05/27/2025
Here comes a fish story by Capt. Coral
took the boat to do a little afternoon striper fishing. My friend bailed last minute and left me to go alone. I knew right then and there what was about to happen. The day started off slow and I felt discouraged. I headed over to one of my favorite big fish spots and made a few drifts with no luck. I almost called it and went in but i said a little prayer and asked for a 50 pound fish. I put on the biggest eel I had which looked more like a snake and tossed it out to make one more drift. A few minutes later a fish swallowed it like an aspirin and my rod doubled over. Out of all the bass I’ve caught I have never seen one take as much line as this one did. My reel sounded like I was hooked up to a tuna. With only 25 # test leader I slowly kept tightening the drag, the fish wasnt phased at all and line kept peeling off my reel. I got to a point where there was no way I could tighten it anymore without something breaking. I finally started to gain on the fish. Once it was close enough to get the net I realized the net was on the total opposite side of the boat. I slowly walked backwards to get it, finally with the net in hand I saw the fish come up and was in disbelief. Luckily it didn’t take another run and I was able to barely get it in the net. I tried to lift it with no luck. I mean I like to think of myself as pretty strong but it took a lot to lift it myself over the rail. It was so heavy I had to drag the fish out of the net. I did have my tag needle near by and my tape measure. I popped in a quick tag and got measurements of the fish. I’ll say it was a modest 51”. My arms could only go so far with the tape measure. The girth was 30”. I had my phone propped up on video but was unable to get pictures of it. All I was left with was a short disshovled video and my measurements. Length/girth formula put the fish at 57 pounds but I’m not confident about the length measurement, where it could actually be longer than that. Either way the fish was pushing 60 pounds and it was my biggest striper I’ve ever caught. With no one to witness it and only a fish story to tell. Happy Memorial Day!