Join The Fisherman for a day of striped bass tagging on May 15, 2025.
The Northeast Striped Bass Study was launched in May of 2019 with a pair of pop-up archival fish tags, and perhaps a little bit of a dream. Planned around the time of the post-spawn departure of striped bass from the Hudson River, a crew from Gray FishTag Research had come up from Florida with the two high-tech units developed by Wildlife Computers. Together with The Fisherman’s Mike Caruso and former Navionics staffer Paul Michele, we eased out of the Skyport Marina along the FDR Drive aboard Rocket Charters on the morning of May 19th in search of jumbo striped bass.
We would deploy both of those satellite tags for the day on stripers of 34 and 42 inches, one aboard Rocket Charters and the other – after a rather dicey boat-to-boat transfer in fast-moving Hudson River currents off the Statue of Liberty – while fishing onboard Capt. Frank Wagenhoffer’s Fish Chasers charters.
With our close proximity to Lady Liberty and eventual disembarkment at the base of the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan, the naming of our first two Northeast Striped Bass Study fish came quite naturally, Liberty and Freedom.
Suffice to say, we continue to grow.
Tracking The Migration
Designed by the Washington-based Wildlife Computers, the MiniPAT devices we’ve been using each year since are a sophisticated combination of archival and Argos satellite technology designed to track the large-scale movements and behavior of fish that don’t spend enough time at the surface (as with white sharks) to allow the use of real-time Argos satellite tags. Each satellite tag deployed has three components to collect data:
Tracking Data: Light-based Geolocation
Diving Behavior: Time-at-Depth Histograms
Temperature Profiles: Profile of Depth and Temperature
By November of 2019, we’d learned a little bit about Liberty from downloads off the Argos satellite passing overhead. But when the MiniPAT device was actually found along the shores of Massachusetts and sent back to researchers for analysis, it offered even more surprises. According to the stored data, after a quick trip down along the Jersey Shore, Liberty traveled in a northeasterly direction in federal waters towards the South Shore of Long Island where she spent Memorial Day weekend well off the beach in depths to 100 feet or more. She then meandered in a south/southeasterly direction, spending most of June in parts of Ryan, Nantucket and Clipper canyons, cruising mostly in the 40- to 80-foot depths.
Just as we were going to print with the November, 2019 edition of The Fisherman and the story of Liberty, we learned that the second MiniPAT device had also been found, this time by a guy doing beach cleanup near Asbury Park at the Jersey Shore. Once received by the team at Gray FishTag Research, and with the help of Wildlife Computers, we found that Freedom headed off in a southeasterly direction after getting tagged in the lower Hudson, moving above the Hudson Shelf Valley towards the westernmost tip of the Hudson Canyon just inside the Babylon Valley – a distance of roughly 100 miles.
The info stored in that MiniPAT device showed that Freedom eventually spent her summer in the Nantucket Shoals after doing a lot of bobbing and weaving offshore through the early part of summer. And in the 6 years since, one relative constant we’ve seen from tagging results show that Nantucket Shoals has become an aggregation point for a lot of jumbo striped bass every season, just outside of the 3-mile range for Massachusetts anglers to legally target during the height of the summer season.
This was the start of our annual tagging efforts, and we have since deployed a total of 32 similar devices, 14 of which have been physically retrieved through the end of ‘24. On top of the high-tech stuff, over 7,300 Gray FishTag Research streamer tags have been deployed on catch and release stripers, with more than 300 return “recaptures” so far, and counting.
The level of support from The Fisherman’s readers and advertising partners in the past 6 years has been remarkable, which is essentially why we’ve expanded this annual day of tagging to include our entire Fisherman family.
After a “soft launch” in 2023, followed by a more publicized event in 2024 (albeit in rather sporty conditions punctuated by 20- to 30-knot winds) we are proud to be back again in 2025 with StriperQuest ’25 on Thursday, May 15 out of Highlands, NJ with the captains meeting set for Wednesday, May 14 at 6 p.m. at Gateway Marina on the Raritan Bay.
Our goal? Well, to deploy another five pop-up archival devices. But more importantly, it’s about bringing together hardcore striper anglers for a day of comradery and competition, in the largest single day of striped bass tagging anywhere along the Striper Coast.
Our May 15 Lineup
For our day of striper tagging on May 15, there are five study boats set-up to deploy pop-up archival transmitting (PAT) tags designed by Wildlife Computers. Three boats will have MiniPAT tags for collecting data from larger fish in the 35-inch range and up, and two of our crews will be working with brand new MicroPAT tags, the smallest PAT tag on the market. Since the start of this effort in 2019 we’ve been focused on finding some of the largest striped bass of the season to hold the MiniPAT device, but this year we’ll be adding a pair of MicroPAT tags designed for tracking the vertical and horizontal movements of smaller striped bass under 30 inches.
| STRIPERQUEST ‘25 |
| All captains and anglers must complete and sign the StriperQuest rules (point your camera phone at the QR code for rules and registration).
