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Attention fall salmon anglers: If it’s missing an adipose fin, please turn it in.

Adipose Fin ExampleAdipose Fin Example

The missing fin identifies king salmon that are part of a multi-state research project to study the movement of the species in Lake Michigan.

The adipose fin is a small fin on top and near the fish’s tail.

Anglers fishing Indiana waters and tributaries are urged take heads of fish missing the adipose fin to the Lake Michigan fisheries research station in Michigan City during business hours and Lake Michigan Tackle (1315 Franklin St.) or Chief’s Bait Shop (1114 W. Fourth St.), both in Michigan City, on weekends.

Only the heads, not the carcass, is wanted.

State agencies in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois have been clipping the adipose fins and planting a small “microtag” in the snout of all hatchery-raised kings to distinguish them from naturally reproduced fish.

Biologists will scan the fish head to determine if a tag is present, then freeze and send the head to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for tag extraction.

The microtag has a numeric code that tells researchers where the fish was stocked. It is important anglers provide date and location of capture and fish length and weight, when possible. It will provide valuable assistance the research project.

  Most of these fish will be 16 to 25 inches long and are from the 2011 year class. This will be the first fall in which marked kings return to the streams.

Nearly 100 of the Kings were collected during the 2012 spring tournament season. For more information, or to arrange the delivery of a fish head, call Brian Breidert at the DNR Lake Michigan fisheries research station, (219) 874-6824.