Pond Boss Forums INTRO Common Pond Q&A (archives) Fish Tagging 101

A year ago the lovely Mrs. Gallus gave me a fish tagging gun and 100 numbered tags she got from Greg Grimes. It's a slick little outfit. The only trouble is, I've been too chicken, er, hearted to use it the way you're supposed to. But now I've got 5 nice RES I've been fattening up in my PBR for 9 months that I'm going to repatriate into the pond, and if I catch them in the future I want to know it and be able to track future growth. I'm still chickenhearted and reasonably so, I think - would you want to kill a 10" pellet trained Redear?

I talked with Greg about this briefly at the PB Conference, and he said it's a common worry of (amateur) PMs. We're afraid to poke a hole in our beloved finned friends and stick a tag in.

So let's clear the stench of fear from our shorelines and learn how to tag with no regrets, only information to be gained.

Here's what I know from previous research: The preferred area for tagging is high on the back, just below the dorsal fin. Remove a scale to make an insertion point ( ). Inject the base of the tag into the muscle on the fish's back ( ). Periodically (I'd say before every fish) clean off the tagging tip with rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol to disinfect it.

FYI, numbered tags are fairly expensive, but simple colored tags used with the same equipment are reasonably priced and would be sufficient for tasks like tracking stockers from a particular year class or different source.

So, Pros and experienced taggers, where is my info off and what advice or clarifications can you give?

Theo, there's an art to using these guns. I'm assuming you have one with a needle and "trigger" that puts in the t-bar tags like the stores use for garments.

The reason we use the location you indicated is that there are some bones that radiate down from the dorsal fin rays into the fish. You insert the needle past those bones, then squeeze the trigger/handle to insert the tag, but be extra careful to not let the needle move out of location. When you squeeze the trigger/handle, the needles wants to move out of the fish and back toward you. You've got to keep the needle in place so the t-bar locks behind those small bones. Finally, rotate the tagging gun 45 degrees, and withdraw it from the fish. Give the tag a little tug -- it should hold. If it slips outward toward the skin, then take it out, and start over.

Theo now you know why I told Mrs. to also give you the toenail clippers (or hole punch).

Easy to clip a fin or tail . You can change the sequence and location and mark a few fish. Use the tag gun though as it will make them easier to spot later.

Theo,

I've used the type Doc Dave describes but only on bass. Holding the gun with one hand and the fish with another sometimes ain't that easy. A helper would be a good thing for the extra pair of hands.

Oh, and BTW.... the taggin guns..

THEY DO NOT FLOAT !

Good Luck

Dan

I would consider going out and catching a nice 9 inch bluegill that you'd like to monitor, assess his length and weight, then practice on him.

Dr. Dave:

That is exactly the setup I have. Thanks for the info.

Eric:

Year classes I think I would just fin or tail clip. But I have 9 months of growth data and pictures on the top 4 PBR Redears, and can see tracking these guys individually in the future. The biggest one has never even finned me or jumped out of my hands while holding him.

Dan:

These guys will get tagged (if I don't get too scared ) in the basement. Definitely with a helper.

Bruce:

Maybe a 6" BG for practice - I have 6" BG to burn like you have 9" ones. The tagging gun goes with me to the pond tonight.

Theo on small tagging projects you clip them differently so you can id each one. One gets a hole in the upper end of tail , one a hole in the bottom of the tail , one gets a fin clipped , another gets the corner of the tail cut off , etc. But the tag gun is better for long term id and easy to see. So use the gun.

Yep. One thing I want to see is if the feedtrained RES staying on pellets in the pond. A colored tag has got to help identifying a Redear eating better than a clipped fin.

theo, good luck on the tagging and getting RES to stay on feed.

my RES, despite being raised in fed tanks and ponds at the fish farm, snicker incredulously at the notion of stooping to the level of my BG and eating synthetically fabricated balls of protein and gluten.

i can see them lurking deep beneath the frenzied school of feeding BG just about every evening, basically ignoring the whole event.

