Measuring Fish

[Fishing_Cherry]

One question that i've been meaning to ask you guys, why do people include the complete tail length of the bass (or any other fish except ones with tail structures like yellas and barra) as the total length and say its a PB when in competitions etc you measure to the fork just like you do when you measure a fish to make sure its legal to keep and eat???

I'm not gettin fired up :laugh: Just curious as to why people do this...for example my PB bass is 51cm fork length, but it could have been 55-56cm long to the tip...too me the forklength measurement is much better because its more accurate and any fish could have a retarted tail thats extralong lol so its, in my opinion, better to measure to the fork...

Just wonderin' what the rest of you thought about this...

[MichaelJ]

the legal measurement is to the tip so when you measure all your fish it should be to the tip

[Rocket75]

I like overall measurement cause it's bigger!

Just as you can have extralong tail flukes, you can also have very shallow V's on some fish. My bass recently at Wivenhoe had a 2cm differntial, but the bass I've been getting at NPD have a deeper fork...go figure:blink:

Rocket

[Rocket75]

whatnow wrote:

the legal measurement is to the tip so when you measure all your fish it should be to the tip

Good point.

[Dusky]

Yeah but for comps they only measure to the fork because after the fish are caught they can shrink .

[Nastymind]

I've always measured my fish to the tip of the tail.

One of my mates started releasing easily legal doggy mac once.

I couldn't believe it and when i told him the limit is to the tail tip and he didn't believe me.

Because we were on his boat, i had to do things his way.

It was a very frustrating afternoon as we really hauled in a bag limit and took home nothing

[Cowfish13]

I always measure to the tip as that is the way you do it to measure if it is legal, and it sounds better:cheer:

[fishyman]

another reason for comp measuring to teh fork is to try and limit people putting undersize fish in the well.

if a fish is right on the limit of the fork length it will still be legal by a good few cm's

edit: whoops forgot to mention what i do, i measure full length because thats how long the fish is

[ellicat]

If you only measure to the fork it's not their real length. If I measured my kids to their fork they wouldn't be allowed on most rides at the Ekka. :laugh:

[STU]

I go fork cause I regulary go in comps and thats what they do.A pretty good estimate of bass from fork to tip is 2.5 -3cm only cause Ive checked it out on the ones I've got over the years but I normally look at both measurments but bream and bass fork mainly but these days going to wivenhoe I weigh them cause I've had 48 fl go 2.5kg and 50's under 2 kg thats what counts in comps weight not length as long as there all legal too.

[Plastic Fantastic]

I'm with ya Stu, fork length all the way!

[STU]

I would like to add a 23cm bream legal in qld is a joke at least going 23cm fork makes them slightly better but still you dont get much fillet off these should be more like 28cm at least to the tip to be legal just my 2 cents

[fishyman]

STU wrote:

I would like to add a 23cm bream legal in qld is a joke at least going 23cm fork makes them slightly better but still you dont get much fillet off these should be more like 28cm at least to the tip to be legal just my 2 cents

agreed 100%

[Dinodadog]

We have been through all this before, The DPI legal measurment is to the tip of the tail or in the case of fork tail fish its a horizontal line at the end of the tail. What happens in comps is up to whoever is running the comp. As Stu said they weigh their fish, the only ones they measure is to make sure it is 30cm to the fork so no small ones get put in.

[Malcolm]

fishyman wrote:

STU wrote:

I would like to add a 23cm bream legal in qld is a joke at least going 23cm fork makes them slightly better but still you dont get much fillet off these should be more like 28cm at least to the tip to be legal just my 2 cents

agreed 100%

Agreed agreed

[Plastic Man]

i go the fork for all the same reasons as stu

but since doing the bass comps i dont really look at the length all about weight now bring on those fat bass

[Dinodadog]

Fat girls are best

[pinkey]

I measure bream to the fork. Most consistant method of measurement. But for forked fish like trevally i dont realy care to much so i just measure to the tip.

[Mack_attack]

STU wrote:

I would like to add a 23cm bream legal in qld is a joke at least going 23cm fork makes them slightly better but still you dont get much fillet off these should be more like 28cm at least to the tip to be legal just my 2 cents

Agree aswell.

But if you've ever taken a 36cm snapper home even they are are almost too small to be worth it. IMO bream aren't worth keeping at all since once they reach any decent size they are too old to even consider keeping and should be a dedicated catch and release species.

but in saying this i'm not going to bag someone taking a couple home for a feed.

[WayneD]

I'm a tip man myself

[kevinchen19870316]

i measure all fish to the tip cuz that's how DPI suggested.

also, in all fish size records stuff around the world( not just AU comps), fish r measured to the tip.

it's really up to each comp holder if they want the fish to be measured to the fork or tip but law(dpi) says fish should be measured to the tip.

just my opinion.

[Terry H]

I measure: sharks to fork, everything else to tip.

