50 Pounders !!! Striper Report - Johnny Bucktails

[Johnny Bucktails]

Feels good to say that. Best day of fishing i have ever had in my life. Matt who was on board with us agrees that it was the best day he has ever had. Hands are still shaking as i type this. Left the dock at 7am with matt and the lip. Made bait in one throw and we were on our way. Set up on the first drift and nailed a 32 pounder right off the bat. Made a few more short drifts in the area with nothing but bluefish. Decided to make a move and it turned out to be the best decision ever. Videos are uploading as we speak. This may be hard to even comprehend but bare with me. We landed 5 bass over 50 pounds, 4 bass over 40 pounds, and too many 30 pounders to even count... Matt landed 4 of the 50 pounders and I GOT MINE !!!!! My first bass over 50 pounds and i will never forget it. Have everything on video. Matt did the right thing and released all of his 40's and 50's. Wow it feels awesome to say that. I released all of my fish over 28 pounds including a 40 pounder. I caught my first 40 pounder and my first 50 pounder on the same day. Will never forget this day as long as i live. I did keep my 50 pounder so that i could have it skin mounted on my wall. I made a promise to myself that i would never kill a big one like that again. Watching those big girls swim away is the best feeling ever. Especially when the whole thing is on video ! My dad's big fish for the day went 33 pounds. The big fish are here for sure. My fish was officially weighed at 51.2. In the end, hard work and doing your homework pays off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY



My 50:
http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/John_Contello/10177972_888909231124362_7319228132914818220_n_zps 994bac68.jpg[/URL]


http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/John_Contello/10393827_888909254457693_6491678036518320462_n_zps b3a6d041.jpg (http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/John_Contello/media/10393827_888909254457693_6491678036518320462_n_zps b3a6d041.jpg.html)
http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/John_Contello/10341825_888909274457691_6974460023688193206_n_zps 22df0eae.jpg (http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/John_Contello/media/10341825_888909274457691_6974460023688193206_n_zps 22df0eae.jpg.html)













http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/John_Contello/photo1_zps4c876978.png (http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/John_Contello/media/photo1_zps4c876978.png.html)http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/John_Contello/photo2_zpsc913328e.jpg (http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/John_Contello/media/photo2_zpsc913328e.jpg.html)
http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/John_Contello/photo2_zpsd087002c.png (http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/John_Contello/media/photo2_zpsd087002c.png.html)

[Bucktailboys.com]

Congratulations on a fishing day of your lifetime! I can only hope and pray to have one like that! So when are you starting your charter business? Nice to see you let some big one go too.

[addictedtobass]

Congrats on an epic day!!!

[MVP]

Johnny

Congrats on trip of a lifetime.

[reason162]

Grats Johnny! Ignore the douchebaggery, those are some trophy fish!

-roger

[Reelron]

Congrats Johnny! You have had a day like no other don't let anyone try to take that from you!

[Down Deep Sportfishing]

WTG J.B. Saw the fish, every bit and just over 50#. The lip looked wiped :)

[Papasown]

Congrtulations to you, Johnny. I had no doubt that you would get a 50 pounder. I have told friends to watch for your postings, as I feel you are one of those 1 in a 1000 kind of fishing guys. Your smile tells it all................now it's time to target a 60. Catch ém up..........Papa

[hartattack]

Mazel Tov !

[giantfan]

Awesome!!! Congrats.....

[Gerry Zagorski]

congratulations Johnny great fish

[Tuna Tales]

Congrats John!!

Awesome catch and report



Joe T

[FASTEDDIE29]

Those are some rather LARGE COWS! Great catch and congrats!!! I gots to get in on this action before they disappear. Really nice fish!!!:D

[jlrotary]

Congrats! Was following your FB posts yesterday. Epic day for sure.

[kahlborn23]

Congrats. ...that is a day you will remember forever!

[arat]

Let's see the video!!

