I have heard the forest moan like mortal men in their affliction; often, and again, have I listened to the wind playing its music in the branches of the girdled trees; and I have heard the lightning cracking in the air like the snapping of blazing brush as it spitted forth sparks and forked flames; but never have I thought that I heard more than the pleasure of him who sported with the things of his hand.
The huge creature broke the previous Missouri record of 60 pounds and 9 ounces for a pole-and-line striped bass, set in 2011 on the same lake. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the largest striped bass in Texas was a 53-pounder caught May 27, 1999, on the Brazos River.
On average, bass are four to five inches long at the end of the first year, 11 inches at the end of the second, 16 inches at the end of the third, and 20 inches at the end of the fourth year. A striped bass that is 36 inches long normally is about 12 years old. A bass 48 inches long, and weighing over 50 pounds, is over 20 years old. The oldest documented striper was 31 years old. You can sometimes count the rings on the scale of a large striper yourself by looking at them with a magnifying glass.