How much does a striped bass weigh?
Upload a photo of your catch, or use the tools below, to estimate its weight.
About the striped bass
Typical adult length: 16–36 in (about 1.9–21.2 lb)
- Lifespan
- Can live 20 to 30 years.
- Habitat
- Lives in coastal waters, estuaries, and some large freshwater reservoirs and rivers.
- Diet
- A powerful predator that feeds on baitfish like herring, shad, and menhaden.
- Baits & techniques
- Live or cut baitfish, large swimbaits, and trolled plugs are all effective.
- Best season
- Spring and fall migrations typically produce the best fishing.
- Best time of day
- Low light periods, dawn, dusk, and overnight, are often most productive.
- Striped bass are anadromous in their native range, moving from salt water into rivers to spawn.
- Landlocked populations have been successfully established in many freshwater reservoirs and rivers.
- They often hunt baitfish in coordinated groups, sometimes pushing schools to the surface in a visible feeding frenzy.
Striped Bass length-to-weight chart
10 inches up to record size (54 in), using the standard length-to-weight formula for this species.
| Length (in) | Estimated weight (lb) |
|---|---|
| 10 | 0.5 |
| 12 | 0.8 |
| 14 | 1.2 |
| 16 | 1.9 |
| 18 | 2.7 |
| 20 | 3.6 |
| 22 | 4.8 |
| 24 | 6.3 |
| 26 | 8.0 |
| 28 | 10.0 |
| 30 | 12.3 |
| 32 | 14.9 |
| 34 | 17.9 |
| 36 | 21.2 |
| 38 | 24.9 |
| 40 | 29.1 |
| 42 | 33.7 |
| 44 | 38.7 |
| 46 | 44.2 |
| 48 | 50.3 |
| 50 | 56.8 |
| 52 | 63.9 |
| 54 | 71.6 |
Estimating weight without a scale
Length-to-weight formulas like the one above assume a typical striped bass shape for a given length - fisheries biologists call this the cube law. Real fish vary: a well-fed fish ahead of spawning season can weigh noticeably more than a lean fish of the same length, and body shape varies fish to fish.
Adding girth (the distance around the fish at its widest point) meaningfully improves the estimate, because it captures how deep-bodied this particular fish actually is instead of assuming average proportions for the species - use the calculator above and fill in girth if you can measure it.
Either way, treat the result as a solid estimate, not a certified weight - see our terms for why these numbers shouldn't be used for tournaments, regulations, or sales.