Who has reached that elusive 50 mark?

[Patrick82]

50lb striper is that mark we all shoot for. Who has reached it?

If you have gotten a 50, when did you catch it? (looking for a year), and in what state?

What did you catch it on?

Just for the record, I never caught a 50.

[10x10]

'91 Marthas Vineyard,Chicken scratch bomber 1:00 pm Nov 2nd at Quansoo.Fish was 52" long X 29 1/2"
in girth.Caught and released.If you go by the fishes weight formula,(girth squared times the length divide by 800) it comes to 56 lbs and change.Never know for sure cause I let it go but if that wasn't a 50 I would like to see what is.
Sure looked every bit of it to me.
Funny how you fish your brains out all those nights freezing and wet and tired and than catch a fish like that in the middle of the day at a spot no ones fished in months and make about 6 casts before it hits.Wasn't even seriously fishing.Matter of fact I was leaving in a few hours and was just killing time.
I always thought I got that fish just because I made about 50 million casts before I got one that big.Pure law of averages.Plain and simple.Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while.

[Got Stripers]

The 52 lber pictured on John's bragging board, was caught on a live bunker, the big ones back in the late 80's. Although, I was seriously fishing, the fish was an accident of sorts. I was using a 6 foot penn spinner, small reel with 12 # mono and a barbless snag hook to grab me a fresh bunker any time I needed one. Back then you could snag bunker with your eyes closed. I snagged me one and was reeling it in, when the line went slack so I went to snag me another and ended up setting on the striper, who had taking the bunker and run towards me. What a battle on that small rod and reel. Only time I've ever seen a big striper come out of the water and thrash it's head back and forth like a largemouth might, I mean 1/3 of it's body was out of the water....made me wet my pants....especially since it did it about 10 foot from a sailboat on a mooring.

Two years later I boated a 55, same bait, same spot, but this time live linned behind the boat as I normally did back then. That fish was unreal and almost spooled my Abu 4500, if I hadn't had a trolling motor already in the water to follow her, she'd have kissed me goodbye for sure. In the mid 80's, I had one on at my feet (yup, same bait but beach in Scituate) that I think was close to 60. That day was the blitz of all blitzes for me, one 40 lber after the other, fish from high 20's to close to 50 for 3 hours straight and honking size blues until your arms ached. That was so fun, mid day, atoms poppers and a fish every single cast. The entire bay was white water, with bunker flying out of the water like flying fish, all trying to escape the buzz saws below. Man I wish those days would return, sink every commercial bunker reduction boat for structure, give them some government aid until they can find jobs and put a permenant ban on any commercial fishing of the species. I tell you people better smarten up, bunker are too important and until they manage that resource, forget seeing numbers of large stripers.

[JohnR]

I hope to have a day like that someday, 40s & 50s in the wash, strippin' eels & drag

If I don't luck into one this year, I want to arrange a couple trips for next year. Slip, I know I said we'd do Block Island this year but that was before I became a dad , next year we'll do a Block run & Cutty... June & Oct/Sept

[jenty]

Yeah sure....... I've been out at LEAST 50 times already! I bet if you took ALL the stripes I caught and added them up, they don't equal 50lbs!! I'm still a green horn!

[10x10]

I'll tell you this, I have not caught another one.
And If I knew that fish that size would get as hard to come by as they are now,I would have been more prepared than I was for large fish cause at least you used to hook a couple a year that you never had a prayer, or you screwed up, or got lazy with your terminal tackle or something.Was not that big a deal I knew sooner or later I would hook another.Course I would lose that one too.
Except for that one fish.

