I rarely catch stripers LOL so I don't know if I'm the best person to answer. One time last year in the spring I came upon a beach where they had a blitz a half-hour before. So many guys with stripers that must have been way bigger than 20 pounds because they had to hold them with two hands. I guess they threw a lot back, but all I saw was a continuous line of fisherman coming off the beach with big stripers. My .02