This Year’s Striper Cup Is Dedicated to Patrick Paquette
Since 2020, we have dedicated the Striper Cup each season to an individual or organization that best represents the spirit of the tournament: a celebration of striped bass fishing, conservation, and preserving the tradition for the next generation of anglers. This year, that dedication goes to Patrick Paquette of Hyannis, Massachusetts.
Patrick’s path into fisheries advocacy began on Gloucester, Massachusetts party boats, where he went from regular customer to mate. He later went to New England Maritime as a mate in Boston, earned his masters license, and eventually became the captain and owner of his own charter vessel.
He also spent time in the tackle industry, working in product development, sales, and marketing, and wrote about sport fishing and regional fisheries management for a range of publications. Over more than 30 years, Patrick has experienced nearly every corner of the recreational fishing community.
Patrick joined the Massachusetts Striped Bass Association in 1995, served as its president from 2001 to 2003, and has been its government affairs officer since March 2002. He is also the only person to have served as president of both MSBA and the Massachusetts Beach Buggy Association. Along the way, he chaired MSBA’s inaugural fly-fishing program, edited the club’s Spray newsletter, and organized its annual expo on multiple occasions.
Patrick served as a stakeholder representative on the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries’ Striped Bass Working Group in 2002, 2004, and 2013. He also helped ensure that when Massachusetts established a recreational saltwater fishing permit, its revenue would support recreational fishing initiatives. Those fees now fund public fishing access and conservation—work Patrick continues to help oversee as a member of the state’s Marine Recreational Fisheries Development Panel.
He has also served on the New England Fishery Management Council’s Recreational Advisory Panel and on Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission advisory panels for striped bass, menhaden, and herring. He regularly attends meetings of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council as well, working alongside recreational fishing and beach-access organizations from North Carolina to Maine.
What ties all of Patrick’s advocacy together is an unwavering faith in the fisheries-management process and a belief that public participation is essential to making that process work. He has spoken up for the striped bass resource at every available opportunity, championed forage-fish conservation and habitat restoration, and participated in federal workshops calling for better data, stronger science, and more effective management. Through it all, he has remained committed to ensuring that the resource is accessible to everyone, regardless of means.
Patrick put it best himself:
“If I never work on another campaign again, I have already done enough to leave the ocean and the community that gave me both a life and my wife better than I found it. Tell me … what is better than that?”
On behalf of everyone at On The Water—and everyone who has ever chased striped bass from pier, beach, or boat—thank you, Patrick.
