Our first radio-tagged rainbow trout, nicknamed “Radio,” was tagged on October 14, 2012, at River Mile 20.0, by Arlen Thomason, Steve Brehm, and ODFW’s Jeff Ziller.
Learn more about “Radio” or track him through our online tracking applet “Follow Our Fish!”
Surgery Summary (courtesy Arlen Thomason)
Lots of big October caddis were about, and while fishing a large dry fly (Michael T. Williams’ “Percolator”), Stevie hooked into a dandy redside that went airborne and then ripped line off his reel as it headed downstream in a fast current. After a considerable battle, we netted his 16″ beauty.
We put it in a cooler of river water and phoned Jeff Ziller to come over and perform the surgical honors later in the evening. In the meantime, we kept “Radio” (as Stevie affectionately dubbed his new friend) in good shape by changing her (his?) water every half hour, while we continued pursuit of its brethren. We hooked several more trout, but only one rainbow which appeared big enough to radio tag; and alas, I lost that one when it jumped one last time and spit the hook at my feet.
After the Beavers game was over (of course) Jeff and his son Dan arrived via jet sled, bearing the surgical kit and the know-how. Here are a few shots of the tagging operation, which was quite interesting to see.
The first step was to move Radio from my cooler to Jeff’s, which contained fresh water spiked with an anesthetic that prepared the fish for surgery.
When the fish was calm and compliant, Jeff used a scalpel to make a small incision into the abdominal cavity just in front of the left pelvic fin, where the transmitter would be inserted.
Then a cannula (hollow tube) whas inserted into the cavity and towards the rear,
where it was pushed through and out of the fish. This second opening is where the radio antenna would exit. The long flexible antenna of the radio tag was then inserted into the front end of the cannula
and out the rear end. Jeff then grasped the antenna wire and the rear of the cannula, and pulled rearwards until the transmitter (small black cylinder) was inside the abdominal cavity. Next, the cannula was pulled out the fish through the rear exit slit.
At this point the black transmitter was in the abdominal cavity, and the thin antenna can be seen exiting just in front of the anal fin and draping back over the tail.
Finally, a surgical needle and thread was used to suture the ~1/2 inch slit where the tag had been inserted, and antiseptic cream was applied to it.
When the surgery was finished, we transferred the fish into the other cooler with fresh water for a recovery period. It didn’t take long before the fish snapped out of its drugged state and started swimming normally in the cooler. When all looked well and good, Stevie did the honors and let the fish slip out of the cooler and back into the river, where it swam back into the depths.
