A BIG Fish for the Kid

My youngest son, Jon, turns twenty years old in a couple of days.  For his birthday my wife and I got him a new surf fishing outfit which consisted of a 9 foot St Croix Mojo spinning rod along with an Okuma Trio 55 reel.  We gave it to him about a week ago as an early gift.  While he's caught a number of schoolies with his new outfit, he really broke in the gear tonight with the biggest striper he has ever landed from shore.  While fishing after dark with a Yozuri swimmer, the kid landed a 45 inch,  fat striper. He did get an accurate measurement and then released the trophy. He had no camera with him to record the event.  I had a camera with me, but I was fishing a spot five miles away from him.  I'm guessing the fish went over 40 lbs., a terrific catch these days.
Team Pickering is on a roll in the last four or five days as we have scored big numbers of stripers and good numbers of keepers after dark. The after dark fishing has been far more consistent than the daytime fishing, and there are some big fish to be had.