Identifying Boater/Non-Boater Fish

[bubble]

Guys, I have heard that to seperate Boater/Non-Boater fish during a comp. some people wrap rubber bands round their tails or fin clip fish?. My livewell does not and cannot be divided using a screen or seperator.

Any ideas.......

Bubble

[Bear]

If you're going to use bands, please be careful about not doing them up too tight. This can do damage to the fish.

Some of the guys at the Perth comp said cable ties were much better and stayed on easier.

Clipping, to me, is also a no\no.

HTH.

[bubble]

I agree whole-heartedly about not fin-clipping. Seems a bit cruel...
Had not thought about cable ties....might add some weight to the bag. Would appreciate any other ideas.....

Bubble.

[madsurfe]

Mim and I use Bait Mate which is just hosiery elastic, a couple of $ from most tackle shops. You just wrap it 2 or 3 times around the tail and when done break it off. It doesn't exert any real tension and stays put

[Bear]

Have you tried just using pantyhose JP? Wonder how well that would stay in place if it were wrapped around the tail lightly.

Might stay better than an elastic band.

[Craig_S]

Bubble, tail clipping is definitely out in WA. I seem to remember Ira putting that in place early last season. Tail clipping probably does no harmto the fish but it is a permanent mutilation and theoretically in some future comp you could catch a fish that has had its tail "pre-clipped".

You need to be very careful if you use rubber bands also. At Walpole one of the guys commented on his mutant bream that had red tails - likely to have been some kind of blood flow restriction from having the lacky too tight?

[Mim]

Mim and I use Bait Mate
This is brilliant as it does no harm to the fish whatsoever. It is actually thinner than hoisery elastic. I wrap it around once, do a knot, wrap it around again, do another knot, then wrap it around again and do 3-4 knots so it doesn't come undone. As I take the fish out to be weighed, I just pull on it slightly and it breaks, so there is no pressure on the fish. You do not have to tie it tight up against the fish as all you need to do is make sure it doesnt slip over the tail. I think it is pretty humane and has no effect on the fish at all


Cheers

Mim

I can tell you that all bands around the tails and clipping will be banned in WA next year. Some sort of a divider will be compulsary.

[jimi]

Hey Bubble, just curious as to why you can't put a divider in your tank? Even in the basic foam box that I have, it was possible to rig up a flyscreen separator that screwed in. It works fine for keeping the fish separated.

Are you using a flash esky or something? Even so, it maybe possible to rig something that is secured at the top or even using duct tape?

Perhaps with some lateral thinking you could come up with something. It does make it a lot easier for you and the fish if you don't have to worry about fiddling about with rubber bands.

Cheers

James.

[bubble]

James, I made the live-well out of ali, insulated it and then fitted a sealing hatch in the top. The hatch measures about 8" x 12". I have thought of fitting some sort of net down the middle. I will be modifying the live well to go to 120l capacity in the not too distant future and it will sit under a casting platform but not until after the first round on the Gold Coast. So the rubber-bands? are only temporary.

Bubble.

[bubble]

Ira, your comments beg the question?

What if some day all Bream caught in the comps were tagged for research purposes or collected for brood stock for breeding.
The tagging idea I think is a good one as very little research has been done on Bream habits or habitats and what better way to collect the info than though the comps.

Will tagging be banned as well although sanctioned by the 'powers that be'

Just a thought.

Bubble

Hi Guys, why not just buy the proper clips made for that purpose, they come in various colours.

Cheers Warren

[Dave W]

The 'Twist ties' used on garbage bags work O.K. and you can have them as loose as you want - very easy to put on and off, much better than elastic bands where you have little control over the pressure they put on the tail wrist.

You can even use different coloured ones to identify smaller / bigger fish.

One thing to keep in mind also is some sort of very accurate fish weighing system, either digital scales that weigh down to 2 decimal places, or a 'balance beam' set up...

I'm pretty sure I did myself out of a couple of hundred grams at Forster by not having accurate enough scales... might have been worth an extra place. I'm definitely investing in a set of balance beams :)

If you want to know more have a look here:


http://www.bassbag.com/

Cheers,

Hey Guys.
Are you sure that fin clipping is permanent? The only reason i ask, is that the bream in my aquarium have had their fins slightly shredded or bitten by each other. The fins grew back and fixed themselves!?:confused:
Just a question and i'm in no way saying your wrong. Could someone clarify for me?

Dave

[bubble]

Hey Warren, these clips you talk about do you know where you can get them. I have heard of floats that are used in some of the Bass Comps. but not the clips......

Bubble.

[Dave W]

Have a look at the website above Bubble - they have an interesting clip system as well.

Hey bubble, I certainly wouldn't ban tagging or collecting of bream.

I don't think tagging is a simple process though as each fish has to be measured, weighed and details taken on the exact GPS location of capture etc.

I would be more than happy to help out in anyway we can as far as data collection goes. It is something that I'm looking at for next years rounds for sure.

[mark savage]

I don't think tagging is a simple process though as each fish has to be measured, weighed and details taken on the exact GPS location of capture etc.
Wrt the logging of a GPS location, is this really necessary for the bream? You could provide a general location like ‘Deep Water Point’. My reasoning is that you guy’s release your catch at the weigh-in – effectively disturbing the ‘natural’ redistribution of the fish within the waterway. Unless of course you nominated a secondary location as the weigh in for the purposes of mapping redistribution.

:)

[Matt Ireland]

Hi all
On the finclipping, Im pretty sure that fins will grow back, as they do in aquariums in my experience (not necessarily with bream, but with tropicals, marines and goldfish).

And on the topic of tagging, while accurate measuring of length and weight is desirable, it is not necessary to take GPS coordinates. I have had experience electrofishing, tagging and releasing Barra in freshwater at Townsville. In this case we simply recorded the river and location they were caught in. We also measured their length (and I think their weight, but im not sure) and took a sample of a couple of scales for the research we were doing.

With a species that is generally estuarine simply recording the estuary they were caught in would probably be sufficient, unless for example you were monitoring their short term movements ie over a number of days of perhaps seasonal migratons over the course of a year.

GPS coordinates would be something that would be used more for pelagic species or when looking at movement over short distances/time periods.

Matt