livewells & stripers

has anyone been able to keep a striper alive for very long in a livewell?

I put two 6.5 & 5+ stripers in my livewell and the were belly up in about two hrs. is this normal?

I have a TRACKER TV-18 and dont think the livewell is any good even though they brag on it as being hi-tech. LOL

Stripers are very hard to keep alive, almost impossible in a livewell...the striper people are trying to use tubes...

The only time I have had any luck keeping them alive is in the dead of winter.

The guide I went with on Whitney cut their gills on one side so they would bleed to death and tossed them into a dry box.
By doing that, he didn't have to contend with jumping fish and there was no blood on the cleaning table.

It is not a livewell problem. Striper have a high oxygen requirement and will not live long without going belly up. No livewell yet designed will keep striper from dying. If you intend to release them do so at boatside.

I have read articles about the striper tubes. They seem to be the only way to keep them alive. I've never been able to keep them from going belly up in my tank. I think the only way is to calm them down with very cold water(like ewilson stated) or put them on there head(striper or tuna tube) and add mucho 02.

Livewell is a waste of time. If you are
going to eat them, put them on ice immediately. I don't want to eat any
fish that has floated around dead in a livewell for several hours.
Good luck
MO

Probably the only time I would use the tubes would be for tourneys and/or to keep fish until I can buy some ice. I've wasted money on ice before when I got skunked on the lake. They also might be good for reviving fish that are exhausted because when fish are surfacing you don't want to waste time reviving fish. Just a thought.

ewilson is right, I caught a nice sized striper in dead winter (early January) last year and put it in my ice-chest filled up with lake water with water temp. in the low 40's. Left fish in there overnight, not worrying if it died because it was in such cold water. Next morning, a very fresh and frisky striper still ready to give me hell when I tried to put my thumb in it's mouth!!! I did not have any oxygenation in that ice-chest, just COLD lake water.