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CWT Recovery Form

Drop off Locations

Michigan anglers can help in the monitoring of Great Lakes salmon and trout populations. Many of these fish have been marked with a small coded-wire tag, which is implanted in the head of the fish, but invisible to the naked eye.

If you catch a fish that is missing only the adipose fin (see photo, above), it is possible that it has had a coded-wire tag implanted into its snout. Please record the following information: date caught, location caught, species, length, weight, sex (if possible), and fin clip. The data obtained can be recorded on the Coded Wire Tag Recovery Form.

Remove and freeze the fish's snout (part of head from behind the eyes forward), and drop off the snout along with data sheet at a drop site, or call 517-284-5830 for a list of local sites. Please do not mail! If a tag is extracted, the fishermen will be notified of the age and stocking location of their catch.

Additional Information about CWT:

All samples for CWT processing end up at the Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station
Once the samples reach the Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station, tags are extracted, read under a microscope and both the angler and fish data is entered into a large database. A letter is then generated telling the cooperating angler the species, age and stocking location of the fish.
Statewide Coded Wire Tagging and Recovery Program
This program is designed to fin clip and mark experimental lots of fish and then to compile all data from CWT studies into one database. Fish tagged to date include Atlantic salmon, brown trout, chinook salmon, coho salmon, lake trout, rainbow trout, and lake sturgeon.
Influence of Total Length and Condition at Stocking on Chinook Salmon Survival and Time at Large
Study objectives include tagging chinook salmon to determine the influence of length and condition on post-stocking survival, return by age and size, and cost per return.
Evaluation of Returns of Salmonids to Weirs in Michigan's Waters of the Great Lakes
The study objectives are to monitor annual weir harvest and operations, and provide annual size-at-age and weir return summaries for fisheries managers and interested public.
Coded-Wire Tag Returns in the Sport Catch - Port Specific Results
Results are from CWT's that were collected from the sport catch at various ports. The total number of CWT's returned by port for multiple species (example; chinook salmon, lake trout and steelhead) over the last 5 years is reported. Additional summaries (by age, by stocking site) are included for most ports.
Other Links:

Stocking Information from the Great Lakes Fish Stocking Database

Adlerstein et al. 2007. Lake Trout Movements in US Waters of Lake Huron Interpreted from Coded Wire Tag Recoveries in Recreational Fisheries

Adlerstein et al. 2007. Estimating Seasonal Movements of Chinook Salmon in Lake Huron from Efficiency Analysis of Coded Wire Tag Recoveries in Recreational Fisheries

News
DNR: Turning in tagged fish in Michigan could net $100 reward
Updated May 29, 2020; Posted May 29, 2020



By Brandon Champion | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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.