Looking for opinions on what might have happened in my live well where 50% of my shrimp met their demise before even getting a hook stuck in them.
Here’s the details:
Live well on a 20 ft boat, maybe 20 gallons (just a guess)?
Caught a ton of creek shrimp, FM and a few bigger 8 inch mullet.
Had a 20 mile run between getting bait and the first fishing spot with a pee break at the halfway point.
Got to first spot and half the shrimp were dead.
Could it be:
Live well was overcrowded (although pump was constantly circulating fresh water)
the big mullet in there were going crazy and literally beat them to death
I didn’t rinse it out well enough after previous cleaning
Due to the high speed run, did the live well pick-up not circulate enough fresh water
I would have to guess option 2 is what happened. Typically, at least in my boat, even running WOT the live well was constantly pumping in fresh water. I have also loaded my well with over 8 dozen shrimp and after fishing from sunrise until around sunset, the only shrimp that died were from the trout eating them on my hook. Seriously doubt not rinsing the live well has anything to do with it. I typically keep shrimp in one live well and mullet/mud minnows in a separate one.
Unless you’re going to use the big mullets live, I’d just keep them on ice. Any chance you had jellyballs in your well lately? Their slime/juice can kill bait…one time it took me forever to get menhaden, finally got a few dozen…putted out just past charleston 60 to try my hand at slow trolling…the fish/rough water somehow pushed the drain sick where it was laying horizontal on the bottom of well…all that time and effort to slow troll dead menhaden…lol
what did you clean the livewell with last, just curious
Proline 201WA
Aloha 24ft pontoon (LooneyToon)
Old Town stern with 7.5 johnson
I used a bleach spray but not much. Being conscious of this, I rinsed the hell out of it with the hose and also ran the pump with the drain open in the creek for a while to give it an additional rinse with creek water prior to putting any bait in it.
live large mullet + live shrimp in single well = dead shrimp (imo[:0])
fresh caught specks added to bait well ==fat trout= no more bait, and stupid feeling:frowning_face: (fact)
that’s interesting, i didnt think fish would eat in a stressed environment
Proline 201WA
Aloha 24ft pontoon (LooneyToon)
Old Town stern with 7.5 johnson
Oh yea, especially pin fish.
A lot of live wells won’t airiate when the boats on plain depending on where fresh water pick up is which in this hot weather could have cause your shrimp kill.
The bleach spray would not have done it, I use some all the time for cleaning and Oder control.
