Livewell question

OK, so I have seen it time and time again where big boat livewells hardly have any water in them, in some cases barely enough for the fish to be covered while laying on their side. Is this normal? I was watching tv today and first Jimmy Houston was putting his fish in and they were quickly going on to their sides because there was hardly water in there and the I watched Scott Martin and he had the same thing going on. I paused the tv and snapped a pic (see below). Is that how all live wells are or do you have the ability to raise and lower the level depending on your needs. Just seemed odd and again, I've seen this a bunch of times! I ask this as a non big boat owner, but hopefully soon to be one if things work out like expected very very soon. Just wondering
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In that picture it looks like there is plenty of water, there just may be an issue with the fishes swim bladder which would cause them to stay on their side rather than up right.

All the boats I've been in there has never been a problem, maybe a bad pump too. Good luck searching Rog

I always notice this too. No matter what show it is, when they open the livewell it appears to be a 12 inch x 12 inch box stuffed with bass. I never understood how they all fit.

My live well is 32 gallons that has a divider in the middle. The water fills right up to the top where there is an over flow valve. Just picture a 32 gallon fish tank with a divider in the middle.

It's for television. Much harder to film the fish in a live-well when it's full.

I get what you're all saying, but I've been on boats where the water was kinda low and thought "OMG is he gonna add some water or what?" and on some halfway up and then I've been on them when they are up to the top. I guess each boat is different?

Bass boats have timers built in to the livewell system. Livewells have "overfill" drains so that when the pumps run, circulating in fresh water, they will drain off excess to the bilge system before shutting down. The problem arises when guys switch to the "recirculate" function. This shuts off the influx of new water and just recirculates existing water. With splash over and other variables the water level in livewells can decrease.

I hate splash over

All live-wells are not created equal! Rich L. is correct! Sometimes we may forget to pump water in or the boat could have just come off plane and some water needs to be pumped in. I sometimes don't even turn my live-well on until I catch a fish. If your a non-boater in someone else's boat its up to you to keep the boater honest and its well within your right to ask about the live-well.

Some really great replies guys, thank you very much! I saw the same thing the other day again during an FLW event. The guy caught a fish, opened up his livewell and dropped the newly caught fish in. There were already fish in there on their sides and looking barely covered with water and when he dropped the new one it, it clearly hit the bottom with a plastic sounding "thud"! It just bugs me seeing that. As always, I'll just try to be sure to keep an eye on that if I am fortunate enough to be in that position soon and also as the "Back of the boat b****" on other people's boats! Thanks again!

My stratos boat has rubber plugs, that I have to install in the very bottom of the two wells every time out on the water.
then water can not get out of them under power.
other wise it will fill to the water line and just get out under power!!