What does it take to catch a record striper?
It probably requires the right combination of skill, luck and timing. And timing is not just being at the right place on the right tide – how much your striper of a lifetime weighs might depend on what time of the season you connect with it.
On Tuesday, May 14, 2013, Amanda Nutt of Barnegat Light brought to the scales at Fishermans Headquarters in Ship Bottom, New Jersey a massive striper that measured 55 inches long – about an inch longer than the current world record striped bass, an 81.88-pounder caught in August of 2011 by Connecticut angler Greg Myerson. It was also 2 inches longer than the NJ state record bass that Myerson beat – Al McReynold’s 78-1/2-pounder, caught in September 1982, was 53 inches long with a girth of 34-1/2 inches. Nutt’s incredible catch pulled the scale down to “only” 56 pounds, 3 ounces. According to the folks at Fisherman’s Headquarters, it had a huge head but was was surprisingly skinny, with only a 28-1/4-inch girth.
It’s likely that Nutt’s striper had recently finished spawning and was just now beginning its post-spawn feed. It was probably at its lowest weight of the year. Looking at it’s massive head and frame, one has to wonder… had it ever, after a summer-long feeding binge and with a belly full of bunker, broken the 80-pound mark?
That is the stuff that dreams are made of.
Nazz315430
another female that won’t be breeding…guess no one has cameras anymore
totally agree and this is a Captain who makes his living on this species! Why do we keep taking these female breeders
No kidding! Why on earth would you keep a fish like that? Measure it up take a picture and say goodbye!!!!
My mother catches. Bigger. Scup. Then that
[…] Nutt aboard the Striper, trolling bunker spoons off Island Beach State Park, when she landed this 56-pound striper. photo courtesy Fisherman’s […]
It’s only the haters that say let that fish go, but know dam well if they caught a fish like that they’d be running to the tackle shop to weigh it in lol
I agree with Patrick, I like most people like to see the big females released, we all want to be catching these fish in the future, but for one these fish don’t come that often to an angler and if I catch a fish that happens to be the biggest fish of my career I’m gonna keep it to get it skin mounted like I just did with a 50″ striper I caught a week ago. Once I have that big fish under my belt I’m gonna release most fish I catch unless its to put dinner on the plate, but if I beat my own personal record that fish is coming home with me…sorry.
Also if I didn’t keep it some non American can’t speak English person would have caught it next and kept it
your wrong because I have caught my fare share of slobs and I would never keep her as for one they taste nasty most important reason to go on to keep the bass population going, and no it’s not all haters saying they would put her back its us whom care and appreciate and respect the game, there r cameras in everyones pockets these days and a pic lasts a lifetime now this bas is gone over bragging in a tackle shop, the pic on your phone is as good if not better than the one in a shop, I take pics release and share with local tackle shops and it still gets posted all over! this is pathetic and this captain should be ashamed of himself.
As long as the fish is legal, nobody has any right to criticize! There are regulations for a reason. If you are a catch and release fisherman, thats fantastic. Kudos to you. Me, if it’s legal, I’m keeping it!