Tape Measures

[Hawgstoppah]

I gotta admit. I am having a good laugh at a lot of pics lately. Not a certain one in particular, but it seems a lot of fish are either looking a lot smaller than what people are saying, or the camera angles are bad. But it makes me wonder, how many of you actually USE a tape measure? I mean ACTUAL tape, not measured on your rod, or in a net that the "opening is XX inches" etc, etc etc. but I mean using an actual tape measure.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

My mom bought me one years ago that i carry, called 'the lie detector'

 

otherwise i measure on my rod.

 

I don't measure nearly all of my fish, just the odd one or two

[ÜberFly]

I gotta admit. I am having a good laugh at a lot of pics lately. Not a certain one in particular, but it seems a lot of fish are either looking a lot smaller than what people are saying, or the camera angles are bad. But it makes me wonder, how many of you actually USE a tape measure?

 

Yup when they are larger then what I know the length of my net to be... Bought my retractible tape measure for $1.49 and Walmart in the sewing section!!

 

P

[rusty]

I carry a tape but only use it if the fish is particularly large (say 24"+). Funny though, how many times you pull it out thinking that a fish will go 25" to find it's 23 1/2".

 

I liked that Ted guy's sig from the old board: "Many 25" trout are caught on the Bow - few are ever measured"

[Hawgstoppah]

I liked that Ted guy's sig from the old board: "Many 25" trout are caught on the Bow - few are ever measured"

 

No offense to anyone, but that's kinda why I feel this topic needed to start up. Hehe

[Hawgstoppah]

I don't measure nearly all of my fish, just the odd one or two

 

Ya same. I dont measure it unless I figure it'll go 25+... then sometimes I get shot down. Ha... and she's 23.5 or 24. Sometimes a fish that looks 26 will tape at 24. or 23. I'm pretty good at eyeballing fish, and a lot of 25+ getting posted I don't think ever saw a tape measure

[bulltrout]

i measure out in two inch increments from the butt of my rod starting at 12" up to 30"...each of my increments is marked with a permanent marker...

[Tako]

Guy was claiming on the BC hunting board a while back that it was very common to catch 30-34" browns in the Bow every day. Claimed the average was 28-30"

 

I have a soft tape, but rarely use it. I can guesstimate pretty close. Measuring grayling for work last summer though, everytime you caught one you would swear was over 35cm, turned out to be like 31cm

[ÜberFly]

Guy was claiming on the BC hunting board a while back that it was very common to catch 30-34" browns in the Bow every day. Claimed the average was 28-30"

 

I have a soft tape, but rarely use it. I can guesstimate pretty close. Measuring grayling for work last summer though, everytime you caught one you would swear was over 35cm, turned out to be like 31cm

 

I'm sure the "girth" of a fish would influence how long it actually looks, as well as the parallax (look that one up Brent) !

 

P

[headscan]

I just guess, but I tell people that if I thought it was a 20" fish in reality it was probably anywhere between 16" and 18". I tend to apply the same margin of error when I read someone's fishing report claiming to have caught 10 fish between 20" and 24". I figure that usually means about 6 fish between 16" and 22". We're fishermen (and women). We lie about fish. It's in our nature.

[hydropsyche]

I don't think anyone should say they caught an X incher if they didn't actually measure it. They should say an X'ish incher, indicating it was a guess or an inaccurate measurement.

 

Its funny how what you think is an 17incher is actually 15. It can go both ways for me. One time I guessed a fish to be 23 only to discover it was 25.

 

I use a tape only for my own benefit. There is no other way to tell for sure if a fish is a personal best.

[Tako]

I just guess, but I tell people that if I thought it was a 20" fish in reality it was probably anywhere between 16" and 18". I tend to apply the same margin of error when I read someone's fishing report claiming to have caught 10 fish between 20" and 24". I figure that usually means about 6 fish between 16" and 22". We're fishermen (and women). We lie about fish. It's in our nature.

 

Well, you can exempt me from your reasoning, I won't be BSing about 20" fish

[Brownstone]

no tape, I guesstimate. I have a benchmark set on all my rods, weather it be 18" to the end of butt section, 24" to the first eye..etc..my hands are 4"wide, finger 1" If need be I can get a fairly close guess but seldom do., I'll grab a pic of the fish against my rod the odd time if its a nice looking fish and post and say around 20 or over 20 but that will be the extent of it ..

your not cheating anybody but yourself and in the process making yourself look like an idiot. but whatever

[Weedy1]

I dangle one of these from my vest.

 

[Hawgstoppah]

100 footer. Good man Weedy!

 

Gonna hit the ocean soon? Looking for the elusive Bow river Blue Whale?

[Weedy1]

100 footer. Good man Weedy!

 

Gonna hit the ocean soon? Looking for the elusive Bow river Blue Whale?

 

I've been thinking of purchasing one of these in order to shed a little weight. You know how it is.

[reevesr1]

I measure big ones against my rod, or on my net. When they hit the first junction on my 4 pc. 9 ft, I way WhooHooo! Its happened twice.

 

But really, what difference does it make? I know if I think it's 24, it may only be 22. It may be 25 (but more likely 22!).

But so what? Keeps me coming back and nobody believes anybody anyway, picture or no picture. For anything other than the true pigs, I tend to remember the fish that fight hard far more than what I think its length may be.

[johnbransfield]

i use a rusty old metal tape measure, good call on posting this thread too true that people overestamate their fish sizes. People claiming to have lost 25" fish, hoggwash unless you have the picture to prove it in my books. As the day wears on the size of the lost fish allways seems to grow haha.

[dryfly]

adc uses this one....

 

[maxwell]

u no me b i got a 25inch net with 24-30 marked off.... cereal for cereal fishies....... no foolin....... about 5 or so years back when i started measuring i was pretty dissapoinnted at all the 18inchers i figures were 20 n all the 22 i figures were 24 n the 24s tthat were pushin 30.. hell if i didnt tape my first 30+ bulls wich was 31 me n novo figured she had 3 feet easy...... i no lots are laughing but cereal... try it out.. u will be shocked at ur guestemates?

[SilverDoctor]

My wading staff has a great tape measure on the side. Very handy just float a decent fish next to the staff.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

they do float better if you clobber them with the wading staff too, makes it super easy to measure

[Tako]

they do float better if you clobber them with the wading staff too, makes it super easy to measure

 

You can rly stretch em out that way too

[headscan]

they do float better if you clobber them with the wading staff too, makes it super easy to measure

 

or just measure your boot and step on the fish while you have it beached on the rocks to measure it

 

Really, why does it matter? Does everyone only fish to catch more/bigger fish than everyone else on the forum? And why does anyone care what other people think of the fish they catch? Fishing shouldn't just be about size and numbers, it's about solitude or heading out with good friends, enjoying some scenery, and relieving some of the stress from the rest of your life. See the RH-B quote in my sig below...

[Hawgstoppah]

Really, why does it matter? Does everyone only fish to catch more/bigger fish than everyone else on the forum? And why does anyone care what other people think of the fish they catch?

 

Well when people claim fish to be clearly larger than the pictures prove or show, and post such on a forum, they start to lose credibility, wouldn't you agree? I wasn't trying to start anything on this forum, but... c'mon guys. Get a tape, you'd be suprised.... there not that big

 

Having said that, there all damn nice fish. The only reason I started this post was to make people think a bit about what there claiming to have landed... without a real factual tape measured fish.

 

Here's a 30 incher...... it was accurately taped (to the fork, not pinched). Now take 4 - 5 inches off that.. well, you be the judge