i started a tagging program on my 4 acre pond this year. I have tagged 9 fish so far. Today I caught #3 for the second time today! It was cool, but since it has only been 2 weeks since it was tagged, I don't guess the data will mean much, other than it is an aggressive little bugger. Or stupid.
Anyone else tagging fish? Any data I should collect other than date, length, and weight ?
Update on the tagged fish after charting was completed. The fish is 8 inches long, and gained just over 1 oz between 3/15 and 3/23. It is still underweight, so that may explain the eagerness to bite. Hopefully this gain will continue. CMM
I have been tagging for quite awhile now. LOVE IT! There is so much information to gain and it's fun to do.
I documented one BCP (can't remember the number, lab book is at the cabin). 1 acre pond. Caught 3 times in one week. He/she was caught less than 12 hrs later after being held in a live well over night. This BCP sure had a short memory and a big stomach
Other data that can be useful is...Time of day, area on pond caught, estimated depth of strike, cover it was using, bait/lure used...about anything you think might educate you on fish habits and preferences, or if a "skinnier" one like this #3 is having to roam open water...
One of the Pond Boss Forum members and advertisers 'Aquatic Environmental Services' operated by Greg Grimes sells a fish tagging kit. Greg is an expert at growing trophy bass. http://lakework.com/cart/index.php?p=catalog&parent=7&pg=1
I don't want to take away from the livelihood of those who manage ponds and sell good products for taking care of fish. I did wonder at the $62 price tag for the gun.
Saw this on ebay and it looked like it might just work. Not sure how much power it would take to inject the tag through the fin but probably if it can tag a sweater or pair a jeans it might work?
I purchased from Greg Grimes a tagging kit and fully satisfied with the product.
For me, I looked at the big picture of what my ending goal which is: 1. Tag fish in my 1-7/8 acre pond. 2. Collect data for the best pond management possible (With Pond Boss as my resource). 3. Pass along this information and skills to my 3 upcoming children. 4. Produce the best results possible within the pond for the childrens enjoyment. 5. Get old and cherish the memories with my children and grand kids.
So, with that in mind, I in vision the end justifying the means, I want a quality product and not fail me if my 9,10, 17 year old catches the biggest LMB he/she has ever seen.
I cannot imagine having the record LMB ever brought to surface from Coupes pond in the boat, kids eyes bout to pop out of their heads, short of breath from excitement, get weight, get length, grab tagging gun, then snap.....crack....it's broke.......
Good point Coupe! After you tagged that record LMB how would that tag help you in the future? I understand a bit about tagging each stocking generation before they go in the pond but I wasn't sure about tagging after a previously untagged fish is caught? Is there a color system that gives some info about fish that are caught?
I wonder about the reliability question you raise? I wonder how many 'cycles' a fish tagger is rated for? I wonder how many times a clothing store 'cycles' their clothing tagger in a given day or week? The tags used for fish and clothes are probably very different makeup, quality, durability as well
You can get different colors as well as different numbering sequences, 300 series, 400 series, etc.
I can only speak for me on what the information will bring with catching a fish already stocked but not tagged. I will use the data as place caught, growth in relation to relative weight like if that fish gets a certain size and starts losing weight, maybe age? Forage for that size fish? Health? or the opposite, how well he is doing, above relative weight, etc. Also, we can keep track of how many times he/she has been caught, what time of year, etc.
What I did not say is my CNBG are at 16 oz now, 4-1/2 years old on the original stock. My plans are to start tagging and keeping data on them as well. My goal is get these 1,000 CNBG over 2 lbs before the end of their life span so I will use the data of multiple CNBG and adjust my feeding accordingly. Can you imagine the kids bending the pole with a 2 lb CNBG breaking the surface making their lil reels scream?
If I see a fish, LMB, HSB, CNBG. continuing to drop weight then I may use that data to harvest him/her from the pond. Without the data from tagging I may never know what is past has to offer me or what he/she is telling me from just looking at it once. I can hear the kids telling me dad 303 was caught again and he has gained xx ozs since the last time we pull him in.........I love it....
