By Daryl Bauer
Jeremiah Johnson is one of the best movies ever. I am betting my brother-in-law can quote every line from that movie. One of those lines, “You’ve Come Far, Pilgrim” seems appropriate for the story I am about to tell … .
In my position at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, I communicate with a lot of folks. It is not unusual that anglers report catches of tagged fish to me. Now, I have not done the field work to tag any of those fish in recent years, but I know the biologists that have. Usually, I can figure out to whom the reports of tagged fish should be directed.
Late last month I received an email from an angler who had caught a tagged flathead catfish from the Missouri River in southeast Nebraska. The fish was estimated to weigh 10 pounds or so and was released after the tag was removed from the fish. The tag number was #11278, but no other information could be read from the tag.
Since it was a catfish caught from the Missouri River, I thought Dr. Mark Pegg at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln might have an idea who tagged the fish. Mark determined that the fish was not one that he nor any University of Nebraska students had tagged. No Game and Parks biologists were responsible for tagging the fish either.
After some networking, it was discovered that the flathead had been tagged some time ago and far away. The fish was tagged by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on the Mississippi River north of St. Louis! It was tagged in June of 2016 when it weighed a little more than 2.5 pounds.
It is amazing to consider the time and distance that fish covered. Also exercises the imagination knowing how much it had grown and how many crayfish and small fish had been gulped to fuel that growth.
More importantly, it illustrates how fish communities in river systems can move long distances. It indicates just how broad and inclusive habitat is for riverine fish species. The habitat for that flathead catfish was not just the Missouri River in southeast Nebraska. It was an entire Missouri/Mississippi river drainage! Activities on any one stretch of that river basin can and does have an impact throughout the entire system!
Nice to have a 10-some pound flattie to teach us that.