“Talk to your dad tonight and let me know what day works for you,” was the text I received from Chuck Many on October 22, 2022. “Forecast looks good Tuesday, Wednesday and or Thursday, but east wind always makes me a little nervous.”
The month prior at The Fisherman’s annual fishing show in Huntington on Long Island, Gray Fishtag Research president Bill Dobbelaer had given me the tag stick and MiniPAT device destined for October deployment off the Jersey Coast. The New York event was a huge success; in addition to collecting another high-tech tracking device, the panel discussion with Dobbelaer, The Fisherman’s Mike Caruso and Capt. Dave Marciano of Wicked Tuna fame generated terrific public response while netting a $1,000 donation from the New York Sportfishing Federation towards our ongoing Northeast Striped Bass Study in 2023.
With the $5,000 MiniPAT device locked tight in my UWK “bulletproof” case, I was chomping at the bit for our final striped bass deployment of 2022 out of Highlands in New Jersey in Chuck’s True World named Tyman which we set for Tuesday, October 25. The day before the trip Chuck texted back “6:45 at the boat tomorrow. I think the ocean will be a little ‘sporty’. Think your dad will be okay?”
Hutch, Sr. turned 79 the month prior, and my best fishing buddy in life was about to join me on another Northeast Striped Bass Study expedition with the best striper fisherman I know. “He’s a go,” I texted back, prompting the legendary Tyman, Ric Flair-like “WOOOOOO!” in return.
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