Catching a tagged fish...

[WatterBoy]

One of the fish I caught back on 7/29 was tagged from a creel survey that was done on our lake back in 2007. I measured it at 17.25" and weighed it a 3lb 6oz. I finally took some time to contact our area DNR about it and found out this information from them...

“The fish was tagged on May 16, 2007 and it was 16.8 long. However, we did not weigh the fish. So in 5 years, this fish grew a total of 0.45 inches. Several tagged fish have been reported in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 but this particular fish (201809) was never one of the reported numbers.”

It is cool to see that this nearly 17" fish from five years ago is still alive and well, and it's also interesting (to me, anyway) that it grew less than 1/2" in that time.

I don't know anything about fish growth rates, etc. Do fish continue to get a little bit longer each year, or do they reach a certain length after so many years and that's as long as they will ever get? Or does it vary depending on what time of climate they live in (MN vs. TX/CA/FL/etc.)?

[bassboogieman]

It only grew a 1/2" in FIVE years? Wow, that gives me so much respect for those 20" smallies, they've got to be OLD FARTS, like me!

[kennethdaysale]

1/2 inch in five years is incredibly slow, even for the far north. So slow that I suspect an error in the initial measurement. Down in these latitudes a healthy bass could easily put on that length in 90 days.

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by kennethdaysale

1/2 inch in five years is incredibly slow, even for the far north. So slow that I suspect an error in the initial measurement. Down in these latitudes a healthy bass could easily put on that length in 90 days.

So does a bass grow in length every year it's alive? Or does it stop getting longer after x years of its life?

I found some 1999 research for "smallmouth bass captured in New York waters of the eastern basin of Lake Ontario during summer gillnet surveys, 1993-1994." Of the 986 SM they surveyed, 41 of them were 17" and those 41 fish ranged in age from 8-15 years with just over half of them being 10 and 11 years old (11 fish for each of those 2 ages). I have no idea if that is at all relevant to a MN lake in 2012, but is it possible the fish I caught was already 10 years old back in 2007 and was pretty much done growing in length?

[bamabassman]

incrediable for sure dean. maybe he/she is jsut a finicky eater?

[lilmule]

It changes according to latitude ,species and available forage.
A spotted bass in the ohio river(W.Va.) takes 5 years to get to 12 in,does that in 2-3 in Ky lake.
Dale Hollow would have a fairly fast growth rate compared to min.,for smallmouth.
And while that fish only gained 1/2 in length its girth increased.
Im guessing that since dnr found many or tagged many that size and many older fish were in the lot thats about it up north near what they can obtain normally.

[bluebasser86]

It may be the body of water lacking the appropriate food/shelter/environment for the fish to grow quickly. One of the state lakes not far from me has a similar problem. Lots of fish but not enough food and the fish grow extremely slowly. The lake was redone 3 years ago and most of the fish in it were found to be 8-12 inches long. Today most of the fish are 8-12 inches long with a very rare giant reaching 14 or 15 inches. They aren't so dense that they're stunted, just very slow growing. At least your fish are big enough to be fun to catch while they're growing slowly