LIVEWELL BUDDY
We pulled the boat up to the dock after a successful morning of fishing. Next stop? The fish cleaning station. Next chore, getting the fish from the livewell to the fish cleaning station. Grab the fish? Grab a bucket? Grab the landing net to turn it into a fish-hauling device? No, grab the Livewell Buddy.
Cross a pool noodle with a rubber mesh landing net and the re-sult is a Livewell Buddy. If you float the Buddy in the livewell while you are fishing, it’s just a matter of grabbing the ring at the top and lifting the catch out of the well. If the fish are free swimming, grab the Buddy from wherever it’s stowed and transfer the fish into it.
How many will it hold? Since the bag of the Buddy is made of stretchy thermoplastic rubber, your guess is as good as mine. Let’s put it this way, my last trip to Lake Erie proved it will hold more than will fit in a five gallon bucket—more than I want to tote in one load.
Many fishermen are very competitive, even if it’s just fishing companions. So use the Livewell Buddy as a way to sort your fish from your partners. Just float the Buddy in the livewell and put some inside and others outside. Sort out the crappies from the bluegills, one person’s limit of perch from another’s.
(Livewell Buddy hack for ice fishermen: Cut a hole in the ice the approximate diameter of the Livewell Buddy then float it in the hole. Now, the hole and the Buddy become the livewell to keep your fish healthy and alive while you fish, not dead and frozen in the snow. When it’s time to leave, just lift the Buddy out of the hole and head for the fish cleaning station.)
Available at some retailers or online at www. anglersbest.com