[JohnR]

cause at least you used to hook a couple a year that you never had a prayer, or you screwed up, or got lazy with your terminal tackle or something

Last year I was fishing a stretch of my favorite beach. Mostly sand to the left, boulders and riprap to the right. Gorgeous spot that just creates drool. I had a real soft hit on my eel, dropped and hit the clutch and line started pouring off the reel. She paused, I set, then all hell broke loose. I was fishing a nearly new Calcutta 400 on a pretty stiff 1089 with the drag locked pretty tight and fresh 30# big game. This fish was pulling so hard so fast into that boulder field that I had my thumb on the spool too to try to get her to switch up. If she had gone left, I could play a bit more easy but she went right into the rocks and I felt my line pinging and scraping. I could feel the line dragging across the rocks and the fish just pulsing. A thousand things were going through my mind as my thumb burned and I was starting to back off the drag but the line just parted. It was like trying to stop a pickup. No chance - no dice . My biggest fishies from the beach have been mid thirty pounders and they were healthy, solid fighting fish. They weren't close to this puppy... I still get the goose bumps thinking about that night. I get those goose bumps often...

I never had a prayer... Someone with a load of experience on BIG fish? Maybe maybe not. That was leauges different from the fish I've danced with...

When it happens again will I get her?

[Clammer]

Johnr that a promise or wishful thinking??

I:m going up river for a couple of hours in the morning, if you want me to pick you up someplace along the way , call on my cell 487-0029//later

[JohnR]

Too much to do in the am but I might try tomorrow night, interested?

[10x10]

Sometimes the fish just beats ya plain and simple.

[LINESIDES]

I have been waiting for this category. I guess it's time for my beating's to begin. These large fish are still around. And in good quantity. Me thinks we have weeded through the so-called pigs I think 10x10 calls them. "The easy ones." Its allot of luck involved in being in the right place and right time.
I bet statistics are as mind-boggling. It’s like trying to hit Try State Lotto. Even when the Striped bass seemed to be what was thought to be in a crisis. I saw no difference in the stock. They just moved off shore where people were not fishing for them.

Later

[10x10]

I dunno linesides,I think a 40lb. bass is pretty big these days.A 50 will always be a trophy fish to me though I guess.Unless the guy next to you gets a sixty.
There was a period there I think when there were schools of fish with no fish under the 30 to 35 pound range and fish into the 70's were a possibility if you could find one of those schools on the feed.Maybe there are some around. I certainly don't know anymore than anyone else does that's for sure.Part of the charm of stripers to me has always been they're elusiveness anyway.
I just wish to hell I knew what I know now back than.

[bassmaster]

I wished I weighed this right away. only a crummy few pounds.
tons o 40s though, and i lost a large 3 years ago, it was well over 50 and you know the ol lipped in the side hole the size of a silver dollar. oops in the wash. left wit bass in mid 40s that night any way. but this cow was taken from ROCKS of a point it was one hell of a fight. look the thing is as wide as me, im 6' tall.......

[JohnR]

Dunno Linesides. You've been plying the waters seriously for a LOT longer than I have but I've got a sneakin suspiscion that you fish one of the big staging areas of fish (I won't say which one online ). My thinking is that the closer you fish to these staging areas, the less you might see of a decline. People with skilld that fish Block Island, especially by boat, will get big fish - over 30#s - pretty consistently. The same will hold true for those fishing Montauk/Fishers/the Race as those are really the same waters. Race point/back side of the Cape, Stellwagen - that's a staging area (as is Billingsgate until the tuna come in). And the Cuttyhunk/Elizabeths Islands/west side of MV is also one of those staging areas. To a lesser extent, Cape Anne...Now these might shift around and you may have some fish well offshore but typically, if we were to put a finger on these fish, it would probably be in these places.

The abundance of large fish will determine if it's lean and you only find those fish close to these staging areas or if it's strong, the big fish will be spread out and caught in MANY of these non-staging areas in addition to those staging areas... The more fish - the more spead out...

Just my thinkin'

[Clammer]

John, I got a wedding tonight,, sorry

[LINESIDES]

All my beauties were taken with 100 feet of shore. I have heard of people fishing them beyond the three-mile limit.
Which is “against the law.” Even if you plan to catch and release. The most distance I have taken one is about a half-mile off shore. Never even needed to looked for my fish any further than that.
I didn’t have too.
My Wife, one of my sons and I, belong to this exclusive club.
I must tell you her first large fish a 49lb 8oz was more impressive in the pictures than any of her Fifties.

[JohnR]

Good club to get the family in Linesides