What kind of challenge could be greater than catching a striper that exceeds 50 lbs? For most fishermen that answer might be to successfully release that fish. For more then half of the year while the water temperature is less then 65 degrees, a healthily fish will almost always  survive if handled correctly. Even under the most ideal conditions a striper would need to grow more then a dozen years to exceed 50 lbs.
   The education & attitude of striper fishermen & women will need to improve, to allow fish to be very much larger than the minimum size limit requirements by the fishing management. The minimum length normally starts around fifteen inches. If you do not believe the normal size of your striper catch can degrade to near minimum requirements, ask any striper fishermen from out of state why he has come to Tennessee to fish. An out of state fish becomes large if it lives four years to become six lbs. (see chart below)
   The striper is by anyone's standards premium table fare & it is ok to harvest some each year. Every successful fishermen should set aside a plan of catch & release for the year or even by the month. A successful fishermen is one that will boat more than 100 fish per year.
   My personal catch & release goals will likely need to be different then most fishermen, because my passion requires multiple trips each week, all year long. I harvest approximately 30 fish per year & if at all possible, less then 10 lbs. each. Most of my release efforts are in the cold water months & my harvest takes place in the warm water months when releases are often unsuccessful. The size of the striper seems to make no difference in the taste so my reasons for release of larger fish is to help maintain a population of larger fish that could be someone's trophy.
   So please help. Release fish & do not try to find someone to  give it to. Release those big fish when possible if you are not going to put it on the wall. Do not catch more than your limit when you know your releases will be unsuccessful. Understand YOUR effects on the stripers that could contribute to the degrading of the numbers and size.

  How old is that Striper?
                Weight
Lth Age Max  Avg   Min
12   1   1.0     1.0     1.0
14   2   2.5     2.3     2.0
16   2   3.5     3.0     2.5
18   3   4.5     4.0     3.0
20   3   5.5     4.8     4.0
22   4   6.8     5.8     4.8
24   5   8.3     7.0     6.0
26   6   10.0   8.5     7.0
28   6   12.0   10.3   8.8
30   7   14.0   12.3   10.3
32   8   16.7   14.5   12.0
34   9   19.0   16.5   14.0
36 10   22.0   19.5   16.8
38 12   25.5   22.0   19.0
40 13   29.5   26.0   22.0
42 14   33.5   29.7   25.0
44 15   39.0   34.0   29.0
46 16   44.0   38.7   32.5
48 17   51.0   44.0   37.0
50 18   58.0   50.0   42.0
52 19   65.0   58.0   47.0
54 20   73.0   64.0   52.0