I also have a spreadsheet for the 4-1/2 years of all fish caught, weight, length, amount harvested, released. That data is plotted on a chart and that plots against the relative weight graph and gives me a picture of the overall condition of those specific fish. I look at it as 1 piece of a puzzle on pond management and with that data I can add more pieces together of that master puzzle.
If I run into pond problems and I call a specialist, then I can present the spreadsheet and say here is all the information I have....like going to a doctor and giving him type food you eat, how much, body activity, daily life, etc. With that, he will be able to give you a more sound advise of what needs to take place moving forward.
Last but not least, I have a hidden love of doing this all the way down to my bones. It's like having on a real expensive dark suit and wetting yourself in public. It gives you a warm feeling but no one notices....lol
Ok, starting my second year of tagging fish. Tagged 24 fish last year and recaught 4 of those last year. Recaught one of those again this year already, plus another one.
#18 seems to stick to the same area, it was tagged on 7/4/15 at 8.5" and 4.05 oz; again on 7/19/15 at 9" and 5.95oz; today 3/26/16 at 12" and 14.03oz! She went from 67% to 102%
#20 was tagged 7/9/15 at 10.5 and 9.75oz and today was 13.5" and 1lb3oz. Her WR dropped from 97.5% to 90.5%.
Overall, my wr averages are up from last year in march by a little when I look at all lm. Maybe they are spawning earlier and are heavier, or maybe culling 175 out of 215 last year helped.
Excited about continuing to manage this pond and see my fish get bigger and healthier.
I am pretty sure Bass Pro sells tagging kits,(I seem to remember seeing them, but then again I can't remember chit anymore. But I am leaning toward fin clipping, I think. Still undecided, when fin clipping, where should it be located? And what tool is used? Fingernail clippers? does one clip off a portion or just a slice where one fin then becomes two fins? and CMM, thank for bringing up this post, hope I am not hijacking, if so, sorry about this. Thanks Tracy
Tracy, I think fin clipping and tagging go together and am very interested in responses to your question. I was pretty happy to catch 2 tagged fish yesterday
Fin clipping is used to determine batches of fish, or a single fish in a pond. Unless you clip a different fin off of a fish, there's no way that I can tell 2 fin clipped fish apart a year later if the fins are clipped in the same place.
I use a scissors and will cut off the adipose fin on catfish, or one of the pelvic fins on spiny fish.
I've heard of a hole punch being used to punch a hole in a fin, or part of another fin "trimmed". But, fins will heal back up, and it's hard to determine quickly if it was trimmed or not. Sometimes the rays in the fin are a bit squiggly where it grew back.
Tagging has it's advantages and disadvantages too. Metal tags on the gill plate, numbered and non-numbered floy tags or PIT tags. Gill plate metal tags, and floy tags can be numbered and you can track individual fish, providing the tag stays in the fish. Anywhere the skin is broken on the fish leads to a possible infection site. PIT tags are expensive, but I think the best way to tag fish. Do I think it's a viable way for a pond owner to tag fish? No, I don't think most pond owners will outlay that kind of money.
Can someone explain a little about tagging for the uninformed? Maybe the kit comes with a bit of instructions, but how does one tag the fish? Does the tag go through a fin and just sorta flops in the water? I assume these are harmless to other fish that might eat the originally tagged fish?
Can someone explain a little about tagging for the uninformed? Maybe the kit comes with a bit of instructions, but how does one tag the fish? Does the tag go through a fin and just sorta flops in the water? I assume these are harmless to other fish that might eat the originally tagged fish?
Here's a numbered tag that's one year old. Sometimes you have to look close to see them after they get covered in algae. This tag was almost the exact same color as the LMB's back, and had to be cleaned before the number could be read.
Question - Do fish have life long specific physical features all unique to a specific individual fish? No other fish ever hatched has this specific something...
Kinda like a finger print we have.
Reason being, is there is quite a bit of stuff out there that can optically scan something and give pretty much a 100% ID all the time.
Look at 3D barcode readers that are in very high speed production lines. All they look for is a pattern.
