Michael Pittman Junior of Wayside, West Virginia in Monroe County wasn’t planning on going fishing on Bluestone Lake back on July 8th. He figured since there was nothing else to do, he’d call his dad and go kill some time. That proved to be a fateful decision.
The bite was slow that day, but Pitman did land one fish. Turns out, it was the longest striper ever caught in West Virginia.
“I didn’t think there was a fish that big in the river.” Pittman tells MetroNews.
The fish stretched the tape measure to 40.88 inches, besting the old record for length by more than three inches. Pittman’s fish weighed 21.38 pounds. The record for weight is 29.56 pounds. The weight record and the previous length record were both caught at Bluestone Lake in recent years.
Pittman says initially he was going to throw the fish back, but upon realizing it would probably break the record he decided to keep the fish. Don’t look for it to become a dusty wall mount in his den.
“I done filleted him out and ate him.” said Pittman.
He says he does plan to have a replica mount made of the monster striped bass.
YOU CAN HEAR PITTMAN TALKING ABOUT HIS RECORD CATCH IN THE “LISTEN NOW” MENU TO YOUR RIGHT