[Nastymind]

Sorry guys but i have to make a 'tip' joke.

Q. What did the lepar say to the prostitute?

A. Keep the tip!

[Fishing_Cherry]

Thanks for all your opinions guys...I was just interested as to peoples views on the subject...cant say im gunna measure it tip though (i'll stick with forklength)...when i hear someone say "yeh got a 50cm bass" i immediatley question whether they measured to fork or tip...a trophy bass is 50cm+ and from my experience a 50cm tip measured bass isnt that big, definetly not a true trophy fish....plus i agree totally with what STU mentioned, some good points there!

thanks for the input though everyone...

[MichaelJ]

wtf a 50 bass forklength will only be about 2cm or 3cm bigger than tip length which makes it pretty much a trophy bass

[rayke1938]

Well O think that it should all be change to measure from the anal vent to the corner of the eye.:laugh: :laugh:

and if you dont agree ill rip yer bloody arms orf.

Cheers

Aunty Jack

[Shrimpo]

Yeah their wont be much difference in MOST fish between fork and tail 3,4,5cm

[EMP]

To have an ACCURATE measurement, go by the Body Surface Area--- that is, count the number of scales.

EMP:laugh: :laugh:

[STU]

Shrimpo wrote:

Yeah their wont be much difference in MOST fish between fork and tail 3,4,5cm

snapper /squire have a fair gap between fork to tip but I go tip on them:P

[StevenM]

Bass to the fork

All other to the tip (stroking not included)

[Terry H]

The main problem with tip length measurements is about correct/incorrect method of measuring.

/>http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/cps/rde/dpi/hs.xsl/28_3011_ENA_HTML.htm

For concave tails, it's measured to the vertical line between the two tips.

I've seen quite a few pictures lately where guys have had fish on an angle that one tip is 3cm further along than the other, which would be incorrect according to that DPI picture.

As Dino said:

We have been through all this before, The DPI legal measurment is to the tip of the tail or in the case of fork tail fish its a horizontal line at the end of the tail. What happens in comps is up to whoever is running the comp.

[Cowfish13]

Except in the top right picture, it says measurement taken at the extreme tip of tail:blink::dry: So that would mean maximum possible length right? (ie with tail squashed down?). Then the next picture shows them both inline, so that's a bit different:huh:

Oh well, if you measure all of your fish in the same way, then they'll all be the same difference so you'll be able to compare them to other fish you've caught:)

[Rocket75]

EMP wrote:

To have an ACCURATE measurement, go by the Body Surface Area--- that is, count the number of scales.

EMP:laugh: :laugh:

Nice, I like it!...that would be te EMP "scale of measurement":P

[jeff f]

i've had fish checked quite e few times by the dpi over the years

especially in hervey bay and with fork tailed fish they have pushed the top lobe of the tail down to get maximum length every time. so if thats how the fisheries inspectors do it it's good enough for me

[Line Tangler Dave]

"All other to the tip (stroking not included)"

stroking ???

[Dinodadog]

Well it all comes down to you measure your fish the way you want to and if you go in a comp they measure them the way they want to. So its realy a fruitless argument.

[Beefa]

Line Tangler Dave wrote:

"All other to the tip (stroking not included)"

stroking ???

Think long and hard mate:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Sorry guys gee's thats a bad play on words

Heath

[Fishing_Cherry]

whatnow wrote:

wtf a 50 bass forklength will only be about 2cm or 3cm bigger than tip length which makes it pretty much a trophy bass

although i dont want this little conversation outa hand, i have to disagree with u whatnow...considering 3cm difference in a large bass is a difference of 3yrs in there lifetime i'd have to say there is a large difference...not only that but with the bass that me and mates have caught, the 48-50cm FL speciemens are quite different...i've noticed that the headsize, width and depth of the body is noticeably different...plus the fact that a 50cm tip measured bass isnt that amazing due to the fact that there are a hell of lotta bigger ones runnin around in our dams atm (NPD, Wivenhoe, Somerset etc).

well anyways, sorry guys if you think i started a bit of a ruckus :laugh: but trust me it was only an innocent question from the beginning...

[Terry H]

Cowfish13 wrote:

Except in the top right picture, it says measurement taken at the extreme tip of tail:blink::dry: So that would mean maximum possible length right? (ie with tail squashed down?). Then the next picture shows them both inline, so that's a bit different:huh:

Oh well, if you measure all of your fish in the same way, then they'll all be the same difference so you'll be able to compare them to other fish you've caught:)

First picture shows what to measure for a fish in general,

then it shows you for a fish with a concave tail (fork-tailed) , then a convex tail.

[MichaelJ]

fishing cherry theresz also a hell of a lota bass bigger than 50cm fork length or 53 proper way hahaand as stu said before he has caught 48cm bass bigger than 50cm ones so there cant be much diefferant in body size