Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has been catching fish this fall on the upper Madison River.
The fish have all been returned to the river sporting colored tags they are hoping to get back when an actual angler catches on of those fish.
“This month we've been doing that in the upper Madison River. There are still tagged fish in Big Hole, Beaverhead, the Ruby and the Lower Madison rivers and this will continue, possibly for the next couple of years as well,” explained FWP spokesman Moran Jacobsen.
“By continuing to submit reports of tagged fish, you're helping us gather information that will help us manage for healthy fisheries and anglers who do that get entered into drawings for really awesome prizes as well,” Jacobsen continued.
That includes fishing gear and even the possibility of cash if you catch a yellow tag. If you do catch a tagged fish, the procedure is pretty simple.
“Clip that tag off using -- you know you can use fingernail clippers or clippers that you would use for fishing line -- and then submit a report on what that tag number is,” Jacobsen said.
“And that helps us understand you know how many tagged trout are being caught, where that's occurring, how that fish is doing if it appears healthy, and lots of other information that really gives us lots of data points that we can use later in this bigger picture of the fish health, fish mortality and fish recruitment,” he continued.
Jacobsen says tagging on the Upper Madison will continue for the next couple of months.
