Brad,
Found this at charkbait.com. What happened to the post at BD? It just disappeared. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but it seems odd (does DFG have black helos?). Any way, this answers the question about stones and tags. But my question now is, what If I cut the cheeks out?
Steve
Seabass are tagged by inserting a very small stainless steel wire in the cheek of the fish. This wire is approximately 1/8” long and the diameter of a cat whisker. It is found by using a very specialized hand-held metal detecting wand, similar to those used at airports. Any just-legal seabass should be considered as a tagged fish. A few fish were marked externally as well, but that practice has been discontinued. The Hubbs Hatchery is requesting any angler catching a seabass to remove the head and send it to the hatchery to be checked for a tag. Please attach a tag to the head indicating when and where the fish was caught along with its length and weight. The information is invaluable for research. Several freezers have been designated at various landings to receive the heads for later transfer to the hatchery. A list of all locations accepting seabass heads for tag checks will soon be posted on the hatchery website at
www.hswri.org. For those of you who remove the “stones” from the ear canals within the heads of the fish, this will not affect the checking of the tags. “Stones” are two small calcium growths found inside the heads of seabass and are collected by some as trophies. They can be made into jewelry as well as just being objects of curiosity and conversation.