High speed livewell pickup

lakeliving

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Has anyone added a high speed livewell pickup? I frequently have to get up on plane to get between spots and want to ensure my bait is getting a good flow of water vs using an air bubbler.

Curious what others have done.
 
Lakeliving, I have the same problem. The live well pickup pump sits within the aluminum box on the port side pontoon, on my 22ssx. I’ve considered cutting a hole in the bottom of this box and adding some manner of a scoop, but I haven’t gotten around to this one. Please let us know if you find a solution.
 
I have my pump located in the bracket at the rear of the port pontoon. It picks up fine, but my max speed is 27mph.
Don't know about faster.
TT
 
6F8F55F3-4C6A-4055-BC25-482311FFB1F9.jpeg

This is how my livewell pump sits. My thinking is to somehow flood this box when the Benny is planeing. So by cutting a hole in the bottom and attaching a 90 degree 1” electrical conduit fastened directly under the pump should adequately flood this area at high speed??????
 
That’s how mine is Dan. When at speed it creates and air pocket down there. I saw a scoop (in the photo) and thought about mounting on the bottom of the box bracket and connecting to the pump but I might have to swap the pump too
 

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That’s an interesting idea. But be sure the scoop sits below the bottom of the pontoon tube. Kinda like the issue with the Transducer. My transducer was set too high so it would stop working once at speed. Getting it lowered mostly fixed the issue.

Please keep me posted on your progress.
 
Here’s the issue I believe we both have to overcome…

F99D3B13-D474-4D5D-BD19-26ECAC74F204.jpeg

This red arrow is the distance we need to overcome in order to get water at high speed running. On my Benny this measured about 2-1/2”.
 
At what speed does the pump begin to starve?
 
I wonder if moving it as far as possible to the center of the boat on that bracket if that would help make up enough distance.
 
I was searching today for a solution and came across this....
I think I could mount on the livewell pump bracket and switch to a through hull pump. Have one on order and will know soon enough.


 
Keep us updated!
 
At what speed does the pump begin to starve?
Bill, for me it happens once I get on a plane, about 15mph. That lifts the pump out of the water.
 
Dumb question - does the Bennington livewell not have a recirc function? On the bass boat side most guys will fill when stopped and recirc most of the day until they need to either refresh the water or replenish any that has drained out the overflow while running using the manual fill.
 
No recirc on my livewells. Just fresh water in and out the overflow tube
 
This guy does a good job explaining his retrofit. Recirc in my opinion is best because it allows you to control the water temp better - us bass guys typically fill the livewell early in the morning when the water temps are lower, then recirc throughout the day. If you're constantly refilling you could be introducing hot surface water throughout the day and stressing out the fish.

Could be overkill for a pontooner's needs but I think this is a great option albeit more $ and work.

 
The mullet I use for bait love to evacuate their bowl’s immediately upon entering the bait well so the fresh water pickup is vital vs re circ but I see where that makes sense
 
I guess it heavily depends on how long your runs are and how sensitive the mullet are to water quality. Bass are pretty tough but baitfish might need that fresh incoming all the time to keep them feisty. Hope you have a good cast net too just in case!
 
Bass boats have a 2nd pump that does recirculation only.
TT
 
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