[addictedtobass]

Let's see the video!!

i second that i wanna see it too just the reactions are gonna be great

[GDubya07]

Great catching Kiddo and your smiles keeps getting bigger every year

Awesomeness Achieves - You deserve the day you had and your time and persistence paid off

Dont let anyone tell you otherwise - you all could have kept more and you didnt - Kudos to you

Congrats

GDubs-:cool:

[dakota560]

Congratulations JB for a trip of a lifetime and breaking the coveted 50 lb. mark for stripers. You look like your 13 years old so you can only imagine how many old salties you've pissed off who have spent countless hours in pursuit of the 50lb mark only to come up short. Lol! A great fish and accomplishment!

One comment about your election to keep the 50 to get a skin mount and please no "FU" comments from anyone since I'm not questioning or opining on JB's decision to do so. I've kept fish for skin mounts in my life and I've also had glass replica's made after getting measurements and taking a picture of the fish. There is absolutely no doubt in the long run skin mounts will deteriorate no matter how you try maintaining them. At least that's been my experience. And as long as you take a picture of your catch, it's amazing what they can do and the detail they can attain with a glass mount. Something I've started doing is to take a picture of the fish, have a glass replica made and go to a trophy store and have them make a nice wooden plaque. I have them engrave the specifics of the catch, date caught, angler and crew names, location, size, weight whatever and have them place the picture underneath glass above the engraved plate. I hang that plaque below the glass mount and 50 years from now it will still look the same as the day I caught it with a picture of the trip itself. I've done this as well with a set of mako jaws attached to the plaque, a picture of the crew below and of the mako hanging at the scales with all the trip and fish information engraved below on a plate. It comes out looking fantastic! Plus you'll have I think even more peace of mind letting the trophy swim away for hopefully another fortunate angler to do the same. Just mentioning it as an alternative for anyone who catches a trophy of a lifetime fish and wants to memorialize that with a mount. Some of the skin mounts I've had done when I was younger unfortunately 30 years later don't look the same or do justice to what the fish looked like when I first caught it! In the end, it's the memory of that day and not just the fish you caught that we want to preserve so the plaque with all the information and a picture of the crew as well as a replica which holds up over the years when we tell these stories to our children and grand children does the trick!

Again congratulations on your epic trip!

Dakota

[max1373]

johnny ur a wildman!

[AndyS]

AWESOME !! Thanx for the C&R for the majority of the big ones too !!!!!

[SaltLife1980]

Cograts Joknny!!! Way to go!! Dont listen to these haters..

[stugots]

Take a look at bounty hunters 51 pound fish....comparing apples to oranges

[NoLimit]

The Bounty Hunter bass was spawned out and 51" and these bass look that long or longer.

Good Work!

[Johnny Bucktails]

Here is the video that i promised. Proof is in the pudding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxd0n3Q_2cY

Thank you all very much for your kind comments, I truly appreciate it and it means a lot to me. I hope you all enjoy the video :) Let me know what you think.

[chasin'tail]

nice job those are some legit slobs

[njboarder]

Nice fish, JB.

Wonder what naysayers gonna say now. :D

[FlukeFlukeFluke]

Nice fish, JB.

Wonder what naysayers gonna say now. :D

Nothing I bet lol hahaha those are legit 50's and 40'! Congrats man! You earned it!

[XXlyakattacker]

Very, very,very impressive!!!

[FASTEDDIE29]

I already posted my congrats on this thread but I gotta say after watching the video of these beautiful fish being released, this very well may be the most EPIC Striper post of the year. Job well done all around!!! Congrats again to this fine group of anglers!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!:D

TIGHT LINEZ!!!!!

[hammer4reel]

Congrats on what looked to be a super fun day of fishing for you and your friends.
some very nice bass caught.

BUT lets also keep it real, looking at the pics which can be deceiving I didn't think any of the pics showed a LEGIT 50, as the MASS required and the head size of the bass just don't show.'after watching the video I would be pretty safe to bet they aren't close to 5o's being let go.
and here's why.

