It all started out as a simple idea for striper whiz kid and The Fisherman contributor, Richard DeMarte. Already well on his way to becoming an accomplished bass fishing sharpie, he thought it might be a worthwhile endeavor to tag and log every linesider he caught and released. Little did he know at the time that it would be the start of a tremendous journey that really is still just getting underway.
On July 3, a few days following his 18th birthday, DeMarte hit a true milestone by catching, measuring, tagging and releasing his 1,000th linesider since he began keeping records. Amazingly, his tagging efforts started less than six years ago. “I thought this might be a little fun,” he explained, “but never imagined it would get to this point."
Over the years, DeMarte has received calls from 73 fishermen that have re-caught stripers he tagged in his home waters of western Long Island Sound along the New York/Connecticut border. The majority of calls came from within a 30-mile range, but one fish was recaptured by an angler in Cape Cod, and two more were corralled in Chesapeake Bay.
Those who have followed the rapid rise of this young angler through the striper ranks are not really surprised by any of this. DeMarte has already developed quite a reputation as a striper specialist, landing his first sponsor, Sufix fishing line, while visiting a trade show at the age of 12. In the years since, he’s added more than a dozen sponsors to his name. He has also blossomed as an outdoor writer with more than 20 feature articles published in local, regional and national magazines.
All indications, as he continues to gain experience and sharpen his fishing skills, are that DeMarte is just hitting stride. Look for more to come as he keeps doing what he enjoys greatly and is obviously quite good at – slipping his boat tight against the rocky shoreline in the shallow waters of Long Island Sound to plug and liveline stripers while smiling ear-to-ear every time another battle begins.