Captains Meeting: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 6 p.m. at Gateway Marina, 34 Bay Avenue in Highlands, NJ. At least one member of each crew must be present to pick up tagging equipment. Mandatory Check-In: Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 6:30 a.m. off Bahr’s Landing (display BOAT Number and radio check VHF 63). Lines in at 7 am. Lines In: Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 7 a.m. Lines Out: Fishing ends at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, 2025. All fish to be entered into the contest must be tagged and released by 2:30 pm. Meet Up: All participants must be back at Gateway Marina by 4:30 pm, Thursday, May 15, 2025, to turn in tag data cards and gather any awards. |
This ongoing effort couldn’t happen without the dedication and financial support of our sponsors, with Chuck Many of Tyman and Dave Glassberg of Critter Catcher having become two of the largest “private” sponsors of the work. Each of these boats will have PAT tags for deployment, with Many’s crew set to include fellow study contributor Dave Nova along with captains John Mathena (Patriot Fishing Charters) and Clint Lessard (SHO-NUF Sportfishing) out of Virginia, as well as Dr. Adam Aguiar from Stockton University including; Glassberg’s crew is set to have “corporate” partners from Yamaha also in search of a tag-worthy candidate.
Justin Poe and the PENN Fishing Team will be onboard Capt. Dave Shunke’s Fish Circus with a PAT tag for deployment, while Yo-Zuri’s Chris Bishop is testing new lures all week but is set to focus on striper tagging on May 15th while fishing with Capt. Rob Radlof aboard his Conch 27. A fifth boat will consist of the AFW/Hi-Seas team of Mike Shields and Shawn Carpenter aboard Andrea’s Toy Charters captained by Greg DeMello, a three-time top tagger worldwide for Gray FishTag Research.
All five of these boats will have a PAT device to deploy – two micros and three minis in total – which we hope will provide five tracking candidates for the summer of 2025, fish ranging in size from the mid 20-inch class all the way up to 40-pounders.
In addition to the five research boats – and this is where you come in – we’ve been fielding entries since February for tagging teams who will compete for tournament prizes on the day of the event. The team from Gray will be bringing $3,000 worth of green streamer tags and tagging sticks to the event, one tournament package for each boat entered. The first striped bass caught, tagged and released after the 7 a.m. “lines in” start will receive an award; there will also be prizes for the most striped bass measured, tagged and released.
| STUDY SPONSORS |
| Major sponsors of the ongoing Northeast Striped Bass Study partnership with Gray Fishtag Research and The Fisherman in 2025 include American Fishing Wiring (AFW), Berkeley Striper Club, Caterpillar Marine, Fin-Nor, the Fisheries Conservation Trust, Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, LBI Surf Fishing Classic, the Many, Glassberg and Nova families, Montauk Surfcasters Association, New York Sportfishing Federation, PENN, Raritan Bay Anglers Club, Seaguar, Simrad, Southernmost Apparel, Yamaha, Yo-Zuri, and Van Staal.
If this study is interesting to you, if you’d like to see more research like this, and if you believe that gathering more data about the striped bass migration is important, then we hope you come aboard. For a $25 tax-deductible charitable donation to Gray Fishtag Research, you’ll receive a custom decal from marine artist Carey Chen that allows you to show your support for the Northeast Striped Bass Study. Contact Roxanne Willmer at 844-824-8353 or Roxanne@grayfishtag.org or go to grayfishtag.org. |
First place will receive 50% of the tournament pot, second place team will earn 30%, while third place crew will win 20%. Plus, each of the three top tagging boats will take home a tournament bucket filled with sponsor products (15% of the entry fee contributions go back to Gray FishTag Research). We’re also expecting friends from Seaguar, Caterpillar, the Fisheries Conservation Trust, Hudson River Fishermen’s Association and Berkeley Striper Club rounding out the line-up, and a several Raritan Bayshore charter captains including Capt. Guy Buono of Krunch Sport Fishing Charters and Capt. Brian Rice of Jersey Devil Sportfishing Charters have already committed.
Capt. Buono, by the way, will be competing to defend his title as top tagging boat from StriperQuest ’24 with 18 stripers, while Capt. Shunke’s PENN crew is looking to improve on their 13-fish day in ’24 for second, while last year’s third place Ol’ Dirty Basser team (Tom Streahle, Ryan Anderson, Michael Zedek, and Chris McCormack) hopes to up their 11 fish score from ’24 in an effort to go from bronze to gold.
So what are you doing on Thursday, May 15? Why not come striper fishing, and tagging, with us?
