Pa striped bass report: spring, 2022 sampling season, 2022 tag returns

[Mike]

I had not searched the PFBC biologist reports for a while, so maybe some of you have already seen this. One highlight is the tag return info. Harvest info comes from over 900 Pa tag returns since 1995 and the break-down of harvest vs fish C&R’d by state is quite interesting. Note that the harvest rate in Pa is lowest despite our spring harvestable slot, which focuses any harvest primarily on males, which you can see from the electrofishing catch by size group and sex. I have no concerns about our already conservative regs and the bar graphs put that comment in context. Plus, the period of legal striped bass availability is short given the April/May slot and the migratory behavior of the species in Pa. Most bigger fish, those 28” and longer, are here and gone in a two month period with only relatively few continuing up river for the summer. I still have concerns about live-lining whole fish as a fishing technique, however, despite the required use of circle hooks. Finally, the rate of travel by one fish and a fish recovered five yrs later at the base of Conowingo Dam were also interesting.

https://www.fishandboat.com/Conservation/Plans/Management-Plans/BiologistReports/Documents/Bio2022/5x5-22-DelawareEstuary.pdf

 

[poopdeck]

I am just about finished with my yearly survey and it was a pretty bleak year. While I haven’t been out as much this year, it is a concerning. The big ones are gone or all but gone. Went out yesterday, first time in over a week because of high fast water, and it was the first day where we caught 8 schoolie size fish between 21 and 26”. Perhaps the schoolies ain’t quite here in force yet but 8 schoolies is a low number for the almost perfect conditions yesterday. I’ll be heading out again on Monday so we shall see what happens.

interesting note, of the many stripped bass I have caught over the years I have only caught one with a tag. I always look, it’s like finding a pearl.

 

[melvinthefisherman]

I had not searched the PFBC biologist reports for a while, so maybe some of you have already seen this. One highlight is the tag return info. Harvest info comes from over 900 Pa tag returns since 1995 and the break-down of harvest vs fish C&R’d by state is quite interesting. Note that the harvest rate in Pa is lowest despite our spring harvestable slot, which focuses any harvest primarily on males, which you can see from the electrofishing catch by size group and sex. I have no concerns about our already conservative regs and the bar graphs put that comment in context. Plus, the period of legal striped bass availability is short given the April/May slot and the migratory behavior of the species in Pa. Most bigger fish, those 28” and longer, are here and gone in a two month period with only relatively few continuing up river for the summer. I still have concerns about live-lining whole fish as a fishing technique, however, despite the required use of circle hooks. Finally, the rate of travel by one fish and a fish recovered five yrs later at the base of Conowingo Dam were also interesting.

https://www.fishandboat.com/Conservation/Plans/Management-Plans/BiologistReports/Documents/Bio2022/5x5-22-DelawareEstuary.pdf

I had not searched the PFBC biologist reports for a while, so maybe some of you have already seen this. One highlight is the tag return info. Harvest info comes from over 900 Pa tag returns since 1995 and the break-down of harvest vs fish C&R’d by state is quite interesting. Note that the harvest rate in Pa is lowest despite our spring harvestable slot, which focuses any harvest primarily on males, which you can see from the electrofishing catch by size group and sex. I have no concerns about our already conservative regs and the bar graphs put that comment in context. Plus, the period of legal striped bass availability is short given the April/May slot and the migratory behavior of the species in Pa. Most bigger fish, those 28” and longer, are here and gone in a two month period with only relatively few continuing up river for the summer. I still have concerns about live-lining whole fish as a fishing technique, however, despite the required use of circle hooks. Finally, the rate of travel by one fish and a fish recovered five yrs later at the base of Conowingo Dam were also interesting.

https://www.fishandboat.com/Conservation/Plans/Management-Plans/BiologistReports/Documents/Bio2022/5x5-22-DelawareEstuary.pdf

Hi Mike,

From your postings I suspect you are a fisheries biologist. Over the weekend I caught a striped bass with a reddish/pink tag in the Delaware River near Trenton NJ/Morrisville PA. I called the number on the tag this morning and it was US Fish and Wildlife. They said they are tracking migration of striped bass and I will receive documentation on my fish's origin as well as a hat in 1-2 weeks. Are you aware of any federal tagging on the Delaware river??

Im looking forward to finding out where this fish came from.

 

[Mike]

Hi Mike,

From your postings I suspect you are a fisheries biologist. Over the weekend I caught a striped bass with a reddish/pink tag in the Delaware River near Trenton NJ/Morrisville PA. I called the number on the tag this morning and it was US Fish and Wildlife. They said they are tracking migration of striped bass and I will receive documentation on my fish's origin as well as a hat in 1-2 weeks. Are you aware of any federal tagging on the Delaware river??

