Over the years I have seen quite a few fishing boats with live wells. Some better than others and then some that were a waste of fiberglass and space in the boat. Live wells have come a long way. The boat makers have been listening to us fisherman for the last few years and they have improved, especially the larger king mackerel boats. The smaller boat makers have been doing a good job on improving their small units also. This is the first thing that I look at when I go to look at a boat. When it comes to a good fishing boat I think that it is one of the most important features. The last new boat that I bought did not have a live well, so I built my own. Back before I was a charter captain I worked for a large sign company here in Charleston. Whenever I had the chance I would work on it. When all was said and done I had a work of art. This was one of the coolest live wells that I have ever seen. It was made from aluminum and clear lexan, 61” round and 18’ tall it was made to fit my 17’ McKee Craft. This thing worked great. One of the other tricks was that I glued a rubber shower mat to the bottom of it so it would not slide around. This was about the fifth one that I had built through the years and the best one yet. I used a 750-gph pump to keep the water flowing through it. This seemed to be the correct size pump for the job. All of my friends loved it and I received a lot of great comments about it. The only thing bad about this thing is that when one of your buddies pull up beside you and ask you if you have any spare bait---well its in plain sight.

Capt. Rick's oxygenated livewell with active shad

After the first summer of using it I wanted more. I wanted to improve it somehow. Then I thought about how they transfer small fish to stock ponds. That was all it took I needed OXYGEN! Being a welder also, I knew a little about how this stuff worked. So I got a small bottle of oxygen from a friend of mine and bought a used regulator from National Welders. A couple of more parts and wham there it was. My first in-boat aquarium. I had to experiment for a while to get the flow just right. I found out that with shrimp it did not seem to matter how much oxygen I gave them. But with menhaden it’s a different story. A little does a lot. Too much oxygen and they are dead. I recommend using menhaden for bait. Unlike mud minnow or finger mullet, these guys are highly active when taken care of. One thing that I might add is that you turn off your live well pump when doing this. After reading everything that I could get my hands on I found out that menhaden are stressed when put in a live well, which produces adrenaline. This causes an increase in oxygen consumption. When saltwater reaches temps above 80 degrees the oxygen level goes down. Down so far that it’s hard to keep large quantities of bait alive for a full day of fishing. Another thing is that you need to deal with the increase in ammonia. You can buy something for this at your local tropical fish dealer.

Just a little oxygen and the fish go nuts! The smaller you can get the bubbles of oxygen the better. The first time I used this system resulted in three kings caught back to back, anchored at the end of the jettys here in Charleston with no chum. These fish take off like they are on fire when you put them in the water. Just remember that oxygen is a compressed gas and should be handled carefully. If you want to build your own live well, just remember your intake hose should be ¾ to 1 inch in diameter. It should feed from your pump into the bottom of your live well. Add a 90 degree elbow on the inside to give your water a circular motion in your live well. The gravity fed overflow hose, 2 inches in diameter, goes out of the top. Go by your local car wash. The soap barrels that they throw away typically make good live wells that should be tied down in your boat for safety reasons. I recommend this to all fishermen who are serious about catching more fish.

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