Brendan Watson caught his first striped bass on June 30, and it was a whopper.

The Barrington resident landed a 48-inch, 40-pound striper off Falmouth Heights Beach. Watson was fishing with his dad and his brother at about 11 p.m. on June 30 when he felt the line on his fishing rod pull hard. He began to reel.

“At first I thought it was maybe a small striper or a bluefish,” Watson said. 

A few minutes later, he realized he was into something else. 

Watson adjusted the drag on his reel and allowed the fish to make runs — he had 12-pound line on his reel and was worried about losing the fish. 

“I was very careful not to break the line,” he said. 

The same cannot be said for his fishing rod. As Watson battled, the weight of the fish snapped his rod into three pieces. But after 20 minutes, the Barrington resident pulled the striper onto the beach. He hoisted the fish with both hands and smiled while his brother, Colby, snapped a photo. Watson’s dad displayed the broken rod for the photo. 

A short time later, Watson released the striped bass back into the water. 

“That was actually my first striped bass,” Watson said, adding that he has been fishing his whole life. 

“I was named after St. Brendan, who was a fisherman.”