Non Flyfishing - Bait Well advice

[gcw]

Non-flyfishing post. Read no further if you're a purist.

Need some advice on building a live well in my small aluminum boat. I'm thinking a 35 gallon well - what size pump? I've seen diagrams that have "fast water pickups" in addition to the pump, wondering about that, also wondering if pumped water should enter the tank from above or if needs to enter down low. Any help would be appreciated - post a reply or e-mail directly.

Thanks in advance.

[Ray]

Don't know a whole lot about live wells, but the few I have seen have the water entering from above the waterline. It helps to airate the water.

[mlb6363]

Get a decent pump, 50 galls an hour or so. Get the water to enter from the bottom and overflow the top, that way the whole water column stays aerated not just the top (which was the case on my old 24' boston whaler and the baits keep fighting for air on the top). Another tip is to paint the well dark blue as opposed to white. This keeps the baits darker for some reason, they tend to get paler in a white baitwell. rgds Mike

[gcw]

Thanks for the advice. I had thought about the top v. bottom issue and was wondering if the water would actually be "recycled" if it was pumped and drained at the top.

Do you know if there's a problem with pressure (35 gallons of it) if the pump hose enters the bottom of the tank?

[mlb6363]

It worked OK on my 50 gal livewell. pressure not that big.
rgds