You know, it's true. I don't even fish stripers that often, and I know we have self-reproducing populations down here in So Cal. The amounts of smaller stripers are enormous this year at Castaic and the other lakes, as Shane will tell you. An they just keep stockin' the trout and the shad are booming, so the harvest of larger fish is not really a problem right now. The growth rates for keeper stripers is rocketing and taking bigger fish is probably doing some good.
On the death issue with bigger fish.... two words. Lactic acid. Shane was right about the swim bladders and all but bigger fish simply can't recover from lactic acid quick enough. Just like when you run a lot, your body builds up lactic acid that causes muscle cramps. So does a large striper. Stripers fight so hard and spend so much energy, they are exhausted to their maximum level by the time we get them in the boat. The fish build up absolute tons of acid when they fight and it basically paralyzes their systems when we go to release them. The larger a fish is, the more buildup it's going to have. So while a big striper will swim off, the results from lactic acid are going to kill it anyway in most instances. Just my 2cents