Length of this muskie

[gim]

Please zoom in on the photo I've attached and tell me what you think the length of this muskie is.  I am in a contest and evidently there is some discrepancy on what it scores as.  Account for any issue in the front that I may have missed to the tip of the longest portion of the tail.  I need some impartial judgements.

 

Thank you

[MN Fisher]

I thought standard fish measurements were from front of closed jaw to fork of tail? With that in mind - 37-1/2" to 38". If I'm wrong in that...then let me know.

 

 

[gim]

25 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

If I'm wrong in that...then let me know

Minnesota state regulations indicate the official length is from the front of the snout to the tip of the tail, pinched.  Obviously I can't pinch the tail and take a photo otherwise my hand would be in the way.

 

The rules of this contest are to have photographic proof of the length of a fish entered according to state regulations.

 

Use those parameters and then do it again if you would.  I would like to know what you and others think before I reveal the official length I submitted it as so I don't change anyone's opinion before hand.

[MN Fisher]

Okay - using those parameters.

 

39-1/2" to 40" - can't close it down anymore than that.

[Dwight Hottle]

40 3/8" is where I would score it. 40 1/2" if even with the tape at the front

[Michigander]

The tail looks like it's around the 39" or 40" inch mark, but I can't tell if the end of the tape measure is lined up with the nose or not so it's kinda irrelevant.

[wisconsin heat]

I'd say it's a safe 40" I wouldn't say any more than that. I personally wouldn't give it a precise measurement (down to 1/2 or 1/4 inch) because it isn't a perfect photo and there is room for discrepancy.

[J Francho]

If scoring by the whole inch, I'd give it a 39" lacking any reference for the front, the open mouth, and pinched tail.  Most of the online tournaments I've judged required a regulation bump board, closed mouth, and spread tail.  To me, it's a 40" fish all day.  Nice job!

[12poundbass]

Best I can tell is pretty close to 39 3/4”. It appears to me to be over 39 1/2” and a fuzz less than 40”. 

[Smells like fish]

I see 40.5”

[Vilas15]

I'd be confident saying 40. You could probably get 40.5 on a bump board pinching the tail but we'll never know.

[Bird]

Ahhh thought you wanted guesses but then I saw the tape measure. Lol

 

Yeah 40"

[gim]

Alright, thanks for the responses.

 

I submitted that fish for 41 inches.  Initially thought it was 40.5 inches measuring to the tip of the lower tail fin but then realized I was missing half an inch up front because the lower snout was not aligned with the beginning of the tape measure.

 

The taxidermist/replica producer looked at it and initially said 40.5 inches as well until I pointed out the front issue, so the replica will be 41 inches.

 

The reason I am asking, as mentioned, is that there is a contest in my office every year and I guess there is another fish that scores very close so we have to be as precise as possible to determine a winner.  That's why I asked ya'll for your unbiased opinions before I told you what I submitted it as.

 

I'll let you guys know if I win.  The winner is determined on Dec 18.

[Michigander]

If you want to get really technical, you could drop this into Photoshop and correct the lens distortion and do pixel measurements using the tape measure as a conversion factor.

[TnRiver46]

Every time I take a picture of a fish on a measuring tape, I align the closed lower jaw with the zero. But also every single time, the picture appears that the lower jaw is beyond the zero. I guess it’s some thing about the camera lens, and probably why tournaments only allow measuring boards with a “fence” 

 

also I need glasses, I can’t read the numbers 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

and probably why tournaments only allow measuring boards with a “fence” 

And depending on the tournament - only certain brands/models of a bump-board. Mine works just fine, but it's not 'approved' by many tour organizers...but I don't do tournaments anyway.

[Johnpenguin]

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

Please zoom in on the photo I've attached and tell me what you think the length of this muskie is.  I am in a contest and evidently there is some discrepancy on what it scores as.  Account for any issue in the front that I may have missed to the tip of the longest portion of the tail.  I need some impartial judgements.

 

Thank you

Looks like a tiger. Also 40 all day.

[12poundbass]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

I submitted that fish for 41 inches

Ahhh, when I read this initially I’m thinking you hit the bottle early tonight. Upon looking at this picture again and again I realized I was looking at the top of the tail fin which is fairly close to my initial guesstimate. I now see the lower part of the tail fin is fairly longer than the top.

[gim]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

and probably why tournaments only allow measuring boards with a “fence” 

My standard measuring board has a fence up front but it only goes to 30 inches. When I catch a fish bigger than that, like a sizable pike or muskie, I have to use a measuring tape instead.

 

I may look into a longer homemade version of one with a fence this off-season. Sort of like a magnum version of a hawg trough.

2 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I now see the lower part of the tail fin is fairly longer than the top.

Yes. If you take a straight edge and go directly up from the bottom portion of the tail, it goes to 40.5

 

Then take that straight edge and do the same thing in the front and go directly down from zero on the tape to the bottom portion of the snout. It doesn’t like up properly and I believe this discrepancy to be 0.5 of an inch, which is why I added that to the total length, which equals 41 inches.

 

Decision coming on Dec 18...stay tuned.

[Bluebasser86]

It looks like the tail is at about 40.5", but the mouth doesn't look to me like it's all the way to the front of the tape plus the mouth not being closed, so I'd put it right at 40".

[J Francho]

16 hours ago, gimruis said:

I'll let you guys know if I win.  The winner is determined on Dec 18.

 

You have 9 days to catch a bigger one

[gim]

34 minutes ago, J Francho said:

 

You have 9 days to catch a bigger one

 

Hahahaha.  I wish.  The lakes are all froze over here now and my boat is in winter storage.  Plus muskie season closed on Dec 1 too...

[Further North]

41" is certainly a fair number, maybe a little over.

[gim]

7 minutes ago, Further North said:

41" is certainly a fair number, maybe a little over.

I was hoping you would chime in at some point, muskie guru.

[Further North]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I was hoping you would chime in at some point, muskie guru.

I running out of water to fish...so I have more time for this stuff.

But I'll be fair here: I don't measure a lot of fish.  I just don't care much anymore...I'm sort of in a "Small/Medium/Large/Extra Large" mode the last couple years.  I think I only "sorta" measured two this season.