It was in 2011 when Greg Myerson (above) caught the current World Record striped bass while drifting a live eel off the Connecticut Coast. That fish weighed 81.88 pounds and had a 54 inch girth. Prior to that New Jersey's own Al McReynold's (below) caught a 78.8 pound striped bass in 1978 while fishing off a groin in Atlantic City.
There have been several 70-pound striped bass that have been caught from New York and into New England. The same year Myerson caught the 81pounder Peter Vican (below) caught a 77.4 pound bass off of Rhode Island. That fish just squeaked past his personal
best of 76.14 he caught a few years before. These fish are all enormous and if you have ever been lucky enough to land a 40 or a 50 then just image another thirty pounds added to that fish.
If I had to bet Jersey's own Chuck "Tyman" Manny would be in contention for breaking Myerson's record. He fishes for giants both in New Jersey and down off of Virginia. I am sure he's broken the 60 pound mark using his live eel techniques.
I am surprised the record still stands because when the records were set and or broken over the years there wasn't much in the way of strict size or slot limits. There were one under and one overs, then a max size limit, and now just a three inch slot. While catch and release mortality and commercial fishing (which allows for bigger fish to be harvested) have killed off a lot of bass, these big females, or cows as they call them, have been allowed to grow and flourish, kinda, to keep the species going. The big girls are part of what they call the SSB, or Spawning Striped Bass, biomass.
Big striped bass, which I would say in todays standards are better than 40 pounds, aren't all that much of a unicorn as they once were. Even fly anglers and surfcasters can get shots at these big fish when they are up or in. While we may think they are giants from the deep only eating eels and bait they can be caught eating what all of their friends are eating, from bunker to herring, to even sand eels.
One of the big differences in big fish is the difference between pre and post spawn bass. Males are always smaller and some say they max out about 34 inches. The big girls can grow upward of 50 inches. Those big fish mentioned above, including Myerson's, taped out just below 55 inches. If you add the egg weight to a striped bass it can really pull down on the Boga (please don't use a vertical scale). Big
spawning females can produce about 80,000 eggs per pound of body weight, and the big girls can produce about 4 million per spawning year. A pre-spawn cow can add up to 10 pounds of eggs added to her size which can be 40 or 50 pounds, adding up to 25% to her rack. Some believe you shouldn't target or even be allowed to fish in waters where pre-spawn staging or spawning occurs.
With the new slot in effect since last year what do you do if you catch the World Record 89 pound striped bass? Because remember, you can't keep it. Most likely that fish is going to die anyway because let's be real the amount of lactic acid build up after a long fight will surely be too much metabolically for it to survive. Those fish aren't in the best of shape to begin with. Imagine wrestling with your 8-months pregnant wife? Will she be on top of her wrestling game?
The best you can do is keep it in the water, get some measurements, remember length x width, and some good pics, and send her on her way. Will the IGFA count it? Well they should. The last thing they could or should require is a weight on a vertical scale. Recently Captain Chris Buchta broke out a
cradle to hold big fish to weight them. They use these across the pond for monster carp. So if you are in the big game striped bass hunt, or find yourself catching a lot of super big bass, this might be a way to get solid weights, not Jersey 50 estimates, and even a better way to release them back in the water rather then the old albie head first toss back into the drink.
The new World Record is coming soon.