Northwest Fishing Reports

After reading the FishinFools post about the Idaho tiger musky record this morning, I was looking back at the thread showing Dave Hickmans Washington State record tiger musky, and the discussion about how to record a tiger musky record without killing the fish.
Muskyhunter showed some information from Texas with their method of recording record lengths for fish in their state. That seemd to be a decent method. However, I believe the largest overall fish should be the record. There is some diffrence in opinion as to weather largest means longest or heaviest. So, to keep everyone happy with a "Not necessary to kill" record system. I wonder if this would work.
The state could sell a WDFW certified accurate weather proof, non stretchable tape measure. (Good fund raiser?)(Or they could just give them away)(Or they could sell them at cost)
This tape measure would be used to measure the fish submitted for record keeping.
The fish would be photographed showing the tape measure in full, for length. Then again with the tape wrapped around the fish showing the girth. (Girth measurement location would be determinded by WDFW) ie. widest point of fish, or certain distance behind, or forward of a particular fin. A WDFW logo printed on the tape measure would need to be displayed in each photo.
These dimensions would then be input into a formula, and recorded using a points system. Example. Length X Girth X TT (I didn't have a symbol for Pi, or 3.14159) Hence a fish with a length of 50" and a girth of 24" would be given a score of 3769.908
The fish with the highest number of points would then become the new record. The record would also indicate the length and girth of the fish, giving someone bragging rights to having caught the longest or fattest fish.
Using Pi as a multiplier is just an example. Maybe someone smarter than me could come up with a diffrent number. Then again, maybe no multiplier is needed. Maybe just length times girth would work. A 50 X 24 fish would have a score of 1200.
I realize this means that someone who doesn't have a certified tape measure would not be able to own the record, but I would say that's just one of the downfalls to trying to keep these fish alive and still have a record keeping system.


Just a thought.

since they fish are sterile and only so many exist makes sense not to kill many.

I've always thought that arriving at the actual weight of a potential record fish is simple. Weigh the fish on your fish
scale that you have in the boat showing the fish fully suspended on film(with no one pulling on his tail!). Have at least X people near your boat verify it. Do the length and girth as described by AJ's Dad for backup. Throw the Tiger muskie back into the lake to eat more scrap fish!!
Take your fish scale to a certified scale, hang a bucket on your scale and fill it with sand until it matches your weighed record fish weight. Put the bucket on the certified scale and presto...you have the certified weight of your fish.

try a website.. http://www.modernmuskierecords.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Lots of information there to submit records that are recognized. The dude that caught the 52.5" tiger in Idaho just had his fish certified as a record tiger..
Cheers..

Just arrived in wa this week heard there was a tiger tourney at silver lake sometime soon any help. Rocknt

Rocknt: Yes our local Mountain Muskies chapter of Muskies, Inc. is sponsoring a tiger muskie tournament this Sat, May 16 at Silver Lake headquartering out of the State boat launch on the north end of the lake. Registration at 0630. Open to both members and non-members. I recall the entry fee is $15 or perhaps a tad more. Hope you can make it.

Why not have a 2 record system? Have a state record for catch and release based on length and girth and a state record for retained fish. I understand that many people enjoy keeping fish and that is ok, it is just not what I prefer to do. This would at least give folks that prefer to release their catch an opportunity for some recognition on these larger catches.