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Audio Postcard: A New York Fish Story

Pat Grasso, a member of the "Absolut-Ly" crew, prepares to test his luck with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.
Margot Adler, NPR
Pat Grasso, a member of the "Absolut-Ly" crew, prepares to test his luck with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.
Kristie Magnotta hoists a 38-inch striped bass.
Margot Adler, NPR /
Kristie Magnotta hoists a 38-inch striped bass.

The waters around Manhattan hosted a fishing tournament Friday. It was the Glenlivet Coastal Conservation Association Manhattan Cup, featuring 28 boats and nearly 100 anglers competing along the shores of a concrete metropolis.

CCA chapters operate in 15 states. The non-profit organization works to conserve and restore coastal marine resources and fisheries.

NPR's Margot Adler took part in Friday's catch-and-release outing to find out what sort of creatures lurk at the edge of Gotham. She found evidence of plenty of hearty specimens, including huge striped bass and bluefish. The Hudson River is the second largest spawing estuary on the East Coast.

Using small fish called bunkers for bait, the group aboard the Absolut-Ly set anchor in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Within minutes, the fish were biting. Adler caught a bluefish and fishing companion Kristie Magnotta hooked a good-sized striped bass. A striper weighing in at more than 39 pounds won the tournament.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Margot Adler died on July 28, 2014 at her home in New York City. She was 68 and had been battling cancer. Listen to NPR Correspondent David Folkenflik's retrospective on her life and career