I have seen multiple threads on Pond Boss where it would be very helpful to have certain fish in the pond marked for future identification.

For example, here is a recent thread where a pond owner has Florida LMB and Northern LMB in the same pond, and needs to keep culling some of the Northerns. It would have been hugely beneficial to have the Florida LMB marked in some fashion.

Florida or Native Bass

I am also including Theo's old thread from the archives from way back in 2007. (I don't know how much the advice has changed over the last 15 years?)

Archives - Fish Tagging 101

Can the experts give some good general advice to non-experts:

1.) What are the best current methods for marking fish?

2.) What is the best way for pond owners (without specialized equipment) to handle fish for marking?

3.) What are the risks of marking fish?

4.) What situations would you recommend for marking that your typical pond owner probably did not consider?

I am just going to use the Florida LMB example for starting the discussion. I would prefer more generally applicable answers from any of the experts that contribute to the thread.

If you took delivery of 100 Florida LMB in the 2-3# range, how would you mark them? Would you have them delivered into floating cages so you could mark them after they have had a little time in the pond to de-stress? That fish delivery is pretty expensive, does handling the fish for marking significantly increase the stocking mortality?

I am definitely looking for answers for guys like me - that don't know which questions we should have been asking! Some specific stories (successful or failures) from the pond managers and fish stockers in the forum might be helpful.

Thanks for any contributions to this thread,
FishinRod