Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Hey guys,

So I have the switch just under the shifter that says Recirc/empty/Auto along with the 2 buttons on the dash that say manuel/auto and then another button on the dash that I believe is bubbles or something.

Anyway I am wonder how I should run when in a tourney?

Should I have the switch on Recirc or Auto?
Should I have the buttons pressed to Manuel or Auto?
Should I have the bubbles on?

Thanks guys for any info?
By the way it is a 96 Ranger 391V that the last owner had replaced the stock fill/empty wells with these ones.

I always first peut the swithch on manual with first fish then the auto/recirc put on auto.nce livewell fills enough put it to auto and auto then it will just pump in new depending on how u have dial.I keep mine in center.If you do make a long run turn the switch to recirc and it will keep water in there if you dont as you are running water will run out.Always at end f tournament I put it on recirc..Yeah that should do it. ;D

Recirc switch does not pull in fresh water from the lake. It just keeps pumping the water already in the system through. It is useful when you pull your boat out of the water or if you go from cool, clean water into warm muddy water for a short time and don't want to get that in your tanks.

Auto switch keeps pulling in fresh water from the lake or river. I use that the most unless there is some type of water quality problem. Just remember bass use up the oxygen in the water and fish stress can dirty water that is not exchanged for a while with new water.

The bubbles may help increase the oxygen level in the livewell some depending on how fast you exchange it and the water temperature - higher temperature water can hold less oxygen than cooler water. Overall, it probably doesn't hurt to have it on and shouldn't use a lot of battery juice.

The livewell button on manual keeps pumping water continuously. If you're fishing in decent water, it probably helps keep your bass the healthiest.

When you put the button to auto, it turns the livewell pumps on and off for a certain amount of time based on a timer that should be there somewhere. It may be something like on 5 minutes, off 5 minutes down to on 1 minute, off 1 minute. Depends on your particular install but those are common times. In warmer water months, you should pump a lot more - manual is better - and you can choose to go to the longer periods in cooler and cold water if you want to.

I rarely lost a bass in a tournament and often got comments on the health of my bass at weigh ins from tournament directors. I pumped fresh water a lot; used a bubbler in installed in my own boat and kept the livewells full using cheap bottle cap tops to close off the livewell overflows so on long and/or rough runs there was no room for bass to smash against the lid or have the livewells run dry. I also stop a few times to look at the bass and pump in some more water if needed.

I firmly believe if you fish tournaments you should take some of your time to keep your bass as close to the health they had when you caught them or don't fish tournaments.