Keep your eye out for tagged bass in the Delta

electric · Post by **electric** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:21 am

Hi all, I am a researcher at UC Davis and Iâ€™m working on a 2-year study on largemouth bass in the Delta. Our goals are to learn more about the size of bass population in the Delta, their habitat use, and feeding habits throughout the year. We have over 30 locations throughout the Delta that we electroshock every other month. We tag all bass over 7 inches with a Floy Tag (pictures below)- each has a unique number so that when the fish is re-captured, we can look up where they were originally caught. Since we collect stomach contents from every fish we tag- we can also look up what it has been eating. The tags are pretty small, but are bright yellow with black lettering, and they will always be in the same place: on the left side of the fish, just beneath the dorsal fin where the spiny portion ends.

Please reply to this if you catch a fish with one of these tags- I would really appreciate any information you have! The most important things to know are the tag number, where you caught it, and where you released it, or if you kept it. If you release it- it is a huge help if you leave the tag in the fish since we can use the number of fish that we recapture at each site to estimate population size. And- feel free to spread the word.

Hereâ€™s a list of where weâ€™re electrofishing- probably these bodies of water are where you are most likely find tagged fish: Miner Slough, Steamboat Slough, Sacramento River (slightly upriver from the Isleton boat launch), Beaver Slough, Hog Slough, Sycamore Slough, Little Potato Slough (just south of Tower Park Marina), Whites Slough, Bishop Cut, Disappointment Slough; Fourteen-Mile Slough, Ward Island, Columbia Cut, Mildred Island, Latham Slough, Rhode Island, Rock Slough, Dutch Slough, Big Break, Sherman Island, Woodward Canal, Victoria Canal, Italian Slough, Grant Line Canal, Sugar Slough, Middle River (just downriver from Union Point), and the San Joaquin River (just up-river from Dos Reis County Park and south of Stockton beneath Hwy 4 bridge).

Bill K · Post by **Bill K** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:26 am

Let's have a name, address and phone # to contact and send you info. Bill K

CATCHEMCARO · Post by **CATCHEMCARO** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:12 pm

Is it possable for us to go to a site and veiw any information collected on fish that had been caught since being taged?
Rich

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:29 pm

I wouldn't worry too much about where they were caught. They're all going to end up in front of Russo's marina eventually.

Steve Reed · Post by **Steve Reed** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:51 pm

In February in the federation tournament I caught UCD315 (im pretty sure it was the number) it was 2 lbs but culled it within the hour. It was right outside paradise, i forget the slough name though right now.

jimmy87 · Post by **jimmy87** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:46 pm

Steve you were in my boat the day you caught that fish.

that was bishop cut

Jim

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:54 am

Since we collect stomach contents from every fish we tag- we can also look up what it has been eating.

Is one of the goals for this study to determine if Largemouth Bass are eating Salmon smolts and Delta smelt?

thanks

Pat

J.Rios · Post by **J.Rios** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:04 am

Would love to hear more info about this tagging study.More details please!!!

jamescaird · Post by **jamescaird** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:16 am

Just out of curiousity...who authorized the tagging study? Does DFG authorize this or is there another agency that can authorize tagging fish?

Bummer to think some nice fish in some nice areas are now wearing unattractive tags... not sure what can come of this that's beneficial to the fish or the fishermen.

Does this have anything to do with AB1253 and the modified language to study "predatory fish in the delta" ??

Bill K · Post by **Bill K** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:42 am

Pat. You notice that Electric or whatever, has not given his name, address or Ph# for a contact. I thought it was a fishy post from the start, etc, etc, etc. As the King and I said. Bill K

fish_food · Post by **fish_food** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:57 am

jamescaird wrote:Just out of curiousity...who authorized the tagging study? Does DFG authorize this or is there another agency that can authorize tagging fish?

Bummer to think some nice fish in some nice areas are now wearing unattractive tags... not sure what can come of this that's beneficial to the fish or the fishermen.

Does this have anything to do with AB1253 and the modified language to study "predatory fish in the delta" ??

From: http://www.fishsniffer.com/cgi-bin/foru ... 1244057299

electric
Posts: 5
Re: Tagged bass in the Delta
Reply #4 - 06/03/09 at 2:37pm Hi- here are some quick responses to Mooch & jcg- Thanks for your interest.

So far we've tagged over 650 bass. We'll be out on the water for the next two weeks doing this, and I expect we'll tag maybe 200 more. But since we've started going back to the same sites where we originally tagged fish- our recpature rates have been pretty low. The more tagged fish we can recover information about, the better chance we have of estimating how many are really out there.

Since we're still in the somewhat early stages of this study- I don't have a lot of solid results to report yet- but jcg hit on some of the issues that are really interesting to us. The big one is about the relationship between all the vegetation (submerged) that is growing out there- like the common waterweed. Some previous studies have concluded that the bass populations actually started increasing when the vegetation starting growing more. What I think (though our study may prove me wrong) is that the juvenile bass seek refuge in the vegetation beds from predators- AND there is more for them to eat there. So in general the veg probably helps the babies of the bass population- and spraying probably doesn't help like you said. Anyway, the thinking now is that actually the bass populations are doing OK- and it MAY be that the same change in conditions that have been hurting delta smelt and striper numbers acually help bass. But hopefully we'll know more as we continue this study. Lots of other researchers are trying to figure out how contaminants, invasives, and a host of other issues are affecting the fish. The tricky thing is the the different species often respond in different ways.

In our surveys with the bass, we take collect loads of water quality data and we sample the vegetation out there so we can match the conditions to the catch we get. Hopefully this will help us draw conclusions about what kind of environment is favorable for bass.

Beyond the survey work we're doing- other people working on the project will be doing other cool stuff- like tracking the movement of individual bass in real time. We're a long way from being done, but final reports from the project will be available to the public- not sure exactly where yet, but will try to put it out there.

Also: Cornish corresponded with the poster and would know on whose behalf the the research is being conducted.

Bill K · Post by **Bill K** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:05 pm

Interesting read Fishfood. Thank you for the info. Bill K

Gumpa · Post by **Gumpa** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:07 pm

I caught one on Saturday in White's. We were wondering were the tag was from. The best info I can give you about the fish is that it was about a pound to a pound and a half. Very healthy fish. We didn't keep it of course because we were fishing The Big Bass Challenge. We released it after looking at the tag but did not write the numbers down, sorry. The fish was taken on a rattle bait crawdad color. Tom

garry wilson · Post by **garry wilson** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:13 pm

I fished the last Anglers Choice Pro/AM event on the delta last month and caught one of those tagged fish in Union Point Area. Unfortunately when my AM took the bag to the scales they forgot to tell them I wanted the fish back to record the tag, they released it at Russos. It was about a 2.5 pounder. Sorry no number. I would like to know how many tourny directors even know what to do if they come across a tagged fish at the scales. I fished with Steve Green once at Folsom...I caught (1) tagged, he caught (4), all payed money. The most tagged fish I ever witnessed caught.