Hybrid striped bass (227-455 mm TL) were surgically implanted with dummy transmitters to determine the most effective combination of antenna placement and suture material at high and low temperatures. Following insertion of the dummy tag, the antenna was either left trailing from the incision, or moved away from the incision using the shielded needle technique. The incision was then closed with either absorbable (Dexon) or non-absorbable (silk) suture materials. Three replicates of ten fish of each treatment and ten control fish were held at low (12-16^oC) and high (22-28^oC) temperatures and individually examined at 7, 30, 60, and 90 days, and at 120 days the experiment was terminated and all surviving fish necropsied. At the lower temperatures, fish suffered no mortality and minimal tag loss independent of treatment. Loss of sutures of both materials was slow (over two thirds of stitches remaining at conclusion of study), although significantly faster for absorbable sutures. At higher temperatures, fish showed no loss of tags or initial (post-surgery) mortality, but all treatments began showing significant mortality after 60 days (over 50% of treated fish), while control fish did not. Over half of absorbable sutures were lost after one month, while over half of non-absorbable sutures were lost by two months. At both temperatures, the antenna and remaining sutures caused irritation. This study indicates that when surgical implantation of transmitters with an external antenna is the preferred attachment method, placement of the antenna away from the incision does not reduce tag loss and either method is effective and results in high transmitter retention at high and low temperatures. The use of absorbable sutures is recommended for tagging as the quicker rate of suture loss reduced foci for inflammation while still allowing the incision to heal completely. Post-surgery mortality rates were zero at both temperatures, indicating that for short term studies tagging can be performed at high temperatures, however long term effects of high water temperature on tagged fish may result in high delayed mortality of study fish.