CLENDENIN, W.Va. — When a Kanawha County angler landed a nice musky on the Elk River near Clendenin in mid-February, he noticed something about the fish was odd. It had a tag hanging off one of the dorsal fins. It was just a colored plastic stick hanging by the same kind of plastic tag you find when you buy a shirt in a clothing store.
The angler removed the tag and reported it to the DNR as the tag instructed. Turns out the fish had a history.
“We executed an Elk River musky project from 2008 to 2012,” said District Fisheries Biologist Jeff Hansbarger. “It was one of the 200 or so muskies we tagged. He was tagged on April 29, 2009 near Procious.”
Hansbarger estimated the fish was about six years old when it was tagged, which would make it about 16 years old for its second capture. Aging and movement were both parts of the study which has been officially concluded, but the data like the information from this fish, keeps trickling in as anglers continue to catch and report the tagged fish.
“The age was the interesting point. It’s a male, which we could tell by examining it when it was tagged. Males generally don’t get over 40 inches,” said Hansbarger. “It was 35 inches when it was tagged and was about 40 inches when it was caught at Sandy Creek near Clendenin. A male over 40 inches is very rare.”
The movement was not all that surprising. The fish was about 15 miles downstream from where it was originally caught and tagged. Hansbarger said the musky survey had data revealing some muskies traveled up to 70 miles between captures and Ohio biologists have tracked them over 110 miles.
Another interesting fact, the fish clearly survived the 2016 flood on the Elk River. Nobody will ever forget the historic high water which was so costly to homes and businesses along the Elk River in Clay and Kanawha Counties. Such events are often dangerous to aquatic life as well. Fish will swim into flooded areas and becoming trapped in a landlocked spot away from the main river when the water recedes. This musky managed to stay out of the danger zone at the most critical times.
Today, the fish still swims the Elk. The angler released him, but removed the tag, making it unlikely the fish will be reported again. He still has the implanted “PIT” tag applied by the DNR during the study which is located under the skin. If he’s ever captured in a shocking survey, the transmitter will alert biologists. But the PIT tag is not visible to fishermen who may catch him in the future.
“There was one fish in this project who had a noticeable birthmark on his dorsal fin,” said Hansbarger. “He was caught five times and released by anglers during the survey period and we caught him three times in our electrofishing sampling.”
Clearly some of the fish were better than others at evasion.
Capture reports are critical for DNR to study data and trends which enable them to know more about the musky. Biologists crave that information since the fish is deemed a high level of interest by fishermen who expect it to be properly managed.
“They a re slow, long-lived fish and mature later in life,” said Hansbarger. “To have them around in the larger sizes which anglers prefer, it takes them a long time to get there.”