Unless Matt is 7 foot tall I would expect his Belly button ( his measuring spot ) would not be over 40-42 inches from the boat deck,Im 6'3 and mine is 42" . that is NOW WHERE close to what it takes even an unspawned bass to hit the 50 mark.

The pics you show appear to be hudson fish which don't the wide girth of the Chessy bass.
For those fish Normally to hit the 50 mark they are 50" Plus
Chessy fish which are girthier take a little less at around 47"

50 pound fish also aren't held out at arms length as they just want to roll over due to their weight displacement. while many guys can hold a forty that way, I haven't seen 1 yet do that with a 50 plus

they just get very hard to hold. Thats why most pics of big fish don't look as big as they were in person because the pics are usually cradling the fish .


all bass over 30 pounds have giant heads on them and would allow a fish to easily go down to the gullet without touching the sides.

would say you need to get your boga calibrated.


.

what else I would say is this.

While I was very glad to see you released a bunch of nice bass, watching the video in the manner they were handled was tough to watch .
throwing them around with a bogs on their lip like that is really easy to destroy their jaws.
and only one of those fish really took off as they should, bopping them on the head making them dive too soon just makes the go down , many times to just float up later on .


take the time to swim them or use the SW wash down until they really bite down and also want to swim on their own .
when they go down laying on their side, they are not revived enough to have as good a chance as possible to survive.

They should be swimming and moving their tails on their own.

Hope to see you releasing more big ones again !!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Yea, you have a great rep for catching fish hammer4reel, but, do you really wana be that guy that takes this squad down for an awesome catch? C'mon man!!! I don't know this crew at all but they do catch some serious fish consistently. Give it a rest!!!! Being a critic gets you nowhere!!!!!!!

[hammer4reel]

Yea, you have a great rep for catching fish hammer4reel, but, do you really wana be that guy that takes this squad down for an awesome catch? C'mon man!!! I don't know this crew at all but they do catch some serious fish consistently. Give it a rest!!!! Being a critic gets you nowhere!!!!!!!.

I agreed was an awesome catch,
Even believe they read the scale as those fish being what they think ,
But just feel the pics, and especially the video doesn't back it,

Also after reading all the posts of lets hear what the nay Sayers say now ???
I feel the proofs don't add up.

Just my 2 Cents,
Seen a few good ones to know the difference, and seen enough even high forties to know they all Look huge


Main reason I did post was because IMO those great fish need to be handled with a little more care if being released so they truelly have the best chance of recovery

[FASTEDDIE29]

I get your point BROHAM!!! I don't want to take anything from Johnny and his crew. Catch and release was good to see!!! When I got my big girls out of the ER a couple years ago it took at least 10-20 minutes to get em to swim again. But that's a different time of year with a truckload of bait and warm water flowing out of the tribs! All is good!!! Catch em up!!!!!

[Njmat567]

Everyone who said something negative are a bunch of haters point blank... 40lbs 50lbs 60lbs whoooooo the hell cares....!!!! The kid had a great day fishing and all I read is ..." That ain't no 50 that ain't no 50" ohh give it a break and shut up. Seriously guys.....really " shake my head..." Makes me not want to be a part of njfishing.com. Awsome day kid keep up the great work

[Johnny Bucktails]

Thank you all once again. I understand your opinion but take into consideration that my father is 6'2 230 pounds and strong as an ox. Look at the struggle he had getting my fish into the boat. I have been dealing with you haters for a long time and it all comes down to jealousy. I don't have to prove anything to you. I took the time out of my trip to record it for you guys but i guess some people don't appreciate that. Out of 35 comments, only about 5 were negative, pretty good ratio if you ask me lol P.S the fish is still in the taxidermist if you would like to see it. Seemed like most of you enjoyed the video ! glad to here. Sorry it was half assed, i wanted to put it up asap.
Tight lines -JB

[FASTEDDIE29]

Thank you all once again. I understand your opinion but take into consideration that my father is 6'2 230 pounds and strong as an ox. Look at the struggle he had getting my fish into the boat. I have been dealing with you haters for a long time and it all comes down to jealousy. I don't have to prove anything to you. I took the time out of my trip to record it for you guys but i guess some people don't appreciate that. Out of 35 comments, only about 5 were negative, pretty good ratio if you ask me lol P.S the fish is still in the taxidermist if you would like to see it. Seemed like most of you enjoyed the video ! glad to here. Sorry it was half assed, i wanted to put it up asap.
Tight lines -JB

That's what I'm talking about dude!!! Stick up for your post!!! You deserve respect without a doubt. I know a phenomenal angler when I see one. Keep on keepin on and don't forget to post your amazing reports!!!!

