Clinton resident Brian Card had the catch of a lifetime.
The 26-year-old reeled in a 47-inch striper shortly after 10 p.m. Friday behind a seawall in Clinton while fishing in the salt water of Long Island Sound outside of Clinton Harbor. He estimates the fish weighed between 45 and 50 pounds.
Card, who grew up fishing with family in the Milford and West Haven areas, had never caught anything that size before. He said it was about a 10-minute process from the first tugs on his fishing pole to getting the striper on the seawall.
Card was fishing with his friend and fellow Clinton resident Brendan Smith at the time. The two only had their lines in the water for about 20 minutes before Card had a few tugs on his line.
He said historically, the two had never caught anything of significance in this spot near the Clinton seawall behind Smith’s property. Prior to that, he would fish near a boat launch near Baldwin Bridge. Branford Point and Hammonasset State Park are two other places he frequents.
“We knew that people were catching big stripers in the area. Every once in a while, when we didn’t have anything going on for the night, we would kind of kick it on the seawall and just cast our lines out, just to see if we’d get lucky. That’s kind of what happened the other night,” Card said.
“We cast lines out and about 20 minutes into us setting up and casting our lines my bait got picked up and immediately I knew that it was a bigger fish than I had ever caught.”
“There was one long pull, which usually indicates to me that the fish actually has (the bait) in his mouth and started to swim off with it,” he said.
Card was using a circle hook and leaned back a little because he didn’t want to set the hook in too hard. He said he “just nudged it.”
“As soon as I did that my line just started screaming and it started darting,” Card said. “At one point I knew it was potentially a huge fish. I have 30-pound line that a monster striper is capable of snapping if you don’t play your drag right…At one point, he starts swimming back towards us. I take the opportunity to bring back in as much of my line as I can.”
It “finally came up and did a big tail slap, splashed a bunch of water about 15 feet from us and we were hooting and hollering. We were all excited. I did one last big pull and reeled it in. I got it right up to the edge of the seawall,” he said.
Card said he brought it up to the seawall, rolled the fish on its side and knew right away it was a “monster striper.”
Card described himself as “not a huge guy” and said he nearly pulled himself into the water when he tried to leverage to pull the fish to shore.
“I needed to have my buddy sit on my legs as I pulled it on to the seawall. I took the hook out and thankfully it was a quick and easy process. We took some pictures. I was flooded with adrenaline. We revived it and I had him back in the water and watched him off,” Card said.
The first person he messaged after the big catch was his father. He sent him the photo of him holding the 47-inch striper. His father, Brian Card Sr., called his son right away to get all of the details.
“You can imagine what type of sportsman it takes to pull in a 47-inch striper? That’s a big striper. That’s something that somebody would want to mount on their wall,” Card Sr. said.
“Even if he caught it and wanted to take it home, he would still set it free. He’s out there for the sport and the relationship with the air and the moonlight and everything else that comes along with fishing that people really don’t see. They think it’s about the fish. It’s not. There’s a saying, ‘A bad day of fishing. Beats a good day at work.'”
“He caught that from shore with light tackle. To catch something that large from shore is unreal. Normally, you have to be in a charter boat out with a captain with a fishfinder to catch something like that. This is someone sitting with his friend on a sea wall casting a chunk of mackerel,” he said.
Friday was indeed a proud night for the Card family.
“I haven’t had a such a raw feeling of excitement like that before. I felt like a kid. I was jumping up and down. It was wild. I’ve been going after a fish like this my whole life, especially the last four years. When I was a kid growing up, I never caught anything like this before. I just watched my dad do it,” Card Jr. said.
The younger Card redeveloped his love for fishing about four years ago and fishes three to four days a week.
“Growing up, I fished a lot at Gulf Beach in Milford. That’s where I first got exposed to striper fishing. In the summer, my mom and dad would take me out at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.,” Card Jr. said. “During my high school years, I stopped fishing until the last four years. I’ve been trying to go after big stripers. I saw my dad catch a 40-pound striper when I was a kid and now, I finally got one.”
Card Jr. said the catch has inspired him to chase the next big fish. He said on Wednesday he was still “fired up” from Friday night. He said he texted friends that he caught a 47-inch fish. they were impressed. However, when he sent the picture the reaction was much bigger.
The younger Card also is a landscaper and said he “bragged” to his coworkers about the striper.
“I feel lucky to have caught that fish. I hope a bigger fish comes along one day. It sounds corny, but it was an at-peace feeling. I’ve been trying to catch a monster striper for years and this was truly a monster,” Card Jr. said.
He said after the photos and the measurement and he released the fish. Card Jr. said that moment was emotional for him.
“I always feel a little bad. It’s part of the hobby, inevitably causing another living creature a little bit of stress and pain – it sucks that has to be part of it. That bubbled to the surface a little bit when I was reviving the fish when the excitement of the catch was over. I had the fish in my hands for a minute. There’s an emotional aspect to most catches, for me anyway. I love the sport of fishing, but I also have a decent amount of empathy for the fish. It’s a weird trade off,” Card Jr. said.
“After three minutes, the fish clamped down on my hand and scraped me up good and gave me a little battle scar of my own. He did a couple of tail kicks, and I let it go and it swam off,” he added. “There was definitely a moment of connection with the fish. It was a moment of appreciation for the fish and what it just went through for me to have that moment.”
“A 47-inch-striper is something that any fisherman that’s been fishing stripers with gray hair or receeding hairline have been chasing their whole life. At 26 years old, because of his perseverance he found it. Or it found him. He landed it,” Card Sr. added.