Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Tagging Young Fish

Looking for advice from the experts here on Pond Boss Forums. I am looking to add some F1's this year into my 2.5 acre pond located in Iowa. I currently have northern strain LMB but would like to improve some genetics and hopefully get lucky growing a few lunkers.

My question revolves around being about to identify the F1's. I would like to avoid calling the F1's for several years if possible. Any thoughts on tagging smaller fish? Is this possible or how small is to small for tagging? Since I will be stocking the F1's at the same time, I was thinking of using a colored tag with the numbered end removed.
This would allow me to identify the fish and keep the tag size relatively small. Any other suggestions or ideas around being able to identify these F1's in the coming years? thank you all in advance!