that's cool re: the tagging. It just seemed weird to me because some of the fish in your pics have a pretty big welt on them where the tag was. Those guys must know what they are doing though. I've caught several fish this year that had been tagged in the back and had a fleshy piece of skin dangling there even though the tag was gone. Either way, it seems like they survive just fine.

One thing I've definitely noticed over the past few years is that if you see fish that are tagged, they are often times really skittish and hard to catch. At one of the lakes here I saw a bunch of double digits on our around beds two years ago that were tagged and they would never never, and I mean never bite. It was like the trauma of being shocked and tagged made them hate the sight of people or something :) They do seem to bite ok when they can't see you though :)

Here's one more to consider... This is a fish I caught earlier this year, it was 10.90lbs. She had a literal handprint on her side and she had a fleshy spot on her back where she had been tagged. Putting two and two together, I would bet that the guys who tagged her squeezed a little too hard, or handled the fish in some way that made the imprint. Check it out

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3984-10.9.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)