Rockfish Tag Report

[skrilla]

Some cool info I just received from the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program. They are a program that hold a variety of fish tagging trips along our coast. I've been a volunteer angler on some of these trips and got to see first hand fish come over the rail, get tagged and recorded, and sent back to the blue sporting some new jewelry. Very cool program and the guys that are involved in the research are fisherman like you and me but with a science degree.

A week or 3 ago I caught a 16" Red in the NW corner of LJ in 115'. Fish was kept for dinner. It wasn't until I went to prep the fish that I found the tag on it's back. It was covered in moss and I had just assumed it was seaweed as I was snagging it all day. Read the ID number and sent the report in via website ( there is also a phone number on the tag you can call ).

I was just sent bank this information.

"The Vermilion Rockfish you caught with the ID 23151. It was originally tagged on 7/18/2017 off La Jolla in 112 feet of water. At that time, the fish was 33 cm (13 in.) in length. Since being tagged and released, the fish grew about 7.6 cm (3 in.),  spent 1119 days at liberty, and was caught about .5 miles from where it was originally released."

So 3 inches in 3 years and pretty much stayed local. Now it was caught both times during the summer so who knows if it traveled anywhere in the winter months. But very cool info I really had no idea their rate of growth.

This was my second tagged fish I caught but first one with info returned. If I had known it was tagged I would have released it after recording the ID number. Gonna check twice for tags now. There also could be a reward available for recording your catch whether you release it or not. Mines in the mail.

[sasquatch]

 Good luck.

The tags say reward, but I've only got one once in 5 tagged fish. Guess I was entered into a drawing once also, but didn't win.

[vdisney]

Very cool info..........thanks for sharing

[Latimeria]

I swear, I've only caught one Calico that was tagged and never got another one my entire life.  I must have seen 30+ tags total caught right next to me though.

Very cool information as that's solid data!  I wonder if it migrated or just stayed in the same area....

[Pinoyfisher]

One of the soups I recently caught was tagged. I removed it and released the soup, but somehow lost the tag in the sand 😭

[sasquatch]

Tagged soupie? Nice.

[BenCantrell]

1 inch a year, that's cool info to learn. I wonder if their growth plateaus off at some point? Aren't some of the vermilions 50+ years old?

[Latimeria]

1 inch a year, that's cool info to learn. I wonder if their growth plateaus off at some point? Aren't some of the vermilions 50+ years old?

I just did a quick search and it looks like they all grow at different rates, but many level out from growing much after 10 years.

https://anglingunlimited.com/2013/07/05/record-rockfish-aged-64-years/