When measuring your catch
 

Do you do it old sckool; from nose tip to fork, or the new way; total lenth nose tip to end of tail (with the tail pushed together)
I see many charts and none say how the fish is measured just a lenth then an average weight?

Myself I like the old school method of fork lenth, and that's the way I measure fish

lbs.

Lbs all the way...
never heard fish talked in inches until recently.. we always talked by the pound...
I tend to estimate length along marks on my rods as a 'verification'
but I think I'm pretty close to estimating weight most of the time...

Lbs. I know I let alot of fish go and I take a lenth of the fish and when I get home I like to look up and see how much it weighs.

Does anyone have a chart that is pretty close and tell how the fish is measured?

Bob, me too, i would love to know pounds but never keep my fish, so inches it is. There is a chart in one of Daignaults books that I use.

The only time I ever put a tape measure on a bass is when it's injured beyond hope and looks close to being legal size. And then, it's done the way the state madates--total length to the farthest extremity of the tail.

You guys know they do sell scales...:hidin:

Total length is the only way as far as utilizing length. However, the true measure of a bass has and will always be pounds. The pound per inch over 50" thing is a bunch of B.S. too. I used to catch a lot of 50" fish in my commercial boat days that weighed only 35 or so pounds. Show me the(weight) slips.:rtfm:

I already carry too much into the surf.

I think someone posted previously for fish 40" or over it was a safe bet to say they were a 20# or better fish. I would agree with that.

For me after that it's difficult to tell much more than that. Larger fish seem to vary so much in girth.

I use the same one and he uses fork lenth to get his facts

Mass regs say that the lip to the tail (closed/pinched)
"Minimum Size Limits are measured as a straight line from the anterior most point of the
fish with the mouth closed to the tip of the tail. Tail may be squeezed together for the final
measurement. Exceptions: Billfish are measured from the lower jaw to the tail fork. Black
sea bass tail filament is not included."

already carrying too much stuff, plugs, eels, korkers, waders, gloves, pliers, flahlight....soon I'll need a shopping cart to push along the rocks

I guess I dont care that much...
unless I'm weighing it for a club or a constest, an estimate of length/weight is good enough for me... I tend to ball park fish into groups...
two fish; one was probably 25+ one was probably 24-25
When I put it in my log it's a 25lb fish... :huh:

if I have to measure to see if it's a keeper, it's going back anyways....

I meaure both fork length and total with tail squeezed. The fork length is much more accurate for calculating weight with the length/girth formula.

Does't matter to me. I wouldn't keep a fish under 36". I can tell if it's 36" or better.

TattooBob,
Use your hands to measure - if it takes one hand to lift its OK - but I live for "two handers".

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"In the arm, shoulder, or brain of a big fish fisherman is a scale, and the moment the bg fish goes in the air, the fisherman, no matter what his blood pressure is, places the scale under the fish and coolly weighs it"
Norman Maclean author of The River Runs Through It.

DZ

i had a rod maker wrap a nice line 29 inches from the butt on my rod- anything under goes back no matter what- anything above is usually going back unless its gut hooked, Im in a tourny, or i have a request for one from a neighbor/friend. The extra inch is there so there are no doubts.

Simple.

http://www.floridaconservation.org/m...easurement.htm
this is the way to do it .