jbrockey,

also consider the source of the information. I'll bet that data was collected on a large lake with tournament bass fishermen. what also needs to be considered is how much time the fish spent in the livewell, and what time of year the testing was done. I'll be willing to bet that most bass caught in small lakes and ponds that are released immediately survive much better.

speaking of holding fish in a live well, remember to circulate the water a great deal during summer months, adding some ice on extremely hot days is also a good idea but make sure that the ice does not melt directly into the water. the chlorine in tap water is enough to kill fish. Its ok to cool fish down as long as its done slowly and make sure that the live well is not 10 � F cooler than the lake water or you can temperature shock any new bass you catch. Another simple thing you can do is add a little salt to the water. Use non-ionized salt, about 1/2 of a normal Morton container for a standard live well should be enough. When fresh water fish are captured they get stressed. they begin to urinate a great deal, this urination reduces the amount of salt in the fish. the technical term is osmoregulation. "Osmoregulation involves a number of physiological processes that together maintain the proper internal salt-water balance in fishes." (from Fish Physiology by Robert Reinert)

Adding some salt to the water helps the fish maintain this necessary salt balance and can help the fish withstand higher ammonia levels. you wont find a fish hauling truck in this country that does not have salt in its tanks. keep than in mind the next time you have to keep fish in a tank, it will help