we are DEFINATELY on to something
 

44 1/2" not sure on the weight yet, getting that in the morning. Blows away my personal best.

pffft this fishin stuff is easy.. how didn't we figure it out sooner? :hihi:

i'll get the 40# tomorrow when my needles arrive. :cool:

p.s.- i guess i was wrong about being able to drag a fish that size up on to that rock.. :rollem:

nice work boys. that place is a great fall spot

Nice fish, congratulation on your new PB.

for those who wanted to know, it weighed in at 30# this morning. but that it also lost 4inches over night. so i would assume it lost some weight too. to bad he couldn't weigh it last night. i was thinkin it might get him to the 35# club. but hell he's the 30# club!

I hate it when fish shrink 4" over night.

Released fish somehow tend to grow 4" over night. :huh:

lol. i didnt think it would lose that much sitting in a cooler over night. i was there when he measured it last night. and it was 44 and 1/2. he had to go to work so he had a family member weigh it in today. and thats the report he got..

Great job on the PB! but I can't figure out it shrinks 4" though

Nice fish.

I'm gonna guess you guys measured to the tips of 'pinched' tail. Whoever weighed it probably did a quick fork length to center tail. Fish do not shrink overnight.

nah we did center of the tail.. no cheating. his uncle measured it before we got home and came up with the same number. :huh:

still a damn good fish... told him to put more ice in there..

Chris...tape measure flat under the fish....tip of lips to the tip of the tail.....no pinching! Nice fish!:kewl: I have found that if you keep the fish in a cooler well iced.....you will not lose any measurable weight......fish stay longer too!:rotflmao:

Bingo.

did that... but neither of us was there to see how it was measured today at the shop. so who knows where those 4 inches went..
trust me it was a flat tape measure (ya know the standard metal construction type), no pinching. from the end of the tail in the center to the tip of the mouth. 44 1/2 no curving it over the fish or anything. all i can think of they measured only to the tip of fleshy part of the tail where as we measured all the way to the end of the fin part.. :huh:

30lbs for a 44" fish is pretty much spot on from my experience. weighed straight out of the water it might have been a pound or two heavier...sorry to hear about the "shrinkage"...

Yep.

Congrats on the catch guys.

Did you check it for teeth? :angel:

Bass with fangs, and now bass that shrink 4" in a night---you guys must be fishing near a nuke plant ;)

lol i thought of bringin that up. cause this reminds me of that.. we come up with some of the strangest fish stories. but unlike most they are true. thankfully there's a pic of this one. it's probably been chopped up by now.. (hopefully) but it would have been great to get a pic in the same position and see if it actually did shrink or if there is just a measuring discrepancy.

but i swear it was 44 1/2 last night. scouts honor. (i did used to be a scout) i never lie about the size of a fish. my estimations can be way off.. but any time i guesstimate i chop off 2-3inches instead of adding them. (mostly to keep my arse out of trouble if some one wanted some cook out fish, cause so far my three have all been just at or just over. and two dont count cause im counting them at 27. and stickin to it...)

Fish don't shrink in length Chris.....did you guys watch the "how-to" instructional video that came with your tape measure??:rotf2: Maybe it was one of those "Rhody Tape Measures" we hear so darn much about?:uhuh:

lol.. i'm not doubting they dont.. i'm giving the shop the 3rd degree tonight on how they measured.


but then again, every one here swears stripers dont have teeth, and i can tell you with 100% certainty i felt them lay into me when i lipped that fish.

(edit - lol an hour later i realized what fork length means.. probably the case. but we still didnt pinch the tail.. )

Congrats. Don't worry about the length, you officially caught your first 30. 4 people can measure the same fish and come up with 4 different lengths, thats why I believe in the scale.

Thanks everyone for the congrats. I don't understand the measurement thing. Like T.Orlando said its the weight that counts and being my first 30# I like that better than its length.

CONGRATS 2884!!!
:claps: :claps: :claps:

keep chasin' the DREAM,,,,,,,

it only gets BETTER!!!!
:uhuh: :uhuh: :uhuh:

You must have had one of my uncles' tapes that go from 7" to 11".