Save Those Heads - $100 Prize Rewards

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A Nice Program sponsored by the Great Lakes Salmon Initiative, Captain Chucks II and Moonshine Lures.  You can win prize packages of $100 gift cards to Captain Chucks II or Moonshine Spoon packages worth $100 each.

DNR: Turning in tagged fish in Michigan could net $100 reward - mlive.com
https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/05/turning-in-tagged-fish-in-michigan-could-net-100-reward-dnr-says.html

Turning in tagged fish in Michigan waters could net you some extra cash.

The Michigan DNR is reminding anglers that catching a trout or salmon with an adipose fin clip could be worth a $100 reward. The adipose fin is the small, fleshy lobe on the fish's back, just forward of the tail fin.

Michigan and other states around the Great Lakes, include popular gamefish (like steelhead, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon, brown trout and lake trout) that have been mass marked by the DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before they are stocked.

Most trout and salmon with an adipose fin clip also have a coded wire tag the size of a lead pencil tip in the snout that must be removed by lab technicians. If anglers catch and want to keep an adipose fin clipped fish, they are asked to turn the head in at one of the DNR’s local drop-off stations

 

The tagging program’s success relies on anglers, according to Randy Claramunt, the DNR’s Lake Huron Basin coordinator.

 

“We have limited capacity to take that important data from sport-caught trout and salmon,” he said. “We have creel clerks at some ports, but there are several areas – including some river systems with unique fisheries, like Atlantic salmon or steelhead – where we don’t have staff. To get enough tag returns to learn about these species, we’re asking people to take a little extra time to turn in those heads.”

 

Jay Wesley, Lake Michigan Basin coordinator, said fish tag returns help biologists understand survival, age and movement of important sportfish.

 

“We are particularly interested in confirming how naturally reproducing Chinook salmon contribute to the fishery; the movement and wild contribution of steelhead in lakes and rivers; and survival and movement of Atlantic salmon,” he said.

 

The Great Lakes Salmon Initiative, along with Captain Chucks II in Ludington and Moonshine Lures is sponsoring 33 rewards worth $100 each to help promote the program.

 

Fish with tags submitted before Nov. 1, 2020, will be eligible for the rewards, which will be randomly selected.

 

Additional details about the reward program:

 

• Each head with a tag that is turned in equals one drawing entry.
• Eligible tagged fish include steelhead, brown trout, and Chinook or Atlantic salmon.
• The drawing will occur around January 2021.
• Contact information (name, address, phone number) must be provided with each head.
• Catch data (date, location and body of water) must be included with each head.
• The head must be left at a Michigan drop-off location.

 

For more information on how to recognize a tagged fish and how to fill out the proper information, visit Michigan.gov/TaggedFish.