YEA BUDDY!!!!!! TIGHT LINEZ!!!!!!

[shrimpman steve]

Nice fish no matter what the weight! Good goin kid!


Saw you as you were leaving on Saturday pm. We were on our way in, passed u in the river as the down deep was trying to dock.

Keep up the great work!

[hammer4reel]

Thank you all once again. I understand your opinion but take into consideration that my father is 6'2 230 pounds and strong as an ox. Look at the struggle he had getting my fish into the boat. I have been dealing with you haters for a long time and it all comes down to jealousy. I don't have to prove anything to you. I took the time out of my trip to record it for you guys but i guess some people don't appreciate that. Out of 35 comments, only about 5 were negative, pretty good ratio if you ask me lol P.S the fish is still in the taxidermist if you would like to see it. Seemed like most of you enjoyed the video ! glad to here. Sorry it was half assed, i wanted to put it up asap.
Tight lines -JB


Johnny one thing I'm not is a HATER I'm glad to see lots of people catching quality fish .

Actually hope everyone some day gets to catch a monster. Releasing fish is def a good start. Just release them in a way with a little more care so those beauties don't just dive down and become crab bait.


Keep fishing hard ,and have fun

[Gerry Zagorski]

Way to do it Johnny. Wish there were a lot more young men out there as passionate about this great sport of ours as you. Way too many young people that spend countless hours in the house with their face planted in a cell phone or video game. It's people like you that can help carry the torch to the next generation and keep our sport alive.

[waynedane]

Way to catch em up kiddo...

[dakota560]

Thank you all once again. I understand your opinion but take into consideration that my father is 6'2 230 pounds and strong as an ox. Look at the struggle he had getting my fish into the boat. I have been dealing with you haters for a long time and it all comes down to jealousy. I don't have to prove anything to you. I took the time out of my trip to record it for you guys but i guess some people don't appreciate that. Out of 35 comments, only about 5 were negative, pretty good ratio if you ask me lol P.S the fish is still in the taxidermist if you would like to see it. Seemed like most of you enjoyed the video ! glad to here. Sorry it was half assed, i wanted to put it up asap.
Tight lines -JB
JB

I replied earlier to your post but wanted to add a few comments. You had a great day of fishing, you're obviously passionate about the sport and have many good years in front of you. Posting reports on a public forum unfortunately will be met with comments by the good, the bad and the outright ugly. That's just the way it is. Some people made there points very well and took the time to provide their reasoning, others made them less tactfully and basically just implied you're lying. That's the ugly!

Whether you had 5 50's and 10 40's or 15 40's, that's a pretty impressive hand no matter how you shuffle the deck. You had an epic trip, one you'll remember for life and you should be which you obviously are very proud of it. That's all that matters. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Dakota

[shrimpman steve]

Johnny one thing I'm not is a HATER

Hammer doesn't smile a lot, but he is not a hater:)

[Johnny Bucktails]

Way to do it Johnny. Wish there were a lot more young men out there as passionate about this great sport of ours as you. Way too many young people that spend countless hours in the house with their face planted in a cell phone or video game. It's people like you that can help carry the torch to the next generation and keep our sport alive.

Thanks gerry, eddie, and steve. Gerry i really appreciate that.

[SaltLife1980]

Sweet video

[Delawareriver]

Hammer in the video it shows the 50 lb fish to their nipple not the belly button, you said belly button is 42 add roughly 10" to your nipple and you get 52". Jb did keep one 50 that weighed 51.5 on a certified scale so I believe him when he says the other 3 were also over 50.

