I am looking at putting in a live well in my canoe. Wanting it stationary but looks good at the same time. If anyone has ideas let me know.
Not really feasible for a paddle boat…
…since a true livewell requires aeration, which requires a battery driven pump. So, you ad the size of the livewell, the weight of the water, and the weight of the battery ??? You make the call.
standard
floating, troll through minnow bucket. leave it in the water or in the boat as conditions require. low tech, easy answer.
It will be very heavy
– Last Updated: Nov-26-15 9:47 AM EST –
I could almost see making such a thing using a medium-sized cooler, but I'd sure hate to paddle that canoe very far. I'm looking at the general dimensions of my 40-gallon aquarium and thinking I wouldn't want a live well to be much smaller than that, but lets say you push the limits and go with something half that size. Even that small, you are carrying 160 pounds of water, and the total weight will be more like 200 by the time you include a pump and a battery big enough to keep it running. That's enough weight to make an enormous difference in the amount of paddling effort that's required. Maybe you propel the boat with an electric motor, but including the battery, that's probably 100 pounds in addition, and at this point it would make far more sense to switch to a small rowboat.
Remember that sorting your catch is actually illegal most places (if you catch it and don't release it immediately, it's automatically part of your take-home bag limit), so except for tournaments which seem to be excluded from such laws, a live well really has no advantage at all over an ice-filled cooler.
Cooler
Is the live well only for keeping bait, or keeping your catch?
If the former, there are insulated bait buckets on the market. I use one with a battery operated aerator in my canoe.
If you mean a large one for keeping your catch, the only reasonable alternative I can think of would be a cooler outfitted with an aerator. Whether this is viable depends on the size and carrying capacity of your canoe.
cooler
– Last Updated: Mar-10-16 10:23 AM EST –
I had a 15' Lowe tin canoe that I paddle solo. Had a medium size cooler in it for use as a live well. I would just fill it about 5 or 6 inches. I never noticed any difference in paddling with it in the canoe or with it out. I didn't use any aeration but then I never really filled it with fish either, lol! I just sold the canoe and I'm using a sot so now I use a goodie bag over the side.
There’s this.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/cabela-s-dry-stor-livewells/738031.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dlive%252Bwell%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%252BProducts&Ntt=live+well
I don’t see why a cooler wouldn’t do the same thing. Either way, you’ll need a battery to run an aeration pump.
Remember that water weighs 8lbs per gallon and is a dynamic weight.
- Big D
I’d go with a flow-thru bucket with a
little battery powered air pump with air stone for when you need to take it out of the water (like when paddling)