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| Recently I was at a friends fathers house and on his wall he had a large muskie that he caught in the early 1980's. When I asked how much this fish weighed in at he told me 45lbs but was unable to weigh it till about 8 hours after he landed it. He said he often wondered what it would have intitially weighed had they a scale handy when it was first caught. Does anyone have a rough idea how much weight loss would occur that long after it has been out of the water or what percent. I know that this is a hard one to answer but I though maybe someone might be able to help. I know the fish was 54in long and quite thick in girth. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | If your friend's father's name is Louie the I'd say about 25 pounds.  |
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Posts: 541
| I think it really depends on how it was kept after being caught, on a stringer, laying in the boat was put in a freezer ect. sometimes laying around they get all stretched out and dried up looking a fish that big could lose couple lbs probably in 8hrs if not maybe a litle more! |
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| After the fish was landed they went back to the cabin and took some photos and then took it in to a local taxidermist later on that day, I was told that they caught it in the middle of October. they wrapped it up in newspaper put it in a plastic bag and let it sit under the cabin till they brought it in to the taxidermists. P.S I don't think my friends fathers name is Louie. lol |
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| Boy, wrapped in newspaper it's going to lose a lot. Around here we get a several nice fish speared each year, and so probably have more real life weight loss over time data than anywhere else. For a big fish like you are talking like 1.5 - 2 pounds in the first hour, then about a pound every two-three hours after that up until 12 hours when it slows down a bit. So I suppose the 45 lber could be on the order of 49-52 or so! |
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Posts: 1296
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin | "For a big fish like you are talking like 1.5 - 2 pounds in the first hour, then about a pound every two-three hours after that up until 12 hours when it slows down a bit. So I suppose the 45 lber could be on the order of 49-52 or so!"
And you got this data where? |
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Posts: 2361
| In Fish or Lin Fish or Fishing Facts did a study on this and the weight loss thing is largely myth. It won't be a whole lot.
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| about the same as if you wrapped a side of beef in news paper the same time of the year...very little! Less than 1 pound for sure! |
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| I kept a 38 pounder about 20 years ago. Weighed 38 pounds in the boat. 5 hours later on shore weighed 38 pounds at the fishing lodge. 4 days laters and 400 miles by car weighed 37.75 pounds on a certified scale. Was 52 inches long caught in September. Fish losing a ton of weight is a joke and urban legend. What is more important is an accurate high quality scale. |
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muskie weight loss and dehydration