Dead fish smell in livewell, how do i get rid of it?

[Jim B]

Well i screwed up. I was using my boat as a dump boat for my club tourney on sat and i missed one when i released them all over deep water. With the rejuivnade in the wells its really hard to find fish, i didnt pump them out like i normally do and i missed one. Actually i forgot to even drain them until i got home. Needless to say the one fish that was left really stunk them up badly. I found it today when i walked near my boat and could smell it.



So far I have washed the wells with simple green, sprayed them with chlorine/water and rinced and put in two big blxes of baking soda. Im hpoing the baking soda will take care of it overnight. Does anyone else have any ideas on how to get rid of the smell? Its really bad.



P.s. I dont need to be read the roit act for killing a fish. Nobody cares more about the bass resource then i do. This is the first fish i have ever had die in my wells for any reason in over 10 years of tourney fishing and i feel pretty bad about it because it totally could have been avoided. I just need that smell to go away.

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Jim,

Try mixing the baking soda with the water and letting it sit some???



Just a thought



Carlos

 

[David Munaretto]

Disclaimer - I've NEVER lost a fish --



sorry, I had to do that before responding, but that said I commend your commitment to scattered release (which is what we call not dropping fish at shore), and also can imagine what angst you had posting here, worried about negative comments... the smell must be THAT bad...



I'd suggest using the oldest and most effective formula known to man for removal of the stench --put 1/4 cup of baking soda in your livewells, then pour in 1/2 a bottle of vinegar...



Then... open the drains and run 20 gallons of water through it just to make sure there are no residuals next time you use it...



Hope this helps,



david

 

[Larry Harp]

After doing all the above, open the lids and let the sun shine in. Sunlight is one of the best sanitizers there is.



Harpo

 

[Bill McElroy]

Pour some Vanilla Extract in there,.....smear it around and let it set for awhile.

 

[Greg Meyer]

Mac... he wants to clean his livewells not hear what you thik is a hot date....LOL

 

[Bill McElroy]

LMFAO!!!...That's funny right there!!!:lol:

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

Somebody I know has a Triton and every time he puts a fish in the livewell it dies almost instantly, the dealer said it was a fungus that is killing them, whatever you do make sure that does not happen to you, it's bad news.

 

[Jim B]

Thanks for the suggestios.



I checked them this morning after sitting all night with 5# of baking soda in them and they smell was a little less but still strong( just not knock you over and make you gag kind of strong). I will try the suggestions and let everyone know how i make out. My Mother also suggested putting activated carbon in the wells, she did that in her deep freezer to remove a fish smell when they lost power while they were away one day and everything thawed in the deep freezer. Im going to try that too and see how that makes out.

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

I got a suggestion, what about lemons or lemon juice, I know my wife uses it on her hands or cutting board to remove bad cooking smells? Fish/Onions/Garlic.

 

[Jim B]

Thats another good idea, i will add it to the list of things to try to get rid of this smell.

 

[Larry Harp]

I just thought of something else to try....Oxy. It's good stuff. Sure will get the dog pee smell out of carpet and I think it will rinse out easily so it won't be harmful to the fish you put in there in the future.



I remember from back when I used to fool around with aquariums that soaps and detergents would leave a residue that would kill the fish but good ol' un-sented clorine bleach would rinse out without a residue.



Harpo

 

[Jim Storck Sr2]

Jim,I worked for a truck leasing co and when a truck came back that was used for delivering fish we would spread fresh coffee grounds in it over night than wash it out,smell gone.

 

[Mike Tosello]

Jim,



Early this year I had a similar problem, had fish die on me during a BFL Tourny. The tournament Director told me to scrub out the livewells with warm water and rock salt.... I mixed a few pounds of rock salt with about 5 gallons of hot water and let it disolve, then scrubbed out each livewell real good...



Dont just let it drain out , make sure you run the mixture through your entire pump system. I let it recirculate for and hour or so, then pumped 1/2 of it out and drained the other 1/2. After that, rinse a few times.....



Havent had a problem since..



Mike