DAILY NEWS REPORTED FIRST: Eric Lester reeled in the 60-pound fish May 14 on the Hudson River, shattering a record set in 2007 and bringing in the biggest freshwater fish in the state since 1957. The monster female bass was estimated to be 20 years old. This fish tale has its own place in the record books. An upstate New York angler reeled in a record-setting striped bass last week, hauling a 60-pound monster out of the Hudson River.
Eric Lester’s 53.4 inch-long behemoth caught May 14 near the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge in Orange County weighed nearly five pounds more than the previous record-holding fish, caught in 2007, the Department of Environmental Conservation said. Only a 69-pound, 15-ounce Muskellunge caught in 1957 is bigger than Lester’s haul in the state’s history of freshwater fish.
“Honestly, I’m still waiting to wake up,” Lester told the Daily News on Tuesday. “It still feels like I’m dreaming. It’s just crazy.”
The Campbell Hall, N.Y. man even got a shoutout from Gov. Cuomo, who wrote on Instagram, “From one fisherman to another, congrats to Eric Lester on catching a record-breaking, 60-pound striped bass in the Hudson River!”
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