The largest striper ever caught in Massachusetts waters is 73 pounds.Aug 26, 2013

To make it on the board you have to catch a big striped bass, in excess of 50 pounds. On Friday, Salisbury’s Bob Roy Sr. became the first fisherman to be placed on the board since 2010, when he reeled in a 54-pound, 10-ounce striper outside the mouth of the Merrimack River.

Roy, 54, said he was drifting on his fishing boat around 9 a.m. just outside the busy river mouth with live mackerel as bait when the monster fish grabbed ahold of his hook.

“I knew it was big, but I’ve caught fish before,” Roy said, adding it took him about 15 minutes to reel the fish into his powerboat.

Roy, a longtime Salisbury resident originally from Amesbury, called live mackerel the best bait, as they are still swimming while hooked and reflect light off their scales, giving stripers the illusion they are not attached to a fisherman’s pole.- source and read more