This big striped bass didn\’t slip the hook

Back at Winchester\’s Fishing Company where it was weighed into an annual contest as the leader by far, MacKenzie learned he had caught a 54-pound bass — so far as Winchester\’s knows, the largest bass of the decade, and only the second 50-plus bass in 15 years.

Winchester\’s has already weighed in five other fish of more than 35 pounds in a season that seems ready to take its place as the best for fish of a certain size.

By the standard chart of length, age and weight, the MacKenzie bass likely hatched from an egg in 1986,