Awww yeah!!!! Sweet fish man!
I caught a 51LB striper a few years ago off the coast of Montauk, Long Island on Shark fishing trip. We were out hoping we would hook some Mako's but only caught blue sharks.
The striper was caught on a huge umbrella rig while we were trolling for bait, "Bluefish" in the rip. I also had to reel in 3 bluefish along with this monster 51LBer on that rig. It actually didn't take that long because we used the boat to exhaust the fish.
But I also caught a 7" blue shark that day and it took about an hour to land it. If you wanna talk about one heck of a workout??? My biceps were totally jelly after that. I ended up taking a nap for awhile after that... lol
BTW... Stripers are excellent eating when fresh. We brought that 51LBer home, filleted it and cooked it on the grill in alluminum foil, with fresh veggies, lemon and butter... It was "the" best piece of fish i've ever eaten...
Again.. GJ