# 5 gallon livewell



## mickeyg

I've looked at other threads about making livewells but , did not see anything with a 5 gallon bucket . There are a few questions I have about building one myself . 1; Should inlet and outlet hoses be mounted at same height and at what height ? 2; Should they be the same diameter ? 3; What size pump would be good ,would 300 gph be too much? Don't want to drag a livewell behind me . Please tell me if I'm wrong in thinking that the outlet should be a larger diameter and mounted near the top of the bucket , for proper drainage ,while the inlet doesn't quite matter . Thanks for any and all input .


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## kingfisherman23

Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely no experience. I'm just thinking about it from the perspective of an engineering major.

1) The outlet hose should be mounted near the bottom, so you ensure that you get proper flow at any water level. The inlet hose should be mounted near the top so water is sprayed down into the bucket, thereby increasing oxygenation of the water (think waterfall).

2) They should be the same diameter, or maybe the outlet hose should be just a tad bigger so you have a pretty even volume coming in and going out.

3) No idea. I am writing this under the assumption that the water is cycling from the bucket to the pump through the outlet hose and then from the pump back to the bucket through the inlet hose and continuously using the same water, is that right?

Evan


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## stonemason

the exit hole should be high so if your battery dies or pump breaks, at least the container will hold water. any small 12v bilge pump should be run at 6v so the battery will last longer and run less water. you dont need crazy amounts of water to keep many fish alive. this is if youre sucking up freash water. if youre gona cycle the same water, might as well just use an aerator.


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## kingfisherman23

OK, that makes sense. Disregard my earlier view on the outlet tube. But I think that the inlet should still be high and the exit tube should be larger.

Like I said, no experience with this kind of thing. Let the pros tell you how its done :redface:

Evan


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## ghrousseau

Check the West Coast message boards. Live bait fishing is very common there and a few people have good web-pages showing a complete how to and what stuff to buy for a live bait set-up.


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## Too Busy

Don't forget that water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon and that it moves. I have been keeping shrimp, mud minnows or finger mullet alive in either a 3 1/2 or 5 gallon bucket in my milk crate without an aerator.
Fill bucket about 1/2 full. add bait. add a 20oz soft drink bottle filled with water and frozen. The temp drop isn't enough to kill the bait, but they do slow down a lot.
I change the water 2 times in a 6-8 hour fishing day.

Don't put shrimp in the same bucket as either finger mullet or mud minnows. Shrimp + FM = dead FM 
shrimp + MM = dead shrimp


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## uncdub13

I decided to make one a few weeks ago while the wind was blowing. Been using it a lot lately with good results keeping bluefish, menhaden, threadfins, mullet, etc alive and frisky. I made mine out of an old cooler (probably holds a little over 5 gallons, not sure), and run it with a 360 gph rule bilge pump. I only turn it on for like 30-60 seconds every few minutes (depending on the number and type of baits) in order to maximize battery life. Might end up going with a timer switch eventually, but i have the switch right behind my seat so it's really not bad doing it manually.

Here's the best pic i have at the moment..










Water comes in through the spray head and drains through the tube. To drain the entire livewell, the tube pulls out of the bottom. Ideally, the drain tube would be in the center so bait couldnt get trapped in that corner, but i wanted to line it up with the scupper hole in the tankwell for drainage. I used a 1" thru-hull fitting on the bottom of the cooler that fits down in the scupper, which kinda serves a double purpose to hold the cooler in place. Another option would be to make a hole at water level to drain out the side and just put a plug in the bottom hole, but the current setup seems to work good enough for me.


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## narfpoit

That looks great. What size cooler is that?


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## uncdub13

It's about 16x12" (10" or so deep), just the right size to utilize the most of my tankwell space as possible. I'll have to measure the volume of water it will hold. It was an old cooler i had laying around and just so happen to fit perfectly.


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## narfpoit

I guess being able to drain and fill it while out on the water makes it nice for surf launches and landings. I think I am going to have to do that for mine. Do you lash it down with any thing or does the pipe in the scupper hole keep well enough with out it?


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## uncdub13

It fits well enough back there that i dont see a need to secure it with anything extra. In the rare event that i dump (still never have with fishing gear, knock on wood), that cooler will be the last thing i'm worried about.