Ain't that the truth.

I doubt the RES will continue to eat pellets in the pond. My pond RES are always in better condition than my BG; they must have tons of natural feed wrt their population numbers.

I do hope pellet trained RES will stay on feed in pond #2, if stocked before the food chain fully develops.
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Tagging trial tonight with a 5.5" BG seemed successful; next, on to the Redears.

My trout club was considering tagging some of the trout we planted to check for holdover, but our local biologist said these tags would only last about a year. Is this really the case?

Someday I hope to buy the micro tags that are injected into the heads of fish and can later be scanned. Now that would be the ticket! I see aquatic eco sytems sells them.

Cecil - there is some amount of tagging loss with these t-bar tags. It's hard to generalize, but with experienced taggers, no more than 5%? In the past, the Floy tags did have a problem with the glue, allowing the plastic, numbered tubing to slip off the t-bar, sometimes in a year or two. They have greatly improved their product, and this is no longer such a concern. If you really want to be sure you can recognize a fish long term, one way is to thread a stainless steel wire though the back of the fish behind the dorsal fin (using a canula) and attach a small, plastic dangler tag to the wire. The only way those get lost is by tearing out, which can happen. However, we have those tags turned in after 20 years of a fish being in the wild. Maybe when I get back to the office, I can find a few images, and have Ewest post them for me.

Maybe he was refering to floy tags or just didn't want us to do it.

How about the metal tags that are crimped on to gill covers? Seems like they would last a while?

Theo, update how did it go? What it only took you a year to build up enough courage to tag one? Dave described it perfectly. However if someone just read that they would think it difficult. It really is quite easy on bass. I can weigh, measure,tag in less than 23 secs ( well I made that up but pretty simple). remember to give it a little tuck this sets it in place and/or lets you know it did not get set right, rare but that does happen sometimes.

Cecil, we just shocked a lake couple weeks ago and got several bass we had tagged. They were covered in algae even ones that were not quite a yr old. however even the three year old tags were easy to read with a scrap of the tumbnail. we cleaned them with up and put them back in. I have always set max 4 yrs worth of reading. However after getting 3 that we coudl easily read out of 6 bass tagged three years ago I'm encouraged they may last longer.

Funny just had a lady call from NY wanting gun and 500 tags for Trout event. Said she could not find them anywhere else, weird how people find my little website.

Cecil - those metal strap tags on the opercles do work as well. I don't have much experience with them, but the few I have seen seem to have quite a bit of redness/soreness compared to a few of the other tags. However, that should not be enough to keep you from trying them.

AOK on the practice BG, Greg. The equipment is slick, I just needed to 1) do a less precious fish first and 2) think about bone structure info learned from fillet-aftermath. I even gave a little tug; the tag stayed in fine.

If the schedule permits, the Redears get body piercing tomorrow.

Like the hen told the codfish, it pays to advertise.

Mission Accomplished

That fish looks pissed.

Geez, couldya have been any rougher? Looks like you obviously didn't want that fish to live. Good job killing that fish.

......actually I can't see an image.

I do believe that's the only vulnerable spot on a redear. Remember that when they attack.
9 1/2 and still a baby.

Fish tag

The above is just a silly distraction.

Thank Heaven for that. If you could only see my hands, or what's left of them, and the number of times I got spined yesterday...

Theo, that probably works fine but it is much farther forward (down) into the meat than we put them on bass. Usually in meat just below fin.

Theo - we usually put them near the end of the soft dorsal fin (i.e., further back).

Nature lessons we should have learned:

Don't stir a hornet's nest.

Don't pull a tiger's tail.

Don't wake a sleeping bear.

Don't tag RES.

You do of course realize Theo that now that he is "it" he is gonna have to "tag" you back.

Here are some tagging pics courtesy of Dave Willis.

