Dont know the weight but was Just under 40" would of kept it but had already kept my 2 fish for the year.

what they said

Every single one I've caught in the last 3 years up to 43 lbs. Doesn't matter how big, everybody goes back (yes including a 50+). I don't eat them and can't sell them besides I like to watch them swim away. :D

Was 44+", no scale on the boat, but I'm guessing from the girth measurement, it was a 40+. It was so fat, my buddy that lipped it called it a "monstrosity."
Didn't have a cooler big enough on the boat to keep it cold.
Great foggy day off Rockport, we all caught 10+ keepers, I got 19.
Wish it was like that every day.
Later,
Rick

It's actually a funny story...
We left port on my old boat (Mikey's got it now), a 15' Starcraft fiberglass, with three of us on board, a scary proposition on that thing, and in the fog with no compass to boot.
Got to the spot, started casting, and it was crazy...coudn't get out of each other's way landing fish...
Anyhow, the fog broke, fishing slowed down, and I noticed that my friend who was using Mikey's Walmart rod was looking down at the floor of the boat starting to get seasick.
I ask him what his problem is, and he tells me that he can't get a good feel on the hits. Anyhow, I decide to give him my custom Fenwick with the new Penn Liveliner that I've been using all day.
I had a GLoomis conventional on board that I had just bought, but was very new at casting with.
It's just starting to get sunny out, beautiful July day, and I've got 15 keepers under my belt, so I lob a herring head 40' off the back of the boat, and settle down to enjoy a well deserved beer and cigarette with the baitcaster in the rod holder. I finish my butt, grab a sub and proceed to chill out, when all of a sudden the biggest tail I've ever seen smashes the surface. I was stunned...then proceeded to notice that the Loomis was doubled over and screaming.
The fish got me down to the gold on the spool with never used Yozuri hybrid 20#, when we decided to pull anchor, and give chase.
After 27 minutes I got her boatside, what a monster!!! Should've kept it just to weigh it, but it was the biggest striper I had ever seen with my own eyes, so I decied to let it go.
To this day, I feel that it was the absolute luckiest moment of my life. My buddy proceeded to get 10 keepers with my Fenwick, and we all had a great day.
Later,
Rick

i have a hard time believing that 9 out of 10 fish die when released.