tagged fish

[ds541]

a co-worker was fishing ph a few days ago and caught a fish with a tag in it's lip the fish was from canada(at least thats what the passport said:lol:)
the question is how or where do you go to find info on this fish the tag has a number cant find a site to look up info.
thanks

[Mike Thomas]

You can report any tagged fish on the MDNR tagged fish reporting webpage, even fish from Ontario, or New York. You'll get a letter back in a week or two with details on the fish that you caught. Here's the MDNR tagged fish webpage address.....

http://www.michigandnr.com/taggedfish/

[MSUICEMAN]

Mike, I caught several tagged fish a couple years ago and sent in via online and never got anything returned... maybe it didn't go through? I'll have to look through my stuff as i may still have the tags and info sitting around.

[sadworld]

years ago i brought in a salmon from oscoda and the dnr cut a piece out of its head and in return they said i would get info in the mail about the fish. i never heard a thing. i was kinda looking forward to it....

[Mike Thomas]

We rarely hear about any problems with the web-based tag reporting, but I suppose it could happen. The data could get lost in cyberspace, or the tag letter could get lost in the USPostOfficeland. Anyways, if you still have the tags, and for anyone who would rather use the phone than the web-page reporting system, you can call the information in at 586-465-4771, the Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station. Thanks for reporting any tagged fish you catch, the data are very useful in documenting both fish movements and exploitation.
- Mike.

[MPT]

Mike, Wouldn't it be more advantageous to the research to write the info from the tag down, measure the fish and release the fish with the tag still in it? What are the reasons not to do it that way?

[Mike Thomas]

We've found that people can sometimes have a hard time reading the tag number while the tag is on the fish, we've also had them record our zip code, which is also on the tag, we've had them misread the tag number or only record 5 of the 6 digits...if the angler has retained the tag, we can call them and ask them to re-read the tag and then get the correct information.

For walleye, it is pretty unlikely that a tagged fish would be caught, and released to be caught again...very few legal size walleye are ever released. For smallmouth bass, we put the tag on the upper jaw for fish over about 15" and it overlaps quite a bit and some of the numbers are not readable unless the tag is removed anyways.

For sturgeon, they are long lived and harvest is low, so we do have multiple tag recaptures reported for the same fish from time to time. The tags are large and the numbers are big and easy to read, so it's pretty easy for an angler to report the tag number from a released fish.