I have been fishing Raritan Bay since the late fifties. I personally have landed one bass in Raritan Bay that was a legitimate 50 pounder. There were two 49 pounders landed on my charters. One was released the other we could not revive. This is over decades and a few thousand trips . We landed four stripers on the out side with the biggest being 55pounds and 52'' to the fork of the tail. Again this is over decades of live lining. Last year our biggest bass in Raritan Bay was 42lbs. on Shenanigans with my late life long friend Jim Curcio. Put her on the boga scale and let her go! We kept some nice 34'' for the table and we will have the picture forever. So what I am trying to say is fifties are not common and most people over estimate the weight. A 43'' stripers is usually between 28 and 32 lbs. Comments welcome.
