Following the 55-pound striped bass that was pulled from the Connecticut surf on May 20 by local angler, Richard Morris, there was a buzz on the Internet on the morning of May 23 of yet another over-sized striped bass taken from the waters of Long Isalnd Sound. My wife picked up on the developing story and called me on the phone to alert me of the catch. When I answered her phone call, she replied back, “Go to Facebook, Blaine took a huge fish!”
I have known Daiwa Pro-Staffer, Captain Blaine Anderson, for quite a few years and have come to enjoy seeing the photographs of the giant fish that he and his clients land on his boat in Long Island Sound. Over the past five or six seasons, he has boated innumerable 40-, 50- and 60-pound striped bass. What’s even better, Blaine releases the majority of the large fish that are landed on his boat.
So back to his most recent catch; Blaine left Connecticut’s Niantic River on Wednesday morning around 5:00 a.m. and headed out to put a few scup in the livewell for bait. This was his first trip to the salt in 2012 and was deemed a scouting mission for an upcoming charter he had booked later in the week. After about 45 minutes, he had six baits in the livewell from 11 to 13 inches in length. He and his fishing partner, Bob, motored to a nearby rockpile and dropped the baits down. The first pass resulted in a few quick hits, most likely the result of small fish unable to wolf down the dinner-plate sized offerings. Pass number two took a different angle on the rockpile and resulted in a “nervous” scup that was immediately followed by the telltale thump of a good take. He engaged the reel after a five-second run and the circle hook was buried in the corner of the fish’s mouth.
The first run took nearly 100 yards of Daiwa Saltiga braid off his reel before the boat was fired up and the duo were able to catch up to the fish. Following a few scary moments when the fish buried itself in the rocks, Blaine was finally able to gain some line on the fish. The victory was short lived as the fish headed off in the opposite direction and peeled another 100 yards of line off the reel. After this final run, the fish was exhausted and surfaced, showing off its truly massive body.
The fish was pulled aboard the boat and easily buried the 60-pound Boga Grip. Following some congratulations from Bob, Blaine set to getting measurements of the fish but didn’t have a large enough tape measure on the boat. He resorted to cutting a piece of fluorocarbon leader material to the fish’s length and girth before attempting to revive and release the fish. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful and the fish didn’t survive the ordeal. Blaine met up with fellow captain, Pat “T-Man” Renna to get solid measurements on the fish before heading home.
The final score on the mammoth striped bass was a length of 57.5 inches and a girth of 32.25 inches. Based on the IGFA weight formula (girth x girth x length / 800 = weight), the fish weighed in at 74.75 pounds!
