Hey, guys, I just picked up my boat from Jay Liu's. He upgraded my trolling motor battery layout, and I had him install a 12V receptacle (i.e., cigarette lighter) while he was at it, with the thought I might use it to wire up an aerator onto a cooler for *MY* next Pablo hawg! ;- )

Do either of you (or anyone else on the board) have any recommendations on a good quality, 12V aerator that can be easily adapted to a cooler/livewell? Also, what size cooler would you recommend?


Any info would be appreciated!

I don't have an aerator recommendation. I've thought about rigging one, but here is why I haven't... If you get a big fish, just fill up the cooler with a bucket, when there's 6" of water in there, put the fish in, then fill to the brim. Take your pics and let the fish go. If you want to weigh in at the marina, take the fish to the marina. Should take about 5 minutes in your boat. Carry the cooler right up to the scale, weight the fish, put it back in the cooler. Carry the cooler back down to the boat. Take a few pics. Release the fish. Or take it back to where you caught it and release it. If you're gonna do that, scoop out a few bucketfulls and put in some fresh water. The fish will be just fine. It's only when you're going to have the fish in the cooler for more than 10 or 15 minutes when you really need aeration. Even then, you can do the bucket out/bucket in thing for a while and the fish should be just fine. I guess my point is, unless you are expecting to get more than one double digit in a day and you want a two fister pic, there's no need for aeration for trophy fishing. Tournaments, whole different story. But you said Pablo, not tournament :)

Yes, I agree with Rob. I have not yet run into a situation in which I needed to keep a fish longer than 15 minutes.... usually less than 10 minutes.
If I ever did though (with like say a record class fish) I would just pull the drain plug on the cooler and pour in a few buckets of fresh water every 5 minutes or so.

Speaking of coolers / livewells though, I think my 70 qt is a perfect size for just about any bass that I would be likely to catch..... heck, a WRB might only be a couple inches longer than my 18.4.... if not the same length, or even shorter, (she was 29" and the livewell size was fine) but on the other hand, I think I would like a 128 qt for giant Catfish and Carp. Hmmmmm..... "Captain, I think we are going to need a bigger boat" ! (smiles)

Peace,
Fish