New PB Monster Striped Bass (7/14/18)

[JDTuna]

Got the invite to head to up to Rhode Island to target striped bass with my good friend of 30 years. My friend is a striper expert, so I was excited for the trip. The plan was to fish at night for a shot at a 50lb plus fish, since I had never broken the magical 50lb mark.

We lucked out with great weather conditions, and made it to the spot in no time. Action started relatively quickly, and one of his friends put a nice 36lb bass in the boat on the second drift. On the next drift, we doubled up. Unfortunately, my fish cut me off but one of the guys put a 48lb fish in the boat. The action was steady, and on the next drift I caught a 34lb bass, which was released after a quick picture.



Got set up again and the action continued, with someone on the boat hooking up on every drift, with a few doubles. The fish were all big, ranging from mid 30lb to 40lb range. And there was the potential to hook a monster on every drift.

My next hit bowed the rod over. There was no distinctive "thump", usually characteristic of a striper. It just bent the rod in half. I could feel the weight and power behind this fish with every run. When I got her close to the boat, she just kept bulldogging, staying just out of sight. Finally, she popped up next to the boat. I could tell she was big, just not sure how big. My friend leadered her so he can attach the boga to her lower jaw, but she kept diving out of reach. Finally, he reached down and grabbed her jaw with both hands and pulled her in the boat. I couldn't believe the length and girth on this monster. We weighed her and she bottomed out the 60 pound scale! A 60 plus pound striped bass. Definitely a bass of a lifetime. After a quick picture, she was released and swam back into the dark depths with a few powerful strokes of her giant tail.



We fished a little longer and released a few more fish in the 40lb class before we called it a night.

[hammer4reel]

Congrats on the fish of a lifetime.
Very few in the Elite 60# club.
Kudos for releasing that beauty

[akoop]

Congrats on the PB.

Sounds like an awesome trip.

[skippy]

Wow!!!! That is a monster bro. That picture of you sitting with it is insane, way to go and congrats.

[Mikey topaz]

Badass fish right there Justin congrats! Pure beast!

Justin.....wondered when you were going to share a pic of the beast! Simply unreal and couldn't happen to a better person who puts in an insane amount of time trophy hunting and releases almost every fish you catch. GREAT job. That fish bottomed out a 60lb boga, wouldn't be surprised it went between 65 and 70. Look at the girth and size head on that fish. Those are the trips we all dream of. Congrats again my friend and best part is the big girl is still swimming around. Simply awesome!

[reason162]

Fish of several lifetimes, and an excellent release: Congrats!!!

[ScowardNJ]

Congrats Justin! No doubt that's one of the biggest bass caught on the east coast this year.

[MVP]

Congrats on catch and release

[kcritch]

You gotta start working out if you're gonna be catchin fish like that! Just sick dude. Congrats. Fish of a lifetime...you seem to do that a lot though! HA!