Im looking forward to finding out where this fish came from.

Yes. The states up and down the coast, including Pennsylvania, do the tagging with the federally supplied tags. Some info gleaned from the Pa portion of the tagging effort and returns is what is provided in the linked report above.

The vast majority of tagged fish recovered from the Delaware River and Estuary are those that have been deployed by the PFBC and State of Delaware biologists. Pa geographically tags stripers anywhere from about Chester, Pa upstream to Trenton Falls. There are generally annual returns from the Trenton/Morrisville area of fish tagged that year or during previous years from somewhere in the Estuary, including some tagged at Trenton Falls.

The tags do not remain bright pink for very long as they quickly become covered with biofilm or algae, so look for blackish pink (more black than pink) colored tags as well, which may be what you found on your fish. You have to carefully scrape off the biofilm to see the number in those cases. A bright pink tag on the fish is probably one from this year and USFWS won’t have the data yet from Pa, as Pa has probably been doing the tagging since early May, but it sounds as though your’s was a tag from a previous year since F&W said you would have your info in two weeks, unless that was a generic recording.

My crew and I set up the sampling sites in 1994-1995, started tagging in 1995 as part of the annual striped bass spawning stock electrofishing survey, and that work continued each May since then, lasting the better part of three weeks at the peak of spawning and near-shore activity. There are 21 sampling sites plus Trenton Falls, which is used only to expand the tagging effort. The last year that I participated in the work was 2018.

By the way, Trenton Falls usually remain good throughout May and at least partially into the first week of June.

 

[melvinthefisherman]

Yes. The states up and down the coast, including Pennsylvania, do the tagging with the federally supplied tags. Some info gleaned from the Pa portion of the tagging effort and returns is what is provided in the linked report above.

The vast majority of tagged fish recovered from the Delaware River and Estuary are those that have been deployed by the PFBC and State of Delaware biologists. Pa geographically tags stripers anywhere from about Chester, Pa upstream to Trenton Falls. There are generally annual returns from the Trenton/Morrisville area of fish tagged that year or during previous years from somewhere in the Estuary, including some tagged at Trenton Falls.

The tags do not remain bright pink for very long as they quickly become covered with biofilm or algae, so look for blackish pink (more black than pink) colored tags as well, which may be what you found on your fish. You have to carefully scrape off the biofilm to see the number in those cases. A bright pink tag on the fish is probably one from this year and USFWS won’t have the data yet from Pa, as Pa has probably been doing the tagging since early May, but it sounds as though your’s was a tag from a previous year since F&W said you would have your info in two weeks, unless that was a generic recording.

My crew and I set up the sampling sites in 1994-1995, started tagging in 1995 as part of the annual striped bass spawning stock electrofishing survey, and that work continued each May since then, lasting the better part of three weeks at the peak of spawning and near-shore activity. There are 21 sampling sites plus Trenton Falls, which is used only to expand the tagging effort. The last year that I participated in the work was 2018.

By the way, Trenton Falls usually remain good throughout May and at least partially into the first week of June.

The tag on the fish was pretty clean so I suspect freshly tagged.

I have done well there into June, however we need these water temps to slow down a bit. I had 66f the other night and we are lacking rain in the forecast as well as continued hot days. Sure fish will hang around when the water gets warmer but I stop fishing due to the guilt of killing almost any larger fish.

 

[melvinthefisherman]

Received my Certificate of Participation back in the mail today along with a hat. The tagging agency is listed as the PFBC and the location the delaware river and the tagging date "Spring 2023". Im going to assume this fish was likely tagged in the area I caught it in.
The Length, weight, and year class fields were all blank!

 

[Mike]

Received my Certificate of Participation back in the mail today along with a hat. The tagging agency is listed as the PFBC and the location the delaware river and the tagging date "Spring 2023". Im going to assume this fish was likely tagged in the area I caught it in.
The Length, weight, and year class fields were all blank!

That’s because those data were in all likelihood not provided to USFWS yet since the survey producing the data usually lasts until Memorial Day. There is a lot of prep time involved in aging the fish after survey completion and the age data are sent in with the length data. Weights may or may not be recorded. I don’t know what the present crew does in that regard. USFWS possibly knows when the fish was tagged because the tag data with that number was not sent to them by the PFBC in the past, suggesting the tag was used this year, or because USFWS provided that tag to the PFBC for the 2023 season.If you contact the Area Fisheries Mgr, you can find out when and where the fish was tagged.
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