Steelhead Tag

[NCL]

Yesterday while I was fishing I noticed a movement in my peripheral vision, when I looked down I saw a fish swimming about over my boot tops. I noticed white marks from the top of the head all along the back to the dorsal fin and on the tail similar to a spawned out "sore" salmon. This fish swam about 5 or 6 feet down stream turned and came back by me, that is when I noticed the red stripe on the side and the red gill plates, definetly a steelhead. I then noticed about 2 inches behind the dorsal fin a blue green plastic tag. I also noticed the adipose fin was gone so it was an obvious hatchery fish. My question is do the hatcheries tag the fish?

[Dustin Revel]

i imagine some hatcheries tag fish. most tags are the result of trapping adult fish at weirs on their way up river. some tags are worth money, some are not

[huntindog]

it was likely tagged as an adult as part of a mark/recapture study. it may have been tagged at a hatchery or after being caught in a weir.

[bubzilla]

I have caught several fish tagged in the manner you describe on the Trinity.

[Tim P]

I've seen tags in both wild and hatchery fish from the T.

The one that I returned (10 bux reward, woot!) was a hatchery fish tagged at WC. The wild fish that I saw w/ a tag wasn't my fish, so I don't know where it was tagged.

Seems unlikely that they would be tagged at the hatchery, but who knows.

tim

[shawn kempkes]

They tag the fish as they go thru the weir at willow creek. I caught several when I lived there. Some times they tag them at junction city also.

[NCL]

Thanks. One of the reasons I asked the question was because this fish looked like a down streamer from the condition and I would have thought the hatchery would have removed the tag. Regardless it was a very neat thing to see and it was a good sized fish.

[shawn kempkes]

Thanks. One of the reasons I asked the question was because this fish looked like a down streamer from the condition and I would have thought the hatchery would have removed the tag. Regardless it was a very neat thing to see and it was a good sized fish.

How do you know it spawned at the hatchery and not with some other fish on a red?

[NCL]

I don't know and that is why I said based on the condition, at some point in my fishing experiences I had heard that fish tend to get more banged up in the cement raceways of a hatchery, thus the conclusion that it may have been a hatchery fish. I am certainly not a fish biologist and the amount of infection or whatever the cause of the large white spots could have come from the open river it just seemed more logical it occurred in a more confined area.