The 2026 red drum satellite tagging season officially began just after sunrise this past Tuesday on the Manteo waterfront.
At 5:45 that morning, the sounds of Dare County were stirring. The humidity hung in the air, the biting flies had apparently skipped breakfast, and Captain Bryan DeHart was doing what experienced guides do before the first cast: quietly preparing. Beside him was his youngest daughter, 12-year-old Faith, who would serve as our angler for the day and, as it turned out, become part of the story herself.
Our Foundation launched this tracking project with a simple goal: to help answer some of the biggest remaining questions about North Carolina’s red drum. Where do they travel? When do they leave our sounds? How deep do they swim? What habitats matter most throughout the year?
This summer marks an important step forward. After evaluating last year’s results, we transitioned to Wildlife Computers’ microPAT satellite tag, one of the most advanced fish tracking technologies available today. Smaller than a deck of cards and weighing just 46 grams, the tag continuously records depth, temperature, light levels, and location before releasing from the fish months later to transmit its data by satellite.
After landing several healthy red drum in the mid-30-inch class, one reel suddenly came alive at 10:15 a.m. The unmistakable run told us this fish was different. Five minutes later, a magnificent 44-inch red drum rested briefly in the holding trough. Working quickly, we attached one of our new microPAT satellite tags using a small, tethered dart placed securely in the musculature just below the dorsal fins. We also added a familiar red reward tag, worth $100 should the fish ever be recaptured and reported.
After only a few moments, the fish was lowered back into the water and held alongside the boat until it powered away. For the next eight months, that red drum will carry nearly $4,000 worth of technology, quietly recording every movement, every dive, and every change in water temperature before the tag releases and transmits its data package to the Argos satellite system.
It was the first satellite-tagged red drum of the year. We just didn’t know it had already been given a name.
Got to Have Faith
As that big red drum peeled line from the reel, another familiar sound filled the boat: country artist Randy Travis.
The music drifted from Faith’s Turtlebox speaker while we concentrated on the fish at the end of the line and prepared for tagging. It was one of those moments that couldn’t have been scripted. When the red drum was finally alongside the boat, Faith looked at it for a second and smiled. “I think we should call him Randy.” The name stuck immediately.
For scientists, that fish will always be identified by a tag number. But for us, Randy suddenly became more than a data point. He became a reminder that science is often built on moments that feel surprisingly personal. Moments like these remind us that some of the best conservation stories don’t begin in laboratories. They begin on the water, with people who care enough to ask questions.
Captain Bryan has been one of the guides helping make this project possible from the beginning. This year, he brought along the next generation. Faith didn’t spend the morning looking at her phone. She watched every bait go out, celebrated every fish that came onto the boat, caught a speckled trout behind a popping cork, and witnessed firsthand how a research project unfolds. Before the trip was over, she had seen a wild red drum carrying one of the most sophisticated satellite tags available disappear back into the Croatan Sound.
By one o’clock, the August heat had finally won. We pointed the bow back toward Manteo, loaded the gear, and wrapped up the first tagging trip of the season the same way many good fishing trips do: at T.L.’s Restaurant, where Faith had more than earned a pancake.
Meanwhile, somewhere out in the sounds, Randy had already begun writing the first chapter of this year’s research season. Eight months from now, Randy’s tag will detach, float to the surface, and begin sending back the story of where he traveled, how deep he swam, and the waters he encountered along the way. Combined with tags deployed across North Carolina, those individual stories will help build one of the most detailed pictures of red drum movement and behavior yet.
Stay tuned for Randy’s profile, coming soon to our tracking platform.
This story was first published in our weekly newsletter. Click here to subscribe.