50lb ?
 

JOHN, if it fact,or fiction 50lb on a long wand! if so,had to be from a boat!!!!
"GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN"

Now I do not claim to know much about catching stripers on fly rods but as it goes my curiosity has gotten the best of me.
I Know a few people that spend a lot of time fishing with a flyrod in alaska for the kings, they claim that many kings are taken every year approaching that weight. know I know that we are dealing with a lovesick fish that may not have eaten for a while but from all reports they still fight like the devil. No matter what its quite an accomplishment if its true.

Tarpon, sails, tuna, dorado over 50# have well been taken so it certainly is possible.

I think they key is a) boat or shore, and b) can you lure such a large and lazy fish fish to take a fly?

My thinking is fiction or ate least a fish tale that been exagerated along the way... Possible from shore? Probably (not that I know), but I'm sure the Monomoy Boys have had a shot at something nice....

Inspite of the estimates of the fish stocks there are some record breakers (fly and all-tackle) still swimming out there. I've met several commercial divers who swear they've seen 100# bass around the bridges of NYC harbor.

JOHNR, thats what I thought. (not true) I
have taken 40"+ fish in MONOMOY just 16'
off shore w/fly rod, an all the big boys are like dragging in a tire,I take the fight of a BLUE FISH any day,(sorry) love to see them an the stripers SURFING the waves an casting to them an watching them crash out smack the fly.MONOMOY is firing up as we speak should be a couple of THOUSAND fish around every day now,so
come on down an catch a few! I drove around checking a lot of spots last night, there are fresh fish every where, lots of 28-30" FAT fish caught them on FLIES, plugs, on the surface an a couple of feet down."GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN"

Hi Rich
I'm quite puzzled.
First of all a 40" (about 20#) fish isn't all that big (its big on a flyrod, not so on a 50# wireline outfit).
I've caught a few stripers over 40" on a flyrod and I would not characterize any of their fights as 'like bringing in a tire' ... quite the contrary.
If there was any way of controlling such things, you could have my quota of bluefish ... with pleasure.

MIKE, I ment the weight of pulling in the fish was like that heavy,Ive caught 40"+
stripers out at monomoy just of shore on the long wand. sorry if I mixed you up.BUT if you have some blue's you would like to get rid ( ove ) Ill cooken up for ya!
"GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN"

The IGFA 2000 record book list a 64lb 8oz bass caught on 12lb tippet at the Smith River in Oregon. Also a 51lb 8oz at the same river on 16lb tippet. They were caught in 1973 and 1974 respectively.

There were fly rod striper records broken almost daily back in the early 70's when those records were set. Most of the fish were coming from the Smith River in Oregon.
A friend had a conversation about this fishery with a former West Coast FFing luminary and former FFing record holder. He insinuated that the fishery was not really 'fair chase'. The fish were in a small isolated section of river. They were either pre-spawn or spawned out and rather lethargic. Plus they were more or less confined to the pocket they were in.
They were certainly still great fish ... but it sort of explains how they were able to land more than a few a 60+# fish on 12# tippets.

Like the trout pool at Worcester - OK, not exactly, as it is still quite an acomplishment. But it does explain how one could get so many big fish in the same spot over a short period of time.

Overall, a lot of records (fly and non-fly) have been set by methods other than what we typically think of as cast, hook, fight, land. For example, I have spoken with people who witnessed attempts at setting offshore records with ultra light tackle. Do you really think someone can land a 100# marlin or tuna on 4# or 6# line with a conventional fight?

They all meet IGFA regulations, just not the way you typical think of when you hear of a record catch.