Fisho’s own Mark Williams recently provided this update on the Lake Macquarie Trophy Flathead Tagging Program. According to Mark there has a total of five recaptures now, with two of the big big girls making significant movements. The first was tagged by Paul Guilfoyle around Cockle Creek and over a 6 week period it swam south before being caught around Fig Tree Point at Toronto. The second fish was tagged by Michael Aubrey from Newcastle Sportfishing Club a fortnight ago at Green Point, and was recaptured and rereleased last night by Ben Lane at Warners Bay. A great effort by Ben!
Even though the two fish actually swam in opposite directions the key message is that if big breeding-sized flathead are handled correctly they have a very high survival rate. Especially if they’re back feeding 2 weeks after being tagged!