Wow, can those striped bass swim! (For you Mass. guys)

[TimC2520]

My family (fishing buddies) do a lot of tagging for the American Littoral Society (ALS) down here in NJ.
We have somewhere around 600+- tags "somewhere out there" with 21 returned so far. The most recent was probably the furthest yet to travel.
Back on 11/27/04 we tug a striped bass of the coast of Beach Haven, NJ which is roughly half way between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light, NJ.
It was 19 inches long. This fish was recently recaptured on 5/25/08 in the vicinity of Castle Neck Creek, Essex, MA with a length of 26 inches.
I'm not sure if the fish was released or what the regs are up there on stripers, but I thought it was interesting enough to post. I wonder if he/she is still swimming!
Hope you enjoy.

Tim

 

[Megabyte]

I wonder if he/she is still swimming!

Let us all hope it is, and someone reports on how big it got 4 years from now. :wink:

 

[CCparker]

I'm far from an expert on this topic, but I was wondering if that growth rate is typical. From 19 inches to 26 inches in 3 1/2 years seems pretty slow to me, but I was just curious what you thought. Thanks

 

[TimC2520]

I thought the same thing, but I guess with most living things, some grow fast, tall, maybe in spurts, others are slow growers, end up short.
I've never researched striped bass growth figures but I'm trying to find some.

 

[goinsfishin]

Stripers grow 3-4 inches/year for the first 4-5 years and then taper back to around 2 1/2 to 3" per year. They start adding girth at this point.
I have a chart courtesy of Capn John Spangler on the Catnip in Deale,MD.
I'll reproduce it electronically and post.