Otoliths in Norcal fish

But no one mentioned why you might want to extract otoliths....
How about so you can age the fish?  Check out this little website for info.
https://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/age/ageinginteractive/pop_easy.htm

But then you gotta cut em open right? 

Then they won't be as pretty... 

 

So, the website says slice them and smoke them over a flame to a caramel color.  If I had a whole otolith I'd smoke it and see if you can see the rings without sectioning 'em... Even if you had to cut 'em, there's some good data there!
Thanks for sharing your adventures, Jim

So, the website says slice them and smoke them over a flame to a caramel color.  If I had a whole otolith I'd smoke it and see if you can see the rings without sectioning 'em... Even if you had to cut 'em, there's some good data there!
Thanks for sharing your adventures, Jim

I do have some broken ones...should try and see if I can figure out the age...thanks for the link!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Salmon...

Had a hard time finding them via my usual locate bubble and slice open method...cooked and ate head and found em though...and head meat/cartilage was BOMB.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Salmon...

Had a hard time finding them via my usual locate bubble and slice open method...cooked and ate head and found em though...and head meat/cartilage was BOMB.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Imagine how big they are in a real salmon
(Jk Jim)

Pulled out the stones from my most recent butt last night when eating the head.

Small butt, small stones.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

But no one mentioned why you might want to extract otoliths....
How about so you can age the fish?  Check out this little website for info.
https://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/age/ageinginteractive/pop_easy.htm

Thanks for the cool link. That is a lot harder and more subjective than looking at tree rings.

Finally got a chance to pull the stones out of a WSB!!

Pics don't do them justice...

 

Finally got a chance to pull the stones out of a WSB!!

Pics don't do them justice...

 

Cool. I hope this means you finally got to shoot one?

Another example of teeny tiny Ling stones...fish was 35 inches...

 

Sincerely,

Jim