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Location: Contrarian Island | Where do I get a good girth tape? the fat fish we have boated the last few years just can never seem to girth over 24.5". Guys are getting all these 25", 26", 27", 28", 29" girthed fish...is my tape measure reading wrong? 
now this one did go 27" ....that I will BUY...
Edited by BNelson 12/3/2009 2:43 PM
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Posts: 143
| tape a couple broken net handles together....oh wait no
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Posts: 8788
| BNelson - 12/3/2009 2:40 PM
Where do I get a good girth tape? the fat fish we have boated the last few years just can never seem to girth over 24.5". Guys are getting all these 25", 26", 27", 28", 29" girthed fish...is my tape measure reading wrong?
now this one did go 27" ....that I will BUY... ;- )
Brad... There's nothing wrong with your tape. You just forgot to cut 4" off it!
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| Mine never do either? |
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Posts: 1083
| Fill the fish's gut full of water then wrap the hose around it, mark it with your thumb, then measure that.... |
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| I just use the same thing that my uses for sewing---a flexible, 1/2" wide fabric tape. It works well for circular measurements because it doesn't have the arch in it that Stanley type of carpenters tape measures do. And the material is reasoably water resistant, and will never rust.. |
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| I have been fortunate to see a lot of big fish caught in some lakes that are known for big fish and in November (the time of year they are there fattest). The biggest girth I have seen and measured in person is 25.5". Brad, I'll send you a pic of it when I get the pic. A true 25" girth is a freakin monster.
Edited by Baby Mallard 12/3/2009 3:22 PM
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Posts: 2017
| You need to catch them in March - I have only held one fish with a 25"+ girth and it was a prespawn pig... 53, 52.5 & 50" this year all had girths less than 23" |
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Posts: 400
Location: North/Central WI | Brad-
I think the measuring process goes something like this....
Joe Blow catches a healthy summer 48"er. After he releases it, his buddy says "We should have got a girth on that". Joe replies "Yea...but I know she was a solid 35 lbs." So Joe uses this formula to "measure" the girth...
(48xx)/800 = 35 lbs and determines his fish to have a 24" girth. In reality, Joe's fish was probably closer to 25 lbs with a 20-21 " girth.
Three months later his buddy John Doe catches a fat fall 48". He too forgets to measure the girth. After comparing his fish pic to Joe's, he "measures" the girth on his fish at 26".
Sound about right? |
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| HAHAHA I caught my first really nice fish and we girthed it. I was like "No WAY that is right...that's it?????? I have seen fish that were way bigger girths and this fish looks.....oooohhhhh wait a second.........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA |
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Location: New Hope MN | There is something seriously wrong with that fish! What a fat slob!!!! |
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Posts: 221
| They mean centimeters.
Lol... BN we seem to have the same problem up here. Except my bumper board is also reading wrong...
Darcy Cox |
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| Brad,
You should never girth a fish. Just imagine what you want the weight to be and then make sure the L x G x G/800 fits the weight. True fisherman never lie??? I think that is how a lot of girths are taken.
On a serious side note. Girths can be manipulated greatly. Belly fat fish girths can really be manipulated depending on how the girth is taken. Also girths are taken and bragged about usually to say "my fish is bigger than yours". I do know of a couple of dead fish that the girth formula is closer to L x G x G/760 and others that the L x G x G/900 would probably be closer. I know of a 53 x 23 that went 39lbs and a 54 x 26 that went 40lbs both weighed dead on a scale. A square wide fish with big shoulder will weigh a lot more that a belly fat round fish.
Maybe someday fisherman will quit bragging up girths, but I doubt it. How else does one say my 50 is bigger than anothers 50. |
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Posts: 380
Location: Michigan | This is soooo funny... And in my world, so true too... I'm not saying they don't exist, but I will need to see one some day to really believe it. I rarely fish between November and June, so I probably never will unless I change my approach. I either have to fish different water, or when they hold eggs, or both.
Edited by Chadster 12/3/2009 6:43 PM
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| Ever notice how the stated girth magically hits 40lbs???? |
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| I agree with Darcy never mind girth alot of lengths are inflated |
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Posts: 299
Location: Nowheresville, MN | A lot of these girthing tapes must only come in whole-inch increments too. How many girths do you see reported X.25, X.75, etc. Same can be said for large lengths... |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | llolol at that muskie |
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Posts: 8788
| Not sticking up for the snoopy pole, but a few inches in girth on a tape measure doesn't amount to a whole lot of thickness.
