Was this a 50” striped bass?!?

Context
Location: south NJ @ the tip of an inlet jetty
Tide: slack high
Time: 8pm weekend of 09/20
Water temp: 71 measured
Conditions: prior to slack tide the wind was blowing SE for an hour and at the time of this video it was null (1-4knots) switching to NE.

The water glassed out and the wind died. I knew I was in the right place at the right time. I continued to drift bucktails with a paddle tail across the tip of this jetty.

On this specific drift I felt my line slacked so I raised the rod tip and the drag started to peel slowly. When I cranked, the fish realized it was hooked and booked it out east. After a 30 second run I saw my backing, panicked, locked the drag, and tried to turn its head. Clearly this was silly error 🤡. Not sure what this was but will take guesses to rub it in more. I checked my drag before starting, it was light, maybe 10lbs of pressure.

I was running w/ 30lb mainline // FG to 3’ of 40lb mono // 88lb swivel // 40 lb fluoro tactical anglers clip.

Perfection loop Knot slipped on the fluoro side of the swivel.

Lesson learned: I would rather get spooled than lock out and break off like a fool. There will always be a bigger fish….