2025 South Shore Striper Tournament

The five categories include:

Motorized Boat Angler, Adult – $1,000 Cash Prize
Motorized Boat Angler, 12 and under – Fishing Gear Prize Package
Shore or Dock Angler, Adult – $1,000 Cash Prize
Shore or Dock Angler, 12 and under – Fishing Gear Prize Package
Fly Fishing, Shore only, All Ages – $1,000 Cash Prize
Calcutta – 2nd Place fish in Adult Boat or Shore, 2nd Place fish in Fly Fishing category

Have a measuring stick from a previous South Shore Striper Tournament? Bring it with you, get a 2025 sticker, and become eligible for a prize drawing.

We encourage you to submit videos of you releasing your catch as part of your entry. Release videos will be entered to win additional prizes.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Check the 2025 Leaderboard

This is a catch and release only tournament. Good catch and release techniques allow us to have a great tournament with high survival of caught stripers.

Follow these seven steps to protect Striped Bass and adhere to responsible catch and release practices:

• Use lures not bait with a single hook and flag bucktail teasers. Do NOT use trebles. Go barbless, and use circle hooks if using bait. Trebles and bait will increase fish mortality.
• Limit fight time. Use heavier lines & leaders to reduce fight time.
• Use extra long net to land the striper
• Keep in water and remove the hook gently. Use hook removal tools if available.
• Use wet hands and keep fish horizontal. Support the middle.
• Be prepared to take a photo and measure to reduce air time to less than 10 seconds. Every second counts!
• Get fish in water and move water over gills until they bite your fingers. Release!

For more details, investigate proper catch and release techniques from Stripers In Our Hands Campaign. 

We encourage you to submit as part of your entry, videos of you releasing your catch. (Release videos will be entered to win additional prizes.)

To Find out more check out these new MassDMF Striped Bass Tactics videos, and a presentation from Keep Fish Wet on proper catch and release techniques to conserve the fishery.

• The tournament starts at 5:00pm Friday, June 6, and catch records can be submitted for eligibility from then until 12:00 noon on Sunday, June 8.
• Winners will be posted on the leaderboard. Prizes can be picked up at awards presentation at Belsan Bait & Tackle on Sunday, June 8 at 2:00pm. You can also join in by Zoom. The link will be sent to you.
• This is a catch and release only tournament. See details under CATCH AND RELEASE PRACTICES section below.
• Winners will be chosen from photos submitted within time limits of tournament only. Submit catch pictures by texting or e-mailing: fishing@nsrwa.org.
• Catch records will not be considered eligible before 5:00 pm Friday, June 6 or after 12:00noon on Sunday, June 8.
• Adult entries are $75, Children 12 and under are $35, Calcutta is $20
  (Day of entries are $80 for adults )
• By participating in the South Shore Striper Tournament you  are supporting the NSRWA, a nonprofit that is restoring fisheries – specifically river herring fisheries – on the South Shore through citizen science and online monitoring, through dam removals, and habitat restoration. (Click on map to enlarge.)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Check the 2025 Leaderboard

RULES
To Submit a Fish Photo:

• Winning fish will be judged by the length of the fish, and not the weight.
• The total length of the fish is defined from the lower jaw to the end of the tail pushed together.
• The fish should be placed on the provided measuring board, with the lower jaw touching the 90-degree lip at the beginning of the board, and the tail towards the end of the board pinched together to measure fish total length.
• For a picture to be eligible it must have the entire fish in the frame, including the 4-digit registration code on the end of the board; this code will identify the submitted catch to each individual registered angler and their category. For the Fly Fishing division the reel must be in the photo.
• There will be five (5) categories to register under and receive winnings. No angler can win multiple categories without paying for more than one, and those who register for multiple categories cannot win more than one with the same length fish.
• Winning catch will be judged on overall length, and no fish will be manipulated to extend length that would result in damage to the fish.
• For submitted pictures to be eligible, fish must be landed in waters within the following geographic boundaries: Massachusetts Bay, southwest of a line from Nahant to Race Point, Provincetown; with a western boundary of the South Shore land masses and eastern boundary of the outer Cape. No fish caught west of the breakwater of the Sandwich end of the Cape Cod Canal will be eligible.
• DMF adopted new regulations for the recreational striped bass fishery in 2023. Under these regulations, recreational anglers may take one fish per day in a slot limit of 28” to less than 31”. These rules will stay in place until further notice.
• We encourage you to submit as part of your entry, videos of you releasing your catch. (Release videos will be entered to win additional prizes.)

To obtain your MA Fishing license, please go to this link: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/get-a-recreational-saltwater-fishing-permit

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Check the 2025 Leaderboard

Click here for Keep Fish Wet Handling Practices.