Saltwater Fishing News

New World Record Striped Bass

Details: Published: Thursday, 20 October 2011 18:06; Hits: 38682

Atlantic City is no longer the home of world-record striped bass; Connecticut fish authorized

Albert McReynolds no longer owns the world striped bass record.

The former Atlantic City resident held it with a 78-pound, 8-ounce striper he caught on Sept. 21, 1982 until Wednesday morning when the International Game Fish Association approved an 81 pound, 14 ounce heavyweight from Connecticut angler Greg Myerson.

"Good for him," McReynolds said Wednesday from his new fishing headquarters in Naples, Fla. "It's really wonderful. Now people in Connecticut have something to shout about."

World Record Striped Bass Jack Vitek, world-record coordinator, met with IGFA president Rob Kramer and conservation director Jason Schratwieser early Wednesday to go over the details one more time, and then authorized the record. Vitek said the IGFA recently requested what he called testimonials from Myerson and the weighmaster that certified the catch

"Greg complied with all the regulations," Vitek said. "We've gone over it plenty of times."

Myerson's bass was caught Aug. 4 in Long Island Sound. It also will be listed by the IGFA as an 80-pound test line record.

McReynolds stays in the record book because he caught his striper with 20-pound test line.

McReynolds caught his striper on an Atlantic City jetty, and was certified at then Campbell Marine in Northfield.

"That's part of history now," McReynolds said. "It makes me want to get my fishing rod and go fishing (for bass). I know there is a 100-pounder out there."

McReynolds has had some health problems, but still goes fishing on the pier at Naples. He said pompano, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, tarpoon are among the species that swim past the pier.

He says he puts on his sandals, sunglasses and straw hat and heads to the pier. And, he added, it is free to senior citizens.

Additional Info

Myerson was following his regular routine when he drifted his boat over a submerged boulder near Outer Southwest Reef off the coast of Westbrook, Connecticut, around 8 p.m. on August 4, trailing a live eel a few feet off the bottom.

“There’s often big fish behind the boulder, and I always hit it on my way out to Six Mile Reef to fish for the night,” Myerson says. The first drift yielded a hard strike, but no fish. On the second drift, he set the hook against another hard strike and watched as a striper started to pull his boat against the tide before settling heavily on the bottom.

“I couldn’t budge him at first,” says Myerson, who uses a heavy duty 6-½ foot St. Croix tuna rod and a Quantum Cabo reel spooled with 50-lb. Berkley Gorilla Braid to handle big stripers. “Then he took off on a real good run, and I had to tighten the drag because he was burning line fast. He stripped about 60 yards of line against the current.”

“I noticed the line rising, and I told my buddy, ‘Watch this, the fish is going to break the surface.’ He porpoised out of the water and I got my first look at him. Oh, man, I knew I had something special then. It’s only the big stripers that will jump like that. I was just hoping the hook was stuck good.”

The fight only lasted 20 minutes, but “seemed like eternity,” Myerson says. “He kinda lost some steam and started coming back toward the boat and I was able to gain a lot of line. Then the net got stuck on the boat’s swimming platform and wouldn’t come off. The fish was ready to be netted and we were in a little bit of a panic mode for a minute. We finally freed the net and got the fish in the boat.”

Another look revealed how close someone else had come to setting the new world record: the striper had a hook and about 6 ft. of leader in its mouth, evidence of a recent hookup that had broken off.

Source : www.mamamiafishing.net