When to tag a fish

[Donkey Slayer]

The other day on the lake I had 3 tags in the slot size 40 to 50. My though was to keep anything between 49 to 50 cm and did not take long to get the 3. As I was catching them I was thinking I should not tag them in the live well until I was ready to leave for the boat launch. Sure enough as the bait was almost gone, I had a walleye get ripped badly in the gills. I tried to revive / release him but it was belly up. It was only about 44 cm, but what I did was throw one of the 49+ back into the lake and kept the dying one.

If I would have tagged the 49+ when i caught it, the 44 cm walleye would have been wasted and made a meal for the seagulls.

Then I was reading the regs when I got home and it does say the tag immediately. So I guesss I broke the law. Thinking more about it, tagging immediately is to help stop the poaching and culling.

[huntsfurfish]

No real harm done and now you know what the law is.

[huntsfurfish]

Some on here might demand some of your blood though.

[Teamprotz]

Not familiar with the system , but you could have been fined for having the untagged fish in the boat . Nice call keeping the smaller , injured one though.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Tag them immediately upon retention. Whether on a stringer or in a live-well....otherwise if you get checked and have fish with no tags, your day will be ruined.

C&R fishing has its applicable risks some will make it and some won't....be thankful that you didn't get checked.

The ones we have caught and tagged we have put on a stringer and put back in the water for the rest of the day and both the fish and the tags survived the day.

We don't tag then through the gills though. We tag them through the lower jaw, there is a thin membrane there that the tag wire easily pokes through.

LC

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

I took a buddy to Pigeon lake to help fill tags , tags went on right away , they were fine in the live well .

[Graffy91]

Originally Posted by swampdonkey

The other day on the lake I had 3 tags in the slot size 40 to 50. My though was to keep anything between 49 to 50 cm and did not take long to get the 3. As I was catching them I was thinking I should not tag them in the live well until I was ready to leave for the boat launch. Sure enough as the bait was almost gone, I had a walleye get ripped badly in the gills. I tried to revive / release him but it was belly up. It was only about 44 cm, but what I did was throw one of the 49+ back into the lake and kept the dying one.

If I would have tagged the 49+ when i caught it, the 44 cm walleye would have been wasted and made a meal for the seagulls.

Then I was reading the regs when I got home and it does say the tag immediately. So I guesss I broke the law. Thinking more about it, tagging immediately is to help stop the poaching and culling.

I would be thankful your day wasn't ruined by a C.O.


Otherwise, good on you for keeping the injured fish, most people wouldn't have done that... But hey what can you do? Some fish are just so damn hungry, thats why there is jaws of life and barbless hooks.


Love it when you cant see your lure in a pike's mouth because the thing is so hungry, pop the old jaws of life in the mouth, take the 9" pliers, and pop the hooks out and the fish will live another day.


Good on you like I said, but just be extremely thankful you didn't get caught.

[Kim473]

The tag emediatly is to prevent culling which is ilegal.