pink snapper recapture......wow!

Just recently i was out on my boat fishing for pink snapper (outside of Cockburn Sound) with a mate (Tigh) and got a few fish but one fish was definately a stand out.

One of the pink snapper actually came up with a whitish/silver scar down it's body. At the time we didn't really think much about it but when i went to wipe away a very small bit of weed off the fish next to the scar it didn't wipe off. Much to my amazement it was about 12mm of tag hanging out with weed growth on it.

Now i've caught tagged fish with growth on it before but this fish had actually grown it's skin over the tag and hense why there was a silver scar, the tag was underneath. I decided it would be good to keep the fish and cut the tag out for research and i couldn't read anything of the tag as it was buried and hard to read. My friend Tigh caught the fish and was good enough to say it's up to you Ryan, we kept the fish which weighed 5.8kg and cut out the tag for info.

At the time i said to Tigh this looks like a very old tag perhaps 4 years old which would be great if thats the case as older tagged fish gives us good info. The tag was the small version and that's what you use on small fish but you could say the pinky nearly grew out of the small tag completely!

I submitted the info to fisheries Research lab, Andrew Rowland (Recfishwest) was good enough to call me back asap with the results which was intriguing.

The fish was;

Caught by: Tony Andro (charter boat)
When: 1st Nov 2001
Where: 33m South of Rotto
Total length: 310mm
Caudal length: 260mm


Now;

Caught by: Tigh (decky on my boat)
When: 1st Oct 2007
Where: just outside of the Sound
Total length:781mm
Caudal length:726mm


The fish was very healthy and at liberty for 6years 11 months, and grew about 67mm a year............WOW, thats friggen awesome news and good info for the tagging research and the frame is here to be donated also.

I was very happy with the info, so was Andrew and thought i'd share this!








Rodrat's picture

Posts: 1672

Date Joined: 13/01/07

Cool

Sat, 2007-10-06 10:40

Thats a great catch, interesting to find out a bit of info on a pinky.
The pinky must have been around the rotto cockburn area for a long time.
Good for tag and release!

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FISH FOR THE FUTURE

Posts: 16

Date Joined: 01/01/70

yeh agree

Sat, 2007-10-06 10:53

I believe the rotto pinks mix with deeper water biomas moving/spawning aggregations and come into the Sound to do their bit then go back out after 2-4 months (if not longer) Some fish head Mandurah way, some Moore river way, some stay in the sound and the bulk go back to Rotto's biomas i reckon!

*Oceanside-Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Banax,Shimano,Penn,Furuno*

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Date Joined: 26/05/07

Thats great!

Sat, 2007-10-06 10:57

That would be so rewarding knowing that tagged fish are getting racaptured and help the fisheries department out on  the research. Well done, Ryan and Tigh!

My reels screaming zzzzzzz.... awwww damn it, its another boat!

All the best for the future fishing trips.
Cheers.... Jangles

Andy Mac's picture

Posts: 4778

Date Joined: 03/02/06

Great stuff!!

Sat, 2007-10-06 12:31

More knowledge for the scientists, well done guys.




Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

Youngest member of the Fishwrecked Old Farts Club

Bill's picture

Posts: 437

Date Joined: 24/03/07

I recently had one of my

Sat, 2007-10-06 15:28

I recently had one of my tags handed in from 4 years ago tagged in the sound recapture in 2 rocks.


There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

Posts: 564

Date Joined: 05/08/06

good work

Sat, 2007-10-06 15:39

good work

SPESS's picture

Posts: 3356

Date Joined: 29/12/06

Thats great info

Mon, 2007-10-08 08:23

Thats great info Ryan....well done on the capture (your mate) and good to see this pinky might be a calling for the resurch to continue.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

ROCKPOM's picture

Posts: 629

Date Joined: 23/04/07

Ryan was that an ANSA tag?

Mon, 2007-10-08 10:57

Ryan was that an ANSA tag? seeing that it was a juvinal.
Great recapture!!

Posts: 16

Date Joined: 01/01/70

all good!

Mon, 2007-10-08 21:10

Cheers guys, good feeling hey Bill knowing a fish you tagged went walkabout!

Yeh Danny the tag was ANSWA WA (small one) and the tag # 16486



*Oceanside-Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Banax,Shimano,Penn,Furuno*

Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine
364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA
Ph# 9337 5682 ** OPEN 7 DAYS *

Dean's picture

Posts: 1943

Date Joined: 23/02/07

That is pretty amazing,

Mon, 2007-10-08 22:25

That is pretty amazing, pinkies must be on steroids 67mm a year is huge!


Are snapper still tagged? and who does it?


Posts: 16

Date Joined: 01/01/70

yeh

Mon, 2007-10-08 22:30

Yeh the offshore program is still going to my knowlede but the Cockburn Sound program has finished as Corey Wakefield has done his Thesis on the Sound which the Fisheries use to determine whats happening etc. Corey did say to me that a few dedicated people like Danny (rockpom) and myself should continue but the program is finished.

*Oceanside-Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Banax,Shimano,Penn,Furuno*

Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine
364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA
Ph# 9337 5682 ** OPEN 7 DAYS *

ROCKPOM's picture

Posts: 629

Date Joined: 23/04/07

Ryan the program is still

Tue, 2007-10-09 00:58

Ryan the program is still running but this year we have had to apply for
exemptions due to the no catch and release ruling.

Last year was probably one of the best for tagging we even got to swim in the schools
and do some video.

Posts: 16

Date Joined: 01/01/70

yeh

Tue, 2007-10-09 10:05

Yeh the vid stuff sounds cool, i've watched them under the water with vid but i didn't have a recorder connected at the time. I spoke to Dr Mike Mackie and he said yes at this stage no one has an exemption but he could organise.

When i spoke to the Fisheries research & Fisheries they said the program was finished as far as Coreys original program goes as the Thesis was done. They also hinted that some type of program would have to be in order to warrant exemptions but as mentioned for a  few that could be done also.

*Oceanside-Strudwick,Daiwa,Van Staal,Jigmaster Rods, Banax,Shimano,Penn,Furuno*

Owner/Operator Oceanside Tackle and Marine
364 South Street, O'Connor, Perth WA
Ph# 9337 5682 ** OPEN 7 DAYS *