Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations tagging article-correction

Bob gave me the go ahead to make this correction for the purchase of tagging equipment. I wanted to clarify the tagging info.

Aquatic Ecosystems sales a tag gun and the colored tags for $100. They are a great company and supporters of Pond Boss if you plan to tag a certain cohort such as adding northern bass to a population this is great way to do it. However the point of the article was tagging individual fish. To do so you need to use numbered tags. The floy tag system has a covering over the actual tag. We have bass tagged 5 years back that with a thumb rub can clear algae and read. They are quality tags.

Also Nate mentioned to me he is not sure about the $80 tagging kit mentioned. He does not sell this.

We have the numbered tags cheaper than anyone we invested in a large inventory. I love it so not really a profit item for us just like it when pondowners tag their fish. The gun is normally $50 but I drop price for any PB subscriber to $40. The numbered tags are $70/100 and although not listed on the web the colored tags are $5/100. Please call the office if you wish to get this discount we have no way of doing it on our website.
I do not want to solicit our business and not the intent of the article. The tutorial in the article showing the use of the tag gun is at the top of this page. http://lakework.com/cart/index.php?p=catalog&parent=7&pg=1

We also have a pond kit that includes the tagging gun and tags as well as a high quality scale, measuring board, clip board, thermometer, secchi disk, and data sheets we designed. We are proud of this kit and think it is what most pondowners need to track fish growth. The price is about half of what it would be if individual products bought elsewhere separately.

I hope you enjoyed the article and more folks start tracking their fish movement and growth.

Greg:

I was wondering if the prices quoted in the article were comparing apples to apples. From buying numbered tags (and kit) from you, and price shopping, I had a gut feeling that the other tags/tagging kits were not using numbered tags.

I hope that there is clarification in the next issue.

Thanks Scott, just letting folks know so they can start tagging I hope. It is one way for the pondowner to be more of a biologist, tag and run Wr.

Do these guns work for Bluegill, Crappie, and Catfish?

What would be the smallest fish you should try to tag?

The tags will work for all fish species. I don't know the smallest size you can tag - I'll let someone with more experience answer that one.

Yes many species. I would not tag a bluegil less than 6 inches or a bass less than 8 inches. That shoull give you some frame of refrence to go by.

What's the expected mort rate on tagging let's say lmb over 8"?

100%. Nothing lives forever.

I've only tagged 3 in my pond and I see them swimming around, two were tagged last year, one this year. I DO like the numbered tags for my use, although for a larger operation I can see where they would get expensive quick.

Oops. JWHAP and I tagged a 5 inch BG for practice during our last trip.

For anyone on the fence about tagging guns they are very easy to use. I am planning on tagging any larger bass that I catch to keep track of growth. We keep our tagging gun and tags (thank you Nate and Greg Grimes) in our tackle bag. I forgot to tag the LMB that we caught last trip because, well just because I got too excited about catching the bass.

POnd Frog the mort is not higher. When done properly the fish is held up about 15 seconds longer than just a catch and realese and weight/length measurement. If you plan to track weights and lengths I do not understand why not tag the one going back.

At $.70 each Scott I think this is some of the best money you can spend to manage your pond. SO you tag 30 bass that is $21 worth of some possible awesome data.

I'll do some bragging for Greg

The cost of this tagging kit

http://lakework.com/cart/index.php?p=product&id=29&parent=7

is BY FAR the least expensive you will find on the net. Aquaticeco ( big fan of theirs ) offers the gun for $93.00 and tags 1-100 for an additional $129.00. Other sites I've found run into the $300.00's for similar kits.

I will be purchasing mine this weekend and can't wait to tag that first YP.

The tutorial and video really helped my hesitation in trying to tag.. I'm ready to give it a try.

Greg:

I wasn't even considering 100 tags a large scale. 5x that and now you're getting close. I tagged 3 more LMB in the pond, and I'll toss a tag in every one that I catch that's over 12" long. I also tagged that last big CC that I caught as well. I have an excel spreadsheet on the computer that I can keep track of them, and add the data if any are re-caught.

The large CC that was caught last April should be still swimming around, but it hasn't been seen since I caught it.

Scott I hear you we don't even have data sets that big, I wish we did. Keep up the good work.

Also not really the main point but mentioned is if you catch fish knowing you have tagged many just points to a larger populaiton- good sign in other words.

Attica Farmer thank you...$120 vs. $300.