MID TERM EXAM

17 days after releasing the 6 tagged PBR RES back into my pond, I observed two of them in shallow water spawning beds (see RES on VERY SHALLOW Nests ). One (female?) was "just visiting", but the largest (male) of the PBR Redears had staked himself a claim and remains on the bed to date.


Friday night I couldn't help myself, so I caught him on a circle-hooked worm and got his ID. It is indeed my good friend, Ole' Number Yellow 032, from the PBR in my basement.


The tag entry point looks a little inflamed, but considering he's been in spawning activity, which I think would aggravate the floy tag as much as it does fins, perhaps not too bad.


Yesterday he was back on the nest, but would move to the deep side of it every time I walked by. So I guess he's learned a little caution from being caught and released.

Fun - yes it is. Nice work. Both you and Mr. RES have an A at mid-term.

Theo == yes, those darn tags keep wiggling and moving, and it's hard to get healed. However, I would especially them to get to a healthy "green" color soon. I don't know if they occasionally catch them or snag them on something, but the sore spot is something that you're going to see from time to time. Healthy fish in a healthy environment can handle that stressor.

Good job, Theo! That's got to be rewarding to catch the fruits of your labor. Nice to see that the RES transitioned well from the basement to the pond. I wouldn't have fared as well after being locked in your basement.

I had a similar feeling about a week ago...I caught one of the LMB we fin-clipped. We clipped the tops of the caudal fin for LMB from one hatchery, and the bottoms of LMB from another hatchery, and no clippings on the LMB from a third hatchery. Very interesting to see the numbers and sizes for the different clippings. Keep us posted on the RES transition!

Theo I think if clipped a little farther back and not so far down in the meat it will heal even quicker. If you do not kill your first experment ya done goodmy friend. Cool how you can see the tag in the water, huh?

Update last week we shocked a bass #089. I forget about it b/c it had been since 2002 that we shocked his lake. he said yep never did catch that bass you tagged. I said well he might just be dead by now. When weighing the biggest one, Matt said looky there. It was covered in slime but cleand up to read #089. It was in 2002 16 inches and now 23 inches and shade under 8 lbs. Once again proof the tags will last longer thatn folks think. Funny thing is this lake gets alot of fishing pressure and they have not once caught this fish in a 5 acre pond. He was shocked in the same place we caught him back in 2002, amazing really.

Eureka! (No, this is not Elbonian for "I find your body odor highly offensive.")

While feeding at the pond last night I saw one of my feed trained, floy-tagged RES take 5 or 6 pellets. I doubt I would have noticed he wasn't a BG, were it not for the bright yellow tag. I am definitely going to tag the other feed trained RES in my PBR when they are released!

OK I have been told repeatedly that RES do not take fish food. I think your fed trained RES might be worth as much as some reject Condello BG. I will come shock some out on PB shock tour I will make in 2012.

RES can be feed trained just not as easy as BG. Theo has the studies I sent him which so prove and his doing it is further proof.

Think about this. Pellets are much closer in texture to what a RES normally eats than to what a BG eats. With pharyngeal crushers a RES will have no problem crunching pellets.

I think they would snag sinking pellets even more.

Sinkers first, then floaters.

Bruce and I need to write the article on them.

Greg, it's a deal. I expect to have some very large RES that I have been unable to catch by 2012.

Theo
I was thinking of getting tagging equipment and came across this thread. Can you give an update on these tagged RES. How are the tags holding up and are they still taking pellets?

blair:

Unfortunately, no results to add. I have not seen any of the tagged RES since 2007. Haven't caught any and did not see them feeding on pellets last year. I had three supercooling weather events in Feb and March of 2008 that took a toll on my RES, then had a Winterkill this last Winter that hit both bigger BG and RES, so they may be dead now.

I am crying tears for our fallen RES!

On those tags, can you write there current size and date?

If you're talking floy tags, no. They are only about 1/8" x 1/2" of plastic.