cowcatcher1

I came across this artical out of VA about a huge striper caught last week, I thought you guys might want to see it.
How big do stripers get? - Roanoke.com

Possum

When Fred Barnes reeled in a 73-pound striped bass off Virginia Beach last week, which is a pending state record, it got some people wondering. Just how big do these things get?

The 63-year old Barnes, an accomplished striper angler from Chesapeake, was knocking on the door of the International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record. That’s a 78.5-pound striper caught off an Atlantic City, N.J., beach Sept. 21, 1982 by Albert McReynolds.

IGFA has been the world’s record keeper since 1939, but before that there are accounts of huge, unofficial striper catches, some taken by commercial fishermen. The largest I am aware of is a 125-pounder netted at Edenton, N.C., in 1891. A 73-pounder is recorded as being caught in Massachusetts in 1913. In 1967, an 81-pounder showed up in a fish market, sent there by a Maryland commercial fisherman.

As a comparison, the freshwater Virginia record is a 53-pound, 7-ounce Leesville Lake catch by James Davis of Goodview. That is huge to come out of a 3,400-acre lake.

So back to our question. Just how big do these things get? The answer is, big. That means anyone catching a record may get booted by a bigger catch even before the ink dries in the record book.

It is a bit of a surprise that the current Virginia record, a 68-pound, 1-ounce March 4, 2006, catch, has stood nearly two years. It was caught by Clay Armstrong of Mechanicsville who was trolling south of Sandbridge. Prior to that, the record was 63 pounds, 8 ounces, landed off Wachapreague two months before Armstrong’s catch. It was taken by Paul Kleckner of Greenbackville.

Virginia has established itself as world-class fishery for jumbo stripers, and a world record should be in its future. Public ramps on the north and sound ends of Virginia Beach have been overflowing with boats this month to the point that the most difficult thing about striper fishing is reaching the fishing grounds. The crowds, normally big this time of the year, have been compounded by word of the record catch.

Barnes reported he hooked his fish of a lifetime while trolling a red and white Stretch 30 lure near the 4A Buoy off Cape Henry. He was aboard the private boat, “Country Girl,” skippered by Capt. Pat Foster. It was about noon, and it had been a decent morning, with several fish in the box, but slow in comparison to the kind of brisk days this fishery has been providing.

The captain had pushed the trolling speed up several notches in order to catch up with some birds. That’s when the big one hit.

The fight lasted a measly 10 minutes, said Barnes, who is no stranger to big stripers. In 2005, he caught one in the Eastern Shore surf a few ounces under 59 pounds, winning the World Striped Bass Tournament.

This time, Barnes and his crew kept on fishing, but the 52-inch length and 31-inch girth of the fish was impressive enough to make them decide they’d better head for the dock and a set of scales.

The catch is going through the normal process required of a pending record, said Lewis Gillingham, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. There has been the usual chat line chatter that Barnes was fishing outside the legal water, but nothing official, said Gillingham.

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