and plastic bass bags - does anybody here have any idea what a “properly aerated livewell” or “fully functional livewell” or functional bass bag actually means? How would a tournament official actually test a livewell or bass bag to determine what is ”fully functional” or totally ”non-functional?”
What is a livewell? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livewell A livewell is a tank found on many fishing boats that is used to keep bait and caught fish alive [during live transports]. A “functional livewell” can and does sustain minimal safe water quality sufficient water to keep bait and fish alive and healthy during a summer 5-10-15 hour transport for tournament bass… from the initial capture – weigh-in holding tanks – hospital tank-live release boat haul tanks. A non function livewell cannot and will not keep bait or fish alive all day during transport captivity.
Dig this: July 22, 2012 - DNR suggests ways to keep bass alive in livewells . . . but http://genemuellerfishing.blogspot.com/2012/07/dnr-suggests-ways-to-keep-bass-alive-in_22.html
Many black-bass anglers hold onto their catch for an hour or more throughout the fishing day, says a Maryland DNR report from Dr. Joseph Love, PhD, the man in charge of tidal bass -- a man who also appears to be firmly on the side of bass tournaments. "Keeping the bass alive in a livewell can be a challenge especially during summer months," he says. “Many people have different ideas on how to keep those fish alive. We recently studied some of those ideas and just how good water quality is in the livewell. We learned that recirculation with fresh water every 30 minutes for at least 3 to 5 minutes is very important.” For questions or comments, respond to Joe Love, [email protected] and you can read more of the work in the attachment Keeping Bass Alive in the Live Well
However . . . bass boat livewell oxygen levels and weigh-in bags that were tested in Texas revealed disturbing dissolved oxygen (DO) content and clearly demonstrated that the livewells were "deathwells" and in the case of tournament anglers waiting in line to tally their catches, holding the bass in a bag, the bags might be "kill bags.” So says the study made in July in the Lone Star State.
Carl Wengenroth, the National Conservation Director of the International Federation of Black-Bass Anglers, writes that when livewell water pumps are running, spray bars aerating the livewell water as usual, such a boat would be classified by most tournament officials as having a "functional livewell."
"Functional livewells" in July and August when water temperatures can exceed 80 degrees? Wengenroth says it’s a shill game played out thousand of times [on hot summer days] by tournament officials responsible for certifying bass boat livewells as "functional.”
A functional livewell must contain water that must be safe for all the fish being transported all day long in the summer or any other time of the year. Bass boat livewell (aerated) water quality can be deadly according to dissolved oxygen (DO) meter test results. Wengenroth says the reality is that aerated livewells are not safe, nor functional, when they contain a tournament limit of bass in July in Texas [ed. note: or any other state when water temperatures reach 80 degrees.]
Carl Wengenroth and his dissolved oxygen meter tests have blown the lid off current tournament beliefs because the tests showed a consistent lack of oxygen. According to his DO meter, all is not well in livewell land. Check out what Carl has found and published http://lonestarbass.com/bass-fishing/livewell-care-for-bass-step-by-step-a-day-on-the-water/
Wengenroth wrote, “Everytime I have tested [my livewell] without [added] oxygen, running just aereators --- after a full 8 hours I was lucky enough to have 15 lbs. or better for 5 [hours]. The ppm in my livewell was less than 4 ppm. I was basically slow-cooking and oxygen-starving my fish."
Posted by Gene Mueller's World of Fishing and Hunting at 7:20 AM
How many tournament officials do you know that actually test the DO in boat livewells containing limits of bass, release boat livewells, weigh-in holding tanks or “hospital tanks” containing a limit of tournament caught bass when the angler arrives at the weigh-in site to actually confirm that the bass boat livewell water quality is safe to transport all the fish in that livewell?
