Tags add bonus to bass fishing

Bass fishing is extremely popular on the Arkansas River. Beginning this fall, bass fishermen may find an occasional bonus when they catch a largemouth bass on Pool 4 around Pine Bluff.

These bonuses will be coming in the form of largemouth bass carrying special reward tags worth from $10 to as much as $100.

In an effort to estimate the catch and harvest of largemouth bass from Pool 4 of the Arkansas River, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has partnered with the Aquaculture and Fisheries Center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to conduct a tag-reward study.

In recent weeks, AGFC and UAPB personnel have tagged several hundred largemouth bass collected from Pool 4 and released them back into the river.

Tagging was done both in the river and the Lake Langhofer harbor area. The tags are located on the left side of the fish just below the dorsal fin and are white in color.

Anglers that catch these bass are encouraged to keep the tags and call the AGFC toll-free hotline 877 367-3559 to report their catch.

Anglers calling the hotline will be asked to provide the number printed on the tag, the length of the bass, the date they caught it, whether they harvested or released the bass in question, if they caught the fish while participating in a fishing tournament, and the approximate location of where the fish was caught.

They will then be instructed to mail the tag to the AGFC in order to collect their monetary reward. Reward values will be chosen at random, but all anglers returning tags will be guaranteed at least $10 with some lucky anglers receiving either $50 or $100.

In addition to the tag-rewards study, UAPB personnel will be conducting brief interviews of anglers at several access sites on Pool 4 in the upcoming 12 months. This angler survey will be used to collect information on fishing effort, and the number of fish people are catching and harvesting from Pool 4. Anglers also will be asked their opinions on certain fishing regulations and the overall quality of fishing in the Arkansas River.