NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - An Orange County fisherman has bragging rights for catching the biggest striped bass in New York’s freshwater fishing records.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation says Eric Lester of Campbell Hall reeled in a 60-pound female striper measuring 53.4 inches long from the Hudson River at Newburgh on May 14. The former freshwater record was a 55 pound, 6 ounce fish caught in 2007. The saltwater record for striped bass in New York is a 76-pounder caught off Montauk in 1981.
Lester was fishing alone on Newburgh Bay when he reeled in the fish. State biologists estimate it was at least 20 years old.
Striped bass are ocean fish that spawn in rivers like the Hudson.
A list of state fishing records can be found on the DEC website (https://bit.ly/1ocqIAW ).
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