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## Entropy

uncdub13 said:


> It's about 16x12" (10" or so deep), just the right size to utilize the most of my tankwell space as possible. I'll have to measure the volume of water it will hold. It was an old cooler i had laying around and just so happen to fit perfectly.


V = L x W x H

L = 16
W = 12
H = 10 (+/-)
V = volume

16 x 12 x 10 = 1920
V= 1920 cubic inches (+/-)
to keep is simple, about 1.04 cubic feet.

simple math. the "(+/-)" is there because you didnt know the exact depth of the livewell. sorry, i like math, specifically geometry. but i do have a legitimate question. do you have a hard time keeping shad alive? its been my experience that once a single scale has been knocked off they might as well be floating. a bucket rather than a cooler seems to work better for keeping them alive, as they like to circle... but i cant keep them swimming more than a hour tops.


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## uncdub13

Yeah, that's one way to figure it out if i were to measure the inside the dimensions of the cooler. Havent taken the time to measure anything since i built it though. That 16x12" is a rough measurement of the outside, and doesnt take into account the thickness of the cooler.

Like i already mentioned, it keeps menhaden and threadfins alive just fine, and those are some of the most fragile baits i'll ever be using. I figure if i can keep 10 or 12 large menhaden alive for half a day, it's getting the job done. A round well would be ideal along with having the drain tube in the center, but i was just working with what i had.


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## Entropy

uncdub13 said:


> Yeah, that's one way to figure it out if i were to measure the inside the dimensions of the cooler. Havent taken the time to measure anything since i built it though. That 16x12" is a rough measurement of the outside, and doesnt take into account the thickness of the cooler.
> 
> Like i already mentioned, it keeps menhaden and threadfins alive just fine, and those are some of the most fragile baits i'll ever be using. I figure if i can keep 10 or 12 large menhaden alive for half a day, it's getting the job done. A round well would be ideal along with having the drain tube in the center, but i was just working with what i had.


i was just using what ya gave me. 

cool, now do you net them yourself?


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## Jesse Lockowitz

Entropy said:


> cool, now do you net them yourself?



yeah, using a rythmatic equation of physics. its pretty complicated.


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## stonemason

do they make/sell round coolers?


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## kingfisherman23

I saw someone fishing Apache pier two years ago using a yellow water cooler as a livewell.

Evan


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## stonemason

oh snap, those small igloo water coolers would be perfect! good call.


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## Grilled Sardine

stupidjet said:


> oh snap, those small igloo water coolers would be perfect! good call.


why do u need another livewell?


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## stonemason

for the boat.


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## uncdub13

Entropy said:


> cool, now do you net them yourself?


first cast of the net this morning..


<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v210/uncdub13/IMGP2362.flv">


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## Grilled Sardine

nice video....how big is that cast net. i've been looking to buy one.


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## kooler

uncdub13 said:


> first cast of the net this morning..
> 
> 
> <embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v210/uncdub13/IMGP2362.flv">


thats amazing! how the hell do you throw that net sitting in the yak without dumping yourself? you need to get one of your buddys video you throwing your net from another yak just for a lesson for us all. i can't throw a cast net worth a crap standing on my feet.


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## uncdub13

Grilled Sardine said:


> nice video....how big is that cast net. i've been looking to buy one.


That's only a 6' with 3/8" mesh. Not exactly the ideal net for catching big menhaden in the ocean like that, but they've been thick enough out there to get away with it. 




kooler said:


> thats amazing! how the hell do you throw that net sitting in the yak without dumping yourself? you need to get one of your buddys video you throwing your net from another yak just for a lesson for us all. i can't throw a cast net worth a crap standing on my feet.


If i'm inshore in protected water, i just stand up and throw like you would in any other boat. Out there in the ocean i bob around in the swells a little too much for that, so i'll normally just sit up on my knees and throw. For me, the main challenge is positioning my small window of casting area over the bait and still having the net loaded and ready to cast at the same time. Just got to use the wind and current to your advantage. I'll see what i can do for a video.


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## kooler

cool. would love to watch the video.


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