It has been a hot year so far in central Indiana. June averaged over 4 degrees warmer than normal with 5 days at 90 or above. We're only half way through July and we're already averaging a high of 87.7 with 6 days so far at or above 90 degrees. These temps have the corresponding water in our lakes and reservoirs much warmer than we're used to seeing for this time of the year. Surface temps on many of the smaller lakes, and even the coves of the larger reservoirs are running into the upper 80's. I had 88-89 all over Waveland today, and a friend reported 92 degree surface temps in the back of Allen's Creek on Monroe Friday.
This is putting a serious stress on our fisheries, and making it difficult to keep bass alive over the course of a tournament day. Livewell care should now be at the forefront of everyone's mind, and I've got some advice to help out.
It's time to pull out the hydrogen peroxide. It's a pretty controversial subject, with anglers and organizations on both sides of the issue, for and against, but I'm seeing and hearing of enough dead bass at weigh-ins and at the ramps that I believe it's the right thing to do. I'm going to make it real simple for everyone so you don't have to get fancy with calculations or measuring. First though, some additional info on hydrogen peroxide you won't find on any other fishing site, at least not that I've ever come across.
- Different species have different tolerances to hydrogen peroxide. Some, like walleye are extremely sensitive to even small amounts. Don't use it except for keeping bass alive in a tourney situation. Fortunately largemouth have a better tolerance for it than many other freshwater fish, including other members of the sunfish family such as bluegills.
- Different life stages of a particular fish changes it's ability to handle doses of hydrogen peroxide. Eggs can withstand the highest concentrations, while young adults have the lowest tolerances. Data suggests that there is a slight uptick at the end of the downward curve with older adults usually able to tolerate slightly higher concentrations than younger adults.
- Water temperature matters. The warmer the water, the less hydrogen peroxide a fish is able to tolerate.
- It's a balance between dose/concentration and time. Bass can tolerate a higher amount for very short periods of time, but require a considerably smaller concentration if they are going to be exposed to the chemical for a longer length of time (24-96 hrs.).
- Warmer water can not hold as much oxygen as colder water. Saturation point at around 90 degrees is slightly less than 7.5 ppm oxygen. This is at sea level. At higher altitudes your rate will be lower. The amount of peroxide I recommend adding has been shown to raise oxygen saturation by between 1.0-1.5 ppm for the typical livewell volume.
- At a certain point, overdosing leads to guaranteed mortality. More is not better! Unless you want to risk a livewell full of dead bass, don't add more than what I recommend.
Most sites, video and advice have you calculate some form of measurement for your livewell, then add a corresponding amount in ounces for so many gallons. Problem is many livewells are weirdly shaped, and some people just don't want to try and calculate exactly how big their well is. Plus, what you need is the volume as relates to how much water you will actually have in the well, and that will depend upon how high you can fill your well before things like overflow valves start draining the excess out. This can be difficult to calculate.
Newer boat models typically have the volume stated online at the manufacturers website. Many older model boats you won't have a clue. Still, the large majority of bassboat livewells regardless of model fall between 12 and 22 gallons. So we'll keep this very simple. If it's not simple, guys won't do it. Here are the basics.
- Fill your livewell when you catch your first bass, or even before if you'd like. At that point, keep the drain valve closed and don't allow new water to be added. New water dilutes everything and will defeat the purpose of doing this. Turn off the timer system if you have that feature and only run recirculation pumps (if your boat is so equipped). Don't worry if you don't have recirc pumps. Leave everything off in that case after filling and follow the next steps. Your bass will be fine.
- Add ice and cool the water temperature in the livewell down to the upper 70's given current surface temps. You're basically going to take out about 10-12 degrees of heat from the water. Buy a cheap digital or handheld kitchen thermometer at the grocery store or through BPS that you can keep in a boat compartment just for this purpose. This will only cost you about $10-$20 - Do It! You'll automatically add (about 1.0 ppm) to the waters ability to hold oxygen with this simple step. Remember, cooler water holds more oxygen, and bass are easily able to handle this level of temperature adjustment. Your fish won't go into cold shock. Also remember the cooler the water, the safer the level of peroxide addition. Adding ice is a very important step.
- If you have a livewell additive such as "Please Release Me", "Catch & Release" or "Rejuvenade", add the recommended amount now.
- Finally, Add 1/3-cup of hydrogen peroxide to each separate livewell. NO MORE!...unless. If you have one single very large divided livewell in your bass boat, then add two (a second) 1/3-cupfuls. Stop there. This will be right around recommended dose on smaller wells, a little less on larger wells. Either way you'll be fine, you won't have to calculate and you'll have no excuse for not doing this - very simple!
As for the measuring cup, steal one (from your kitchen), borrow one (from the wife) or buy a simple set of plastic measuring cups so you'll have it. Keep this, along with the bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide (found at any grocery or drug store), your temperature gauge and your livewell additive in your boat compartment together. Buy a small Tupperware container that will hold all these things the next time the wife drags you out shopping.
If you're fishing a jackpot or week night tourney (<5 hrs), you won't have to do anything else at all. If you are fishing an 8 or 9 hour all day (or all night) tourney, you'll want to drain off or livewell pumpout about half of the water in the well halfway through the tourney to eliminate excess fish waste and related chemicals, then refill, add more ice, livewell additive and hydrogen peroxide as stated above. Doing this two or even three times is even better.
Once surface water temps at the lake drop back below 80 degrees, you won't have to add hydrogen peroxide. At that point just the ice and livewell treatment, along with recirulation if you have it are all you need. This is the exact setup I use in my jon boat livewell the few times I've held summer fish in it (along with the Triton when I had it). I've researched and tested this and know it works without harming the bass if followed as I state above. Take care of the bass out there this summer so we can all catch them again later.