Changing the standard in which we detrimne a trophy abalone !!!!

This was brought up in my last post, and I thought I would start a thread on it.

Hey all after the discussion in my last post and also the subject has come up before  with some fellow Trophy abalone divers about the standard of trophy abalone why is it 10 inches ? No one could really answer that. Why is that a 10 inch ab more prized than a 9. 5 that weighs 9 pounds and 8.75 wide ? I think the whole animal should be taken into consideration when determining a trophy what do you all think ? Personelly I would like to se the definition of a trophy ab be determined by a formula something like this length + width + weight = trophy measurement !!! and we then take that total and that would be the score/measurement of the ab. Now the big question is at what number do we consider it a trophy ? The reason I bring this up is because I have taken tens that measure ten inches but are dwarfed by big nines in weight and width !!! Kinda like hunters do BOON AND CROKET I think they call it. That way you are taking into consideration more of the animal the whole thing not just length. Just my 2 cents.

Please chime in and love to hear what the ab diving comunity has to say ?

Yeah I'm not sure why men always default to length for comparison.... 

Cuzz size matters !!!! LOL which ever way you determine it !

Any ab that winds up with a tag from the garcia license is a trophy in my book.  I would say I'm a pretty average diver, I think the only ones obsessed with size are trophy hunters.....I'll leave the size vs girth debate to you you guys 

Any ab that winds up with a tag from the garcia license is a trophy in my book.

That's pretty much my feeling too Art....except replace garcia with russell.

 

I am a very average diver and every abalone I have ever taken has felt like a trophy to me...I like trying to get the bigger ones cuz they have more meat though!

 

Interesting thread Matt...I agree that 10 inches is super abitrary and does not make a lot of sense to me...

Looking forward to reading and hearing what people have to say.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Arts reply nailed it

Ive only got one, and every chunk that was fried and sitting on my plate was a trophy.

10" is arbitrary, but makes sense due to relative scarcity and round number... much like a 50# wsb, 20# ling, 10# red, 10# cab, etc.

Personally, I think it's an interesting thought to re-do the "trophy ab" moniker... but to be frank, I just don't think enough people care to do so.

A 10" abalone is a tangibile & easily relatable measurement.
To complicate things further with funky measurement criteria, would just further confuse the issue.

but seriously, meat will be gone shortly and you are only left with the shell to prove what it is.  So it's either length, or weight, or surface area which can be hard to calculate.

Ya got a point there, a 10" shell is a 10" shell and can sit on the mantel as long as the significant other allows it.   And I don't have one, probably never will,,,,,,

I have two 8.3/4 ab shells on my mantle and are trophies to me. I think it's up to the individual to decide what is a trophy or not. No disrespect to the 10" and above club. I plan on being there myself.


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I am here:

It's an awesome snail?  adding weight into the equation for abs is sorta silly as you can really mess with them by soaking them in fresh water, they puff up really nice and absorb all that extra water weight.  Trying to get a solid measure of height is really tough too as ab shells really don't sit to well.

And why do you care?  not enough ten's in your fence?  You can always tell people why a shell was a particular trophy to you, and that should be a good enough reason why it's a trophy.

K.I.S.S. = keep it simple stupid!   

I like lenght only because you can measure it right on the spot and then eat it. We all accept most rulers calipers as accurate for the purpose of measuring abs. I don't feel the same way about every scale in a random Tacklebox. I would hate to be camping, get a monster ab and then have to drive to town and find a good scale.

With that said I usually don't use the caliper to pick my abs. I look for the exceptionally fat abs. I want the most/best meat if I'm going to go through the hassle of cleaning an ab.   

Here are the standards I have