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Trivia - biggest striper on record?

2K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
According to literature, the biggest recorded striped bass was ___ pounds. It was unclear whether it was a recreational catch but I doubt it.

Any guesses?
 
#7 ·
Guys,

This is an older reference, but in Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine (1953) they state the heaviest striped bass were about 125lbs and were taken at Edenton, NC, April 1891 - and here is the kicker - <b>there were several of that size taken</b>. They cited a paper from 1907 by Smith of the North Carolina Geol. and Econ. Surv., vol 2, 1907, p.271.

For some reason the 128lb figure also sticks out in my mind.

B&S also report one taken at Orleans that weighed 112lbs, although no additional info is provided.
 
#8 ·
Well there you have it! Thanks Pete, that's a much better qualified version of the information I had - confirming it is true! It is mentioned in AJ McClane's Encyclopedia.

Can you imagine??? I always thought a 40 pounder was incredible, and Tony's fish a submarine.

Food for thought next time you head out with a 7 weight
 
G
#9 ·
I remember seeing a bass mounted at Point Pleasant Hardware, in Point Pleasant, NJ... 128 pounds....
I have somewhere in my neatly organized files (NOT) a copy of some records from the Orleans Historical Society about a bass caught in the 1800's by a guy named Sparrow... on a tared codfish line on a drail... which was cast into the surf by swinging it around his head and letting it fly into the surf... I think the fish weighed 108 pounds!!!
I lost two bass that were seen by others one was over 80 pounds, and another was even bigger... saw it plain as day... I mean huge.. (100#s? maybe more) I had the fish in... almost, heavy rain squall, great fight (half hour plus) got the fish out of the current, she came towards shore, but instead of just doing what comes natural... I stoped to think... do I walk towards the fish... or walk back and slide her out of the water... during my thinking process the fish tipped to her side and my line hit a mussell covered rock, sad site to see this huge fish just slowly swim away... Went home with tears in my eyes... didn't even retie and make another cast!!! Everytime I close my eyes I can still see that fish.
 
#11 ·
Tony - Amazing to hear your encounters with giant striped beasts of the sea. You were born to tangle with huge bass. I see from your account that sometimes you win, sometime they do! Even I can see that big bass swimming away when I shut my eyes, I can only imagine what you see.

So the search continues, the hunter and the hunted at the colliding union of earth sky and sea, two heavyweights connected through the spray by a thin taught line; a tug-of-war where the victor is unknown until the final bell.
 
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