[Osprey]

I was on montys boat when the previous Maryland record was caught by Charlie at 23lbs, which a Maryland DNR marine biologist took a gill plate to age the fish and said 17-18 years old. I brought the head to a NY DEC marine biologist who check the age by removing the otolith to age it by counting the bone layers and agreed with the Maryland scientist of around 18 years old. The same woman aged a 22lb fish caught in NY and got an age around 19 years old on that one. So depending upon where it is caught I'd surmise most fish over 20 lbs are 16-20 years old.

The problem with releasing big tog is they will usually blow up their swim bladder or rectums and most likely won't survive a release. They might swim away but will either float eventually or die from parasites or predators from exposed intestines. As much as releasing these fish would be great, they've spawned many, many times, I think they've contributed plenty to the gene pool.