A new Mississippi state record for striped bass was set in March with a 39.6 pound fish. Angler Rocky Rawls of Gautier Rawls landed the record setting striped bass while fishing in the West Pascagoula River near his home.
The fish was positively identified by Stan Crider, a fisheries biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) and was weighed on certified scales.
Striped bass are native to Mississippi. Although they make spring spawning runs up nearly all of the coastal rivers of Mississippi, natural reproduction is limited.
To supplement natural reproduction, striped bass are annually stocked by MDWFP and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
For more information, visit www.mdwfp.com.
source: Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks