I�ve moved a lot of fish with a simple 120 quart cooler and 12-volt live-well pump. I�ve moved as many as 30 frail and sensitive 12-inch trout to 25 very robust and self-confident 10-14 inch catfish with this setup. I�ve moved quite a few other fish with this setup also.
I replaced the drain coupling in a 120 quart cooler with a 12-volt live-well pump. The output of the pump is returned to the cooler through a hose in the top of the cooler. This year I�m going to replace the pump with a bubbler stone to get a little more oxygen into the water. But the pump setup has been pretty successful for me. The pump plugs into the cigarette lighter socket in my truck.
The only problem I�ve had was when the pump died last fall when transporting trout. When it did, I stopped at a convenience store and bought a box of salt and 20 lbs. of ice. I put a couple of handfuls of salt into the water and about five pounds of ice. Then, every ten minutes or so, I�d pull over and add a few more pounds of ice into the water. It took me an hour to get home with twenty-five rainbow and golden trout that were 10-14 inches. I didn�t have a single fatality that I was aware of.
I�ve also borrowed a box from a friend that is about 3x3x3 feet. I don�t know where it he got it, or how it was made. It is fiberglass, with a hinged top. It looks kind of like a top loading washing machine without an agitator. The non-hinged part of the top has a propeller in a hardware cloth cage that slaps the water to add oxygen to the water. I�ve hauled as many as 50 trout for more than an hour with it. I never had any fatalities.
Lastly, I've bought a lot of fish that were packaged by the hatchery. This eliminates the need for any kind of hauling system.
