Determining the age of a fish ...

[pikehunter]

I recently read a "fishing diary" of sorts in a resort newslettter in which the writer stated that he determined the age of a crappie by taking a scale from it and coloring over it lightly with a blue marker. He then counted the rings on the scale to determine the age of the fish. (Kind of like you can count the rings of a sawed off tree to determine the age of it.)
I've never heard of this fish-aging technique before. Was this guy blowing smoke, or does this work? If so does it work for other fish?

Info appreciated!

[doubleUcubed]

Pike, maybe someone can post the exact link but you'll find what you are looking for here. Go to the URL Forum, up to the right of the forum list you will see the "Show topics from the last ?? Day's", open that and select "Show all Topic", go to page 42 on the bottom and select that. You will find "Another Year Class" started by Lowe on 4/4/02. That's the thread with the info. you're looking for. P.S. He wasn't blowing smoke!