Green Tag DWR Chinook

[winxp_man]

Is there any numbers or writing on those tags?

You would think they would want to know where and when that salmon was caught.

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In the fall I got a 7# Steelhead about 50 years ago drifting night crawlers from our boat with my dad down by Hwy 80 / Cal Expo on the Lower American River.

It had a bright orange tubular tag on it with writing on it. I think I mailed it into the CA D of F & G.

I told them where and when I caught it.

They sent me a letter and told me that it was weighed, measured and tagged up on the Sacramento River about a month before.

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Bill there is a serial number of some sort on the tag and a phone number to call if found. Which is the number I called like I stated 3 times, and even left 2 messages. Not sure what is going on but it would seem that they might not be so interested in them if they are not calling back. I mean crap one day out of a working week someone should find the messages and call the person back.

What ever though. I will maybe mail them in too but then again don't know where to.

[matt johnson]

More than likely the tagged fish was a spring run Chinook.

From the California Hatchery Review Project Appendix VIII Feather River Hatchery Spring Chinook Program Report:

"The FRH fish ladder is opened in May and June to collect phenotypic spring run Chinook salmon
for broodstock. Each fish trapped is tagged with two sequentially numbered colored external
Hallprint dart tags placed under the dorsal fin (or other tag deemed appropriate by DWR and
CDFG). The same color tag is used for each trapping period. The number of recaptured fish and
tag numbers for any mortality are recorded. A tissue sample is collected and preserved from each
fish that is trapped and tagged. All tagged spring-run Chinook are immediately released back to
the Feather River in the vicinity of the FRH. Poor water quality, the inability to chemically treat
adults (due to discharge limitations), and the lack of adequate adult holding facilities requires that
spring Chinook be allowed to mature in the Feather River rather than in the hatchery.
Approximately 30% of tagged fish that were returned to the river during the spring Chinook
trapping period are often unaccounted for by carcass surveys in the fall, angler reports, and
hatchery returns."

Matt

[Randy Lee]

Exhale..........Thank you Matt. Great clarification.
Randy

[DAVID95670]

i tossed it out. called left a message left the number left my number dont care wont collect another kinda like the steelhead cards why bother

in my three years so far in califronia i have not reported 63 caught steelhead most were released


Don't tread on me! Big Government doesn't need to know and I bet they just burn the cards anyway

and if they do use them send them in blank so that they spend more money on steelhead programs since there are no fish being caught

[Nick B]

Gentleman,

I first have to say that I don’t know which project your tagged salmon came from (the only DWR tagging I know of uses unmarked acoustic tags), but I'll bet that Matt is right about this. I would like to provide some clarifying information for you all:

In order to generate sufficient returns on tagging studies such as this, hundreds, if not thousands, of fish need to be tagged. Most are tagged as smolts (~6” long), and are thus not capable of carrying a heavy tag with all of the project information listed on it. In addition, each agency usually has one ‘tagging coordinator,’ who can receive 100’s of tags from a across the state; to compound the issue, a number of these tags are mistakenly reported to the wrong person or even agency (DWR vs CDFW vs USFWS). As a result, even if the biologist is in the office when you call (remember, their job is to study fish, which involves time out with the fish), they might not know what the tag is from without some extensive searching. This is just a pretty good example of the need to walk in someone’ shoes before rendering judgment; most of these biologists are working incredibly long, hard hours to accomplish their jobs.

Most fisheries biologists that I know are genuinely concerned with the resource, and many are fisherman themselves. We should be natural allies (we all want more fish), so please be less confrontational about this. A number of these people take significant pay cuts to remain in government service, a sacrifice many of them make because they truly believe that they are doing the right thing.
With the drought and the increased demand on our water infrastructure, information on salmon movement and survival (which is measured by tag returns) is increasingly valuable. I encourage anyone who catches a tagged fish to report it; hopefully the tagging coordinator will be able let you know where the fish came from, but please try to be understanding about his/her limitations. Regardless, if the fisheries managers are getting bad data, they will not be able to make the best management decisions, which directly impacts you and I's fishin.

I checked with a friend of mine who is a DWR fisheries biologist, and he did not know where the tag was from. I’ll keep an ear open for any other tagging studies in the area.

Finally, I believe most of DWR’s research is funded by water contractors, not tax payers…. This is largely semantics, but I feel like it is important to know where the money comes from.

[TaylerW]

in regards to steelhead report cards, i work for the section of DFW that does all the work with them. they really do matter, and please take them seriously. data off various report cards get used in multiple studies ect. fill em out, and send em in!

[JasonB]

Thanks Nick,
Your post was nicely put, and does help to clarify a few things. Always easier to be critical than it is to understand something.

@Tayler

I've always wondered about the data on those report cards. In part, I've wondered how much weight that data might cary given that the accuracy can't be very good. I do report mine online, and though I sometimes forget a day here and there I seem to have no trouble keeping accurate counts on ALL those fish I catch lol. I do wonder how many other folks out there choose not to keep and report accurate information, or think that somehow reporting false information will help their cause? Care to expand a bit on the work you do with them? I'm always curious to learn a thing or two...
JB

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I got a reply from biologist Dennis Lee

Bill,

The CDFW and DWR collect phenotypic spring Chinook salmon at the Feather River Hatchery in the spring months and tag the fish with an external identifying tag. The fish are released back to the river. This helps identify spring Chinook salmon and separate them from the fall Chinook when both runs of fish are trapped for artificial spawning in the fall.

Dennis

[SeanO]

Thanks for that, Bill.

Makes sense as the springers and fall-runs are spawned as different breeds of fish there.

Best,

I got a reply from biologist Dennis Lee

Bill,

The CDFW and DWR collect phenotypic spring Chinook salmon at the Feather River Hatchery in the spring months and tag the fish with an external identifying tag. The fish are released back to the river. This helps identify spring Chinook salmon and separate them from the fall Chinook when both runs of fish are trapped for artificial spawning in the fall.

Dennis

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Dennis Lee is a retired CA DF&W biologist. I think he still does some consulting. He is writing a book " Half-pounders". He is a really top tier of fine Steelhead flies plus a Spey wacko too. Dennis fishes with one of my mentors, Al Perryman.

Matt Johnson use to work for Kiene's and now works for the CA DF&W up near Red Bluff, CA.

Nick Buckmaster use to work at Kiene's and now works for the CA DF&W in Bishop, CA.


All three of these guys are good fly fishers and fine guys.


*thanks guys for posting........

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