How "BIG" do you think they get???????

[LINESIDES]

Just what the question inplies.

[JohnR]

I've heard alot of the stories, almost year that this guy or that researcher got a 90 pounder in a net in Jersey, or some fish not taking anything you offer it and you can see, cause it's five feet away, that it's over 6 feet long and fat!!! Or the old story that George Washington himself caught a striper that weighed 120#s.

Realistically, we know they must get into the eighties, may not be many but there should be some. Beyond that?? Who knows. You get some land locked striper that has been feeding on stocked trout for thirty years with no real competition, that may be your 100# bass...

I just hope that the bass is on the increase in size and numbers and not on the decline.

[eelman]

I will show you guy's how big they get, when I catch the next world record!!!!

No one really knows?? Im sure there is a few fish out there that go better than 80.

[Mike P]

I dunno, Church set the record in 1912 at 72#, and it wasn't until 1967 that 70 was topped again, by Cinto. In the thirty-odd years since Cinto's fish, there has been a lot of effort thrown at these fish by some of the best anglers ever to cast a rod, and the record went up all of 5-1/2 pounds. I have to think that 80# give or take is their upper limit--or at least of the ones that come inshore. There may well be a population of "super bass" that lay offshore on the squid and other baits that are out there--if those rumors (none of which seem to be accompanied by photos) of 100#+ fish in trawler nets are true. As far as the reports of 90# fish taken on handlines, etc in the last century, I wonder how accurately they were weighed, even if the rumors are true--I know there used to be a plaque near the admin building at Nauset commemorating a 90# fish.

[JCXX]

With big game fever going on in NJ and MA, my .02 will "hey, you never know" My money is on #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& rather than buying a ticket with a 76 million to 1 odd <img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1-->

[Saltheart]

based on what's been caught and the stories etc , I'd say there are definitely 100 LB bass out there somewhere. In some deep hole 20 miles out matbe but they're out there.!

[JohnM]

I dont know how big they getbut I dont doubt that they can gett over 100#....I persoanlly have hooked a few over 80# (thats my estimate having never seen them of course <img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1-->)just havent landed them yet <img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1-->

[Plug]

Hey JohnM, I broke an 80# leader a couple of years back trying to lift a fish up on a jetty. Can I call her an 80 pounder? <img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1-->

I've listened to the stories about the superfish that stay under the schools of pelagic baitfish and all that stuff. Thing is rock are estuary spawners. You would think they'd turn up somewhere in the spring. Also around here as I'm sure elsewhere you've got fishermen doing all manner of trolling and chunking from just offshore to the edge of the continental shelf. You'd think that somebody would catch one of these fish. I'm sure they would take a butterfish drifted in a chum slick for tuna or sharks. I'm not saying 100#s is unattainable. But certainly not a normal maximum mature weight. That would seem to be in the 60-80 range.

[John M]

Plug if i can count the ones I released you can count that one <img src="/Images/Happy_Face.gif"><!--e1-->

I agree that 60-80 is normal but there are mutants out there.......

[CowHunter]

I believe there are some big in the 70-80lb range, just rare. I also believe that there are some Mutants out there that are much bigger, the ocean is the great unknown, something always pops up and suprises us all. I heard from a very reliable source that in 98 on the South Shore of LI, just a few hundred yards out of one of my favorite inlets, Shinnecock Inlet, a bunker netter, while netting a school of Bunker netted three fish over 70lbs. Unfortunately all three were killed and showed to this source....Unbelievable. Heard that offshore Stripers have been netted in access of 120lbs. Remember, all records are meant to be broken! Hey #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&, I'll race you to the record!!!!