Pattern is physical, but not dependent on size, but the same pattern.
At the end of the second year of tagging fish. I am not done with the numbers yet, but I did catch "red #20" again -3rd time- last night. She has gone from a 10.5 inch fish in March of 15 to a 15" fish today. Her wr has increased to 100%! I am excited to see that.
A preliminary look at the numbers shows my wr has increased across the board only slightly. Re are still recruiting. Lots of bg in all size classes, a few gsf.
Goals for next year include continuing to cull lm under 95%, place more brush piles, both artificial and natural. Determine if there is a preference for one over the other. Watch for yp ribbons and yoy. Continue Optimal as feed. Enjoy my pond and fishing!
I am sure I would have a pond full of skinny fish if not for the support of this site and Pond Boss magazine. Thanks again.
I have recaught a couple of tagged fish already this year. One was originally tagged in June of 2015 and the tag site looks like a fresh wound with a raw ,red fleshy bump protruding. Is this possibly irritation from spawning? Most of the other tag sites have looked well healed. Anyone else notice anything like this?
I am bringing this thread back up to use it as a place to compare yearly results after finishing my spread sheet data.
2017 logged 109 LM caught, 47 culled, ave WR 89.5 LM <12" caught 59, culled 31; ave WR 86.6% +12-15.5" caught 33, culled 14; ave WR 90.6 16"+ caught 17, culled 2; ave WR 94.9% Tagged 7 new LM and re-caught 8 previously tagged fish. 372 BG caught, 63 were culled- these were 8" or bigger fish.
WR on LM is up overall from 2016 by over 7% I am pleased with these numbers and plan on continuing to cull LM under 95% and larger BG.
Again and again, if it was not for this forum, my fish population would not look like this. Thank you, all who have offered advice or suggestions. Whether that was to me directly, or to others with similar questions.
Forgot to add that the culled bass weighed in at just over 100lbs. I ate the culls over 9", cut off the tails of the smaller ones for an easy meal for grandma bass.
Nice of you to update CMM. Culling those bass should let the remaining ones grow and culling some bigger BG should reduce biomass to allow the remaining fish population room to grow. Sounds like you are on a plan to grow big bass.
So many old threads I have read just cut off at some point leaving the reader to wonder what ever became of the management/project. Always nice when members look up their old threads and update them.
For those new to the forum, I will remind them to use the "Watch List" to keep track of their threads or threads they want to reference at some future date. It can become very hard to relocate an old thread otherwise.
Bill and snrub, I hope my experience can help others, as others have helped me in the past. It also serves as an easy place for my own reference.
Yes, the goal focuses on lm. Healthy, but not necessarily trophy. I have a mix of fish with plenty of lm up to 20", a few over that and lots of bg action in the 8-10" range. just what I want as a fly fisher. Now to keep it that way.
To answer CMM question. I have been tagging for about a year and yes all of the tagged bass I repeatedly catch have red meaty lesion at the insertion point.
To answer CMM question. I have been tagging for about a year and yes all of the tagged bass I repeatedly catch have red meaty lesion at the insertion point.
Is this a real concern. How can the sours be avoided. disinfect the tag or sire before or after inserting the tag?
I've seen what CMM described around old fishing hook wounds too.
The needles in the tag guns are replaceable, so retiring them after multiple tags might be a good idea. I would think the insertion site would get more inflamed with older duller needles.
Mine isn't the worlds sharpest but I did clean it with alcohol a few times after tagging fish. The next fish I tag will have the large tab cut off the end of the plastic tag so they don't collect FA like shown in the picture.
It is inevitable you're going to hit some veins/arteries while inserting tags but you would thing the tag area would scar over. I know the dnr here has moved to freeze tagging for bass and walleye and self piercing tags for sturgeon
Here is one of my tagged fish caught and showing the red sores...
I can see one issue with this tag. looks like a clothes tag and the "FAT" part of it was left on the snag in the FA causing drag and irritation. If you clipped it off so it was just a straight slim tag it would not get caught up in the FA and cause drag on the tag and fish as it swims. Seems like that would help any way.
