It also could have been further to the north in the Hudson, where the concentration of PCBs is higher.

That fish looks healthy as hell. And being a striped bass, it's a migratory fish. It doesn't live in one small area of the Hudson. That same fish could have been off the coast of Virginia just a few days ago.

That's an appetizer for the phat phuck Gov. El Gordo

50-pound bass in Hudson River near the George Washington Bridge

Tuesday, October 26, 2010
By JEAN-PIERRE MESTANZA
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

This was the big one that didn't get away.


North Bergen resident Jude Foley caught an Atlantic striped bass near the George Washington Bridge on Sunday that weighed 50 pounds, 7 ounces.

"We're going to eat it, that's prime meat right there," said Foley, 42, of 61st Street, eyeing the 4-foot, 4-inch monster fish.

Fishing in the Hudson River for 15 years, Foley said he's never caught a fish that size before.

It took Foley and his friend, Robert Vitale, 52, of Waldwick, about 90 minutes to get the fish onto the boat. Vitale, who owns the boat, finally grabbed the fish under the gills and hauled it in.

The world record catch for the same fish is 78 pounds, 8 ounces, and that fish was caught in Atlantic City in 1982, according to the International Gaming Fish Association.

Foley used a small bunker fish to lure the bass but said the fishing line was not strong enough to haul in his catch.

They tried to employ a net but it broke apart.

"You don't want to muscle him (the fish) and snap the line," Vitale explained.

Foley noted that the spring and fall are the best times of the year to catch bass in the area.

"They're only here for a couple of weeks," he said. The bass migrate back and forth from southern Canada to northern Florida, cutting in through different river systems.

"They're having a strong year, can't wait to get some more," Foley said.