Are a lot of the high 20's girths you see tossed around out there fake? As fake as a lot of the 51-52 inchers you see, I suppose. When I see someone holding a muskie that they say has a 28" girth? I am reminded that I had a 28 inch waist in high school. Kinda puts things in perspective in a hurry. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Here you all go, print this badge out and pin it to your shirt. You've all been awarded positions on the Girth Police Department.
You must all report each case to Sheriff Nelson for his ultimate decision on whether to issue the offender a citation.
Edited by Pointerpride102 12/3/2009 9:50 PM
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Posts: 8788
| WTF, Mike...
Silver? Are 'ya serious? I want a GOLD badge, and a pearl handled .45 revolver.
Well... unless you give me one of those cool red swirly flashing lights for the top of my truck. Then I guess I can deal with the silver badge. But at least let me have the .45, will 'ya? I'm going to NEED that. |
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Location: The desert | Are you sure you want a .45 and not a .44? |
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Posts: 203
Location: Alexandria, Minnesota | Hey Brad......... I think I know what you are laughing about when it comes to girths. I know some of the guys that fish the lake X that we both fish make me laugh too. With their 27 and 28 inch girths. My largest on those waters is a 25.5 and it could not get any fatter. It dwarfs some of their 27 and 28. I have no idea how they are screwing up their girths that bad. Ha ha ha.
I had a guy up there tell me he caught a 43 inch northern with 28 inch in girth. |
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You look like you have a 38" waist/girth .... |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Pointer, I'm no sherrif,,,but you seem to be on every musky board known to man...here is the thing... as I was talking to a friend the other day about it as well...what it boils down to is the avg joe who doesn't catch too many fish will go out and catch a very FAT fish and then he girths it..and it "only" comes to say 24...which if anyone who has actually girthed a 24 knows is very fat...then the avg joe is some what let down as he see's all these 25"+ girths thrown around on the net...so is he let down maybe? sure....he thinks he has a beast but then all these other clowns throwing around these inflated girths almost diminish his catch, when the reality is...his 24" girth is bigger than most of these inflated girths on the net....me, I could care less, my post was just to start a little funny banter about it...it actually just makes me laugh and shake my head,,...but it's the avg guys that do it all by the book that somehow get knocked down a notch....sad really.......and yes, a fish w/ a 26" girth is easy to see in a pic...sort of like someone catching a 35"er then going around saying it's 45"...it's easy to see who is just trying to make theirs into something it wasn't...
makes for good winternet.
Edited by BNelson 12/4/2009 8:19 AM
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| several years back I caught a 52 x 22 at the time it was by far my pb. The internet girths had not quite started yet but the magazine and newspaper girths were sporting 24 inch girths etc... After I released the fish I decided it must be a true 40lbr and that I had girthed all wrong. As Brad point I was depressed that my big fish while it looked just as big was nowhere near what I was seeing in publications for girths. Now many 50s and beyond in the boat later I realize that a 22 inch girth is big in the summertime. So to all who are catching the fish with 21-23 inch girths those are very nice fish.
I also notice that some individuals seem to be in a competition to claim the are catching 40 to 50 lbs fish for some sort of name recognition and as such their reported girths are questionable. |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | One of the first fish I ever girthed I had to check three times. I too thought I was measuring it wrong or had some weird metric tape or someone spliced a couple extra inches into it.
A 24" girth is huge, if you ever encounter one in person you will know what I mean. 25" and up....well I've never seen one in person, doesn't mean they don't exist, but...
Edited by nwild 12/4/2009 8:16 AM
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| That guy in the top picture looks like he's trying to strangle the fish, nice hold.
BNelson = girth police
Pointer = girth queen |
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Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Haa,Haa,Ha,.........He said girth queen....Haa,Haa. |
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Location: NE Wisconsin | One of my old accounting professors called the playing with numbers to get the desired results, "Creative Accounting"
47.375 X 26 X 26 divided by 800 = 40.031875 pounds |
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