Northwest Fishing Reports

As some of you forum readers know, I caught a tagged bass in Kitsap County's Long Lake on June 25, 2008. At that time the bass weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 1/4 inches long. The tag was completely over grown with moss and I had to remove the moss with a finger nail to read the number on the tag. After reading and recording the tag number, the old bass was thanked for the memories and gently released at the same location where she was caught. I sent the tag number to Mr. Bruce Bolding of the WDFW. Mr. Bolding writes back that the fish was tagged on November 23, 1999. At that time she was 12.44 inches long and weighed 1.03 pounds -- And, at that time she was estimated to be 3 to 4 years old which would make her 12 to 13 years now -- A truly old lady in a bass life span. Mr. Bolding also said that they caught 3 bass over 10 pounds during the survey -- And, that Long Lake had more bass in the 2-5 pound range than any other lake he has surveyed.

Bob,

Interesting! My dad boated a 7.1 pound largemouth on Saturday. It was also tagged but I did not attempt to read it. Very discolored and overgrown tag. There the plastic thread entered the fish, there was a nasty, festering wound. It did not look good, but the fish seemed very healthy and plump. It was 16" round. The tail fin was quite red as if it were a bedding female, but it was caught in relatively open water. Possible a post spawn female starting to recoup.

Jon Werner

That must be one tough job... catching bass and tagging them

No kidding. Since I'm free all Summer, where do I apply?

Jon Werner

Very cool, Bob! It's interesting that there seem to be so many tagged fish in Long Lake. I've got to try that lake some time. Goog job C&R-ing those bass. I wish everyone would do that. We'd have a lot more big bass around here.

So when they taged that bass and it was 1 pound and you caught her and she was almost 6 that would mean the others they taged that were 10# must be around 16# or bigger now!:bounce: Thats good to know thanks Bob for checking that taged bass.

The fish was probably post spawn and weighed well over 6 lbs just a week or two prior. I caught my biggest out of Long lake and it was about that length and weighed 7 lb 5 oz. That fish will be fat in no time, it was hungry enough for that big worm, its looking for a big meal as I type. Now if someone catches huge fish and doesn't let them go, thats when the lake gets thrown off.

SnohoBassGuy wrote:That must be one tough job... catching bass and tagging them

Remember this was late November. I may not have been quite as nice out there as it is now. I was offered a job tagging Muskies on Mayfield in October a few years ago but already had hunting plans so had to turn it down. I think the WDFW sometimes accepts volunteers for their tagging programs.

Trent Hale wrote: So when they taged that bass and it was 1 pound and you caught her and she was almost 6 that would mean the others they taged that were 10# must be around 16# or bigger now!:bounce: Thats good to know thanks Bob for checking that taged bass.

I think that those 10 pounders were probably quite old at the time of the tagging and have now gone on to the great bass lake in the sky. I have heard that the life span of most bass is about 15 years maximum.

That's a heckofa long time for a fish to live,..wow,..so when I catch my Lunker,..take the pic,..release the fish,..then call WDFW for State Record inquireies,..who knows,..I've found a small body of water that absolutely no one ever fishes,..very mucky,..structure everywhere and fed from an adjacecent private lake that holds SM,..LM,..RBT,..Sunfish,..in the lake that feeds it I caught my biggest LM to date 26" 5.5 lbs,..so I'm hoping to land some nice fatties in that lake! I'll post and let you all know,..and great post and great job on the tagged fish Bob!!

relating to the last post by bomber, how do you go about getting a large fish into the records? I hear it is a stringent task.

SnohoBassGuy wrote:relating to the last post by bomber, how do you go about getting a large fish into the records? I hear it is a stringent task.

you must harvest the fish