What I Learned About Bass Movement After Tagging 200 Fish

The first year of the Bass Cash Bash on Sam Rayburn, I recorded data about every fish I tagged for a non scientific and unofficial survey. In this video, I talk about the key things that I learned about fish movements from that data.

Interesting.

Has there ever been a tagging study done where they caught fish from all over the lake and then released them from a central location simulating what takes place at a tournament? I have always heard that the smaller fish released at weigh in will usually make their new home near the site they are released, but the bigger fish will try to make their way back to where they were caught. Would be interesting to see some data on that with 200+ fish.

I know of one for sure but Im sure there have been more. When I lived at Lake Dardanelle in the 2000's, the local college, Arkansas Tech, ran a study during tournaments to track the movements. I remember a guy catching a distinct bass off the same stump the following Thursday. The lightbulb clicked on.

Cool stuff - thanks for sharing.

Interesting! What was the mortality rate on the tagged fish? I have read that bass caught in the lip have something like a 96% survival rate.

I talked to a dude on the north end of Rayburn Friday, and he caught one and didn't know what that tag was, He was not entered, my co angler last year caught one and was not entered in Bass Cash Bash. Years ago in a Pro Team Trail, me and partner fished it in October and it was a week after TPWD shocked and tag a bunch of fish, They said no one will probably catch one in the tournament because those fish are messed up from being shocked, We weighted in three of them LOL, very next spawning season I seen Two male and female on a bed with those pink little tags hanging off them. I would like to see some good clear water this sight fishing season on Rayburn and a bunch of tags will be caught by a lot of anglers. But that TPWD was a mass number of fish for a survey

Yea, we had that program on the Coosa River last year. A lot of my buddies paid to get in it and we had a great time with plenty of fun going out fishing without being in a tournament and still finding every catch worth wild. I was lucky enough to catch one myself for $1200.00. The fish I caught I found out was still in the same area from where it was tagged. I caught it on a swim jig in about 2' of water.
We would catch one and could not wait until we got the bass back in the boat hoping to find a tag on it. To me it was maybe a little more exciting than a tournament because every fish you caught could be worth more than $1,000.00. I wish i could have caught more than just 1 of them.
I am hoping they do it again this year, it was well worth the $75 to get in on it, plus we got us a T-shirt to boot.

I believe they are doing the Coosa again this year and have added Pickwick as well.

I know for a fact that several of the toledo lunkers were caught over 10 miles from not only their released spot, but also from the original catch. One I know was caught down in pirates originally, released at the bridge, then caught again way up in blue lake. I caught one in Indian mounds, weighed in at fin and feather, it was released and caught again down in six mile

Really cool stuff

When you say "lunkers" are we talking about 13+ pounders donated to TP&W?

I think that would be another interesting study is to see how many of these lunkers that are returned to their home lake (after being held captive for a few weeks) would return to the same place they were caught. I know they have a way of knowing if the same fish gets donated more than once, but would love to hear if it was caught from the same area each time.

Toledo has their own program of 10lbers if weighed in, you get a free replica. Fish is returned back to the lake

Nice video Clark!