Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fin Clippin

well its almost time to fish my newly stocked pond. stocked 2000 bg/res 150 lmb in 2006. all florida bass was supplied by state but somewhere i read you could add some f-1's and they would breed together. so in late nov.06 i added 8 1.5-3 lb tiger bass not sure of sex, but i would like to know best way to clip tail fins of the tigers when they are recaught this year. so i can tell if they spawn any f-1's in future spawings.

I spared no expense and bought a $3.99 single hole paper punch at Staples. As the years go by I will punch a different fin. It works too. Last week I caught a blonde female BG and punched a hole in her fin. How do I know she was a blonde? I caught her again 15 minutes later. The only 8" female in the pond with a hole in a fin.

Funny.

I clip the lower lobe of the caudal fin with scissors one year, then the upper lobe the next, then clip a dorsal spine the year after that. That way I can tell which year the fish were captured.

The tail always grows back just fine, but the repaired area has little wavy lines for ID.

You can also clip pelvic fins and they grow back wavy. Toenail clippers also work.

thks For the info.

JE Craig......those BG you have there seem mighty hungry

My dad and I have clipped the upper and lower lobe of the caudal fin just like Bruce, and it indeed works well. (Except, unlike Bruce, I call it a tail fin and had to look-up caudal fin). For us, however, it is not to distinguish fish of a different year class, but to distinguish fish the same age, placed in the pond at the same time, from different suppliers. It is interesting to monitor the growth of fish from one supplier/hatchery against those of another. Both this method and the hole-punch method were discussed at the convention in one of the breakout sessions, and it seems both work very well.