Great job jb. Hope to experience a half as good trip one day. Congrats on your 50! Something to be proud of

[Delawareriver]

http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae342/delawareriver/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_2014-05-27-09-25-26.png (http://s986.photobucket.com/user/delawareriver/media/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_2014-05-27-09-25-26.png.html)
Not sure how you wear your slicks hammer but mine don't come to my belly button. 50" fish for sure

[dakota560]

Hammer in the video it shows the 50 lb fish to their nipple not the belly button, you said belly button is 42 add roughly 10" to your nipple and you get 52". Jb did keep one 50 that weighed 51.5 on a certified scale so I believe him when he says the other 3 were also over 50.

Great job jb. Hope to experience a half as good trip one day. Congrats on your 50! Something to be proud of

Delaware,

How big was the carp in your video? Just out of curiosity, did you eat that carp after snapping a few pictures? From what I've been told, small carp are not at the top of the culinary charts much less ones that size.

Dakota

[dakota560]

On a different subject, fished this Sunday and landed about a dozen bass. If you look at JB's video, you can see the tails of some of the fish look like the stripes are completely removed on the side directly above the tail. I know these big females have damage to their tails I assume from fanning the beds when they drop their eggs but I don't ever recall seeing damage that far up on their sides in past years. Has anyone else noticed this and is it from the spawning process? You can see it pretty clearly in the video JB posted. Just curious.

Dakota

[Delawareriver]

Delaware,

How big was the carp in your video? Just out of curiosity, did you eat that carp after snapping a few pictures? From what I've been told, small carp are not at the top of the culinary charts much less ones that size.

Dakota
Fish was 45.55lbs after 12 hours in the barrel. No we do not eat the carp, we give them to hog farmers that feed them to their pigs, commercial turtle trappers, catfisherman, guys use them in crab pots and a few eastern European guys come get them to eat. Always a big smile. But i don't wanna take jb thread. Been discussed on my thread and wouldn't mind going In more detail on my thread

[hammer4reel]

Deleware. I have had ALOT of forty plus pound fish in my boat. And more than just t a few legit 50. I know what they look like.certified scale slip. I highly doubt it.

A fifty pound bass had barely would fit in the buckets on the deckm usually have 12 inch lid. Those fish heads also aren't showing the mass a fifty has...

Why I like digital scales allot more than a boga. Not misreading the numbers

[fin_s_guy]

It's a nice fish and an epic bite appreciated by all on board.

Congrats kid!

[Delawareriver]

Deleware. I have had ALOT of forty plus pound fish in my boat. And more than just t a few legit 50. I know what they look like.certified scale slip. I highly doubt it.

A fifty pound bass had barely would fit in the buckets on the deckm usually have 12 inch lid. Those fish heads also aren't showing the mass a fifty has...

Why I like digital scales allot more than a boga. Not misreading the numbers
I just using your post saying your belly button is 40-42" high and the screen shot clearly shows that fish 10" Above his belly button, you then mention Hudson bass need to be 50" to hit 50lbs, well my math says 40" + 10" = 50". Just using your post and his video

[makosnax]

Now I'm gonna have to measure the distance between my nipples. Maybe I can use them to measure keeper fluke. Thanks for the tip!

[makosnax]

Nevermind, after careful measurment it turns its only good for measuring seabass.

[BlueDog]

We caught one 52" a few years back on the Staten Island side of the bay and I guesstimated it at 45lbs cause i only have the 30lb boga.I didn't know about the pound per inch thing back then. But seriously ... Who gives a shit if they're 50 or not, they are one thing ... Big.
Art

[shrimpman steve]

Nevermind, after careful measurment it turns its only good for measuring seabass.

Now that's funny!

[ScowardNJ]

WOW, just came across this post from Gerry's Facebook post. Hell of a day kid! Congrats! Looking forward to seeing pictures of the mount!