The IGFA announced last week that Captain Tom Weaver's 102 cm striped bass is the new "All Tackle Length Fly World Record". I don't know what that means exactly. Does that mean it's the longest striped bass ever taken on any or all tackle and he did it with a fly rod? I'm not one for tournaments or record chasers but to each his own. Remember, chasing records usually means trying to catch the biggest fish on the lightest tipper. An example would be going for a 200 pound tarpon on 6 pound tippet and fighting the fish for 8 hours before breaking it off.
The fish above at 102 centimeters comes in at 40.1575 inches. That length striped bass, and not weighed down with eggs in pre-spawn mode, would weigh between 30- 34 pounds, which is a nice fish.
And then this morning I saw another post from Bob Marsiglia. He had a banner day of personal bests beating personal bests while out fishing with his bud Captain Jim Freda of Shore Catch Guide Service.
His largest fish of the day was a 49.5 inch, or 125.73 centimeters, striped bass that weighed 40 pounds. I'm not sure if they got that number by taking measurements and calculating the weight or hung, hopefully not, it on a 60 pound Boga to get the weight. Sounds like a great day on the water.
I wonder what size tippet they were using for those fish. That's usually how the IGFA records are set, well that's at least my understanding. I looked up the current World Record holders for striped bass on the fly. Below is the list, just click on it to make it larger. I would say most of us use 20 pound leaders
for striped bass. I use 30 in the river and mostly 20 in the salt and go down to 16 when sight fishing in the Vineyard. The World Record 20 pound tippet fish weighed 51.5 pounds and was caught in 2009.
Do most of us taper our leaders down to the final section which would be the tippet? Maybe, but I think most use a straight leader from fly line to fly. If you're using any kind of sinking line there's really no need to taper and the section is relatively short to keep it down while dredging. A tapered leader can help when casting fly's more delicately and when accuracy is needed.
If you're in the mood to record chase above is an image from the IGFA website. You can go
HERE and read up on it further. And in regards to the IGFA. New Jersey has a huge part in the history of the IGFA as Jersey boy Mark Sosin used to be the tipper tester and record keeping holder. That was in the early days when the Saltwater Fly Rodders of America was an active organization.
