Measuring Salmon Correctly

July 20, 2017

Question: Salmon fishing can be challenging because it often entails spending all day on the water, with some days not even getting a legal size fish. I was fishing over the weekend and caught a salmon that when laid flat on the deck measured 23-3/4 inches. If I grabbed it by the tail and held onto it, the fish would measure 24-1/4 inches, making it a legal catch. If a warden had checked me, would it have been a legal catch if I squeezed the tail while the game warden was measuring it? (Ralph C., Santa Cruz)

Answer: Since salmon are measured by their total length, this means measured to the longest length from the tip of the nose to the longest point of the tail. Pinching the tail or stretching the fish using gravity or muscle to find the longest possible length is not permissible. The best way to get the longest length is to lay the fish down flat on a flat surface, pinch the mouth shut and then swing the caudal (tail) fin back and forth until you find the longest point.

Some species, such as tunas, are measured by fork length rather than by total length. This measurement is taken from the tip of the mouth to the length inside the fork of the tail. Minimum and maximum size are defined as, “Tip of the head shall be the most anterior point on the fish with the mouth closed and the fish lying flat on its side” (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 1.62). A diagram showing the correct measurement methods can be found in the 2017-2018 Ocean Sport Fishing Regulations booklet or online.

Keep in mind, fish that are just barely legal can often measure differently between the person’s on deck measuring device and a warden’s device on shore, especially after cleaning/bleeding. I suggest using a bit of caution when keeping a fish that appears to be exactly the legal minimum size as it might come up short when measured later on.

I remember someone catching a 20 1/8" hatchery salmon at hmb late last year. I had to break out the hog trough and do the tail swing to make sure it was legal.

I remember someone catching a 20 1/8" hatchery salmon at hmb late last year. I had to break out the hog trough and do the tail swing to make sure it was legal.

Hmmm wonder who that was? 

I remember someone catching a 20 1/8" hatchery salmon at hmb late last year. I had to break out the hog trough and do the tail swing to make sure it was legal.

Hmmm wonder who that was? 

Dang I think I know who it was 

Someone try to give the fish a stretching massage? 

   I think Bushy will recall a tournament in Santa Cruz about 10 yrs ago when no one caught anything except 6" rockfish, and only a couple of those, and I came in at the last minute (Because I had trolled way up to Natural Bridges  looking for a nibble.) with a ling that was an inch over the limit when I measured it when I caught it, but when the F&G checker at the harbor measured it, she said it was short by 1/8 inch.   
   I expressed my surprise and the checker said the fish had to be measured laying on its side and not the way I had, by holding it up by lip grippers.  I was embarrassed,to say the least, and wondering whether it was true that fish checkers couldn't give citations when Bushy checked the checker's ruler and found that the ruler didn't go all the way to beginning of the trough - there was exactly a 1/8" gap.  The checker agreed, and I won a 13 ft kayak.
    The story doesn't end there though.  I was told to pick up my prize at the kayak shop in couple of weeks, and did so, got it home, and realized it was a 15 foot kayak - that's what the label imbedded in the plastic said.  I called the shop and said there had been some mistake, and the person answering the phone said he'd call me back.  He did a few minutes later and only said I could keep the kayak.   I gave the kayak to my daughter-in-law and told my 1/8" / upgraded prize-  story for a year or so.   Until the day my son asked me to help him hang the kayak in his garage and we were having problems locating a joist (Turns out there weren't any, because the sheetrock ceiling was somehow suspended from the rafters.) so we were about to drill some holes to find a joist and decided to check the exact length of the kayak so we wouldn't drill too many extra holes.   It turned out the kayak was only 13 feet long, and the reason it was a prize was because the "blem" was that the wrong label had been molded into the kayak! 
      We never got the kayak suspended from the ceiling when we couldn't find anything solid to anchor it to,and my son wound up spending a lot of time building a long shed to store it in - then moved about a year later to a new home with a wall with real studs. 
   

Great story, Tom. 

Great story, Tom. 

+1

   I think Bushy will recall a tournament in Santa Cruz about 10 yrs ago when no one caught anything except 6" rockfish, and only a couple of those, and I came in at the last minute (Because I had trolled way up to Natural Bridges  looking for a nibble.) with a ling that was an inch over the limit when I measured it when I caught it, but when the F&G checker at the harbor measured it, she said it was short by 1/8 inch.   
   I expressed my surprise and the checker said the fish had to be measured laying on its side and not the way I had, by holding it up by lip grippers.  I was embarrassed,to say the least, and wondering whether it was true that fish checkers couldn't give citations when Bushy checked the checker's ruler and found that the ruler didn't go all the way to beginning of the trough - there was exactly a 1/8" gap.  The checker agreed, and I won a 13 ft kayak.
    The story doesn't end there though.  I was told to pick up my prize at the kayak shop in couple of weeks, and did so, got it home, and realized it was a 15 foot kayak - that's what the label imbedded in the plastic said.  I called the shop and said there had been some mistake, and the person answering the phone said he'd call me back.  He did a few minutes later and only said I could keep the kayak.   I gave the kayak to my daughter-in-law and told my 1/8" / upgraded prize-  story for a year or so.   Until the day my son asked me to help him hang the kayak in his garage and we were having problems locating a joist (Turns out there weren't any, because the sheetrock ceiling was somehow suspended from the rafters.) so we were about to drill some holes to find a joist and decided to check the exact length of the kayak so we wouldn't drill too many extra holes.   It turned out the kayak was only 13 feet long, and the reason it was a prize was because the "blem" was that the wrong label had been molded into the kayak! 
      We never got the kayak suspended from the ceiling when we couldn't find anything solid to anchor it to,and my son wound up spending a lot of time building a long shed to store it in - then moved about a year later to a new home with a wall with real studs. 
   

Haven't read a good Fuzzy Tom story in too long.  Thanks.