Accurate fish Measurments- do fish shrink?

[fcap60]

Sorry for the double post, but I hit the wrong key !

I hope this doesn't seem out of place, but I'm curious to know a) how accurately you measure your fish and b) whether your think they shrink a little bit as they die off. Here's my experience.


1. Catch a good fish and take a measurement from tip to the tail to tip of the snout (Point A to Point B) and come up with, for example 40 " ( this is an outside measurment (not lying the tape over the fish to pick up the additional length from the girth of the fish). Sound Simple.


2. Later, Put the fish on a flat rock and try to get a more accurate measurement, pulling the measuring tape tight, to be more precise. ( this often results in the loss of a 1/2 " to 1 1/2" from the previous measurement. OK, I can understand the tight tape, flat surface method.


3. For those fish that are kept, measure the fish, just berfore filleting to get a more accurate measurement, under the light, measuring tape tight, and Point A to Point B again. I've noticed that sometimes I loose another inch or so.


So, I don't know how you measure your fish, but I'm willing to wager that if you take a quick measurement in the water or on a non-flat rock, or lie the tape over the belly or if your tape is not tight, that the actual measurement may be off by anywhere from 1-4 inches.



Whether they actually shrink after a couple hours, I just don't know, but of the few fish I've taken home, the measurement seems a little off from what I thought was a very accurate, previous measurement.



I'm curious to know and may post this on other sites to see what others think. Any thoughts ?

[numbskull]

My fish only shrink if someone else weighs 'em.

[Raider Ronnie]

shrinkage is usually a problem for males if it's cold !!!

[Skitterpop]

I think you think too much

[JeffH]

Easy solution to this problem...Measure stripers by the POUND like the old days who cares how long they are. Oh, they lose weight over time also.

[Mr. Sandman]

I AGREE! Stripers should be measured by the pound not the inch. (but there is shrikage in weight with time too)

But I can tell you Albies do indeed shrink lengthwise and it is measurable. I have seen it with my own eyes. I rigged up a pretty accurate means to measure these fish once that allowed me to slide the fish to one side to a stop that held the mouch closed and I could measure his lenght at the tail without much fudging. If you measure him when he is right out of the water, wait 3 or 4 hours and remeasure him HE WILL BE SHORTER...My crude study showed between 1/4 and 1/2" shorter. Some claim more but I can tell you it is possible for 25" fish to measure 24 1/2 later that day. On a percentage basis that is close to 3%

[jkswimmer]

You could measure your fish fork length and there would be no problem being legal.

[fcap60]

PMueller and Vanstall:

Thanks for your informative comments, I thought I was imagining the whole thing.

[denport]

As far as accurate lenth measuring goes, If I am going to keep a striper, I have 30 inches measured from the butt of my pole to a marked spot up the shaft. I hold it up, briefly {I know this is not good, especially for larger fish}. If the fork of the tail is shorter, I don't keep it. I have noticed in ther past that there is some shrinkage and have been "questioned" by a warden about the size of a 29 inch fish when I measured it on the beach which was only barely 28 a few hours later. Maybe water loss? I know a 42 pound striper will only weigh 39 pounds after only 1 hour if not on ice. Which is why I can not say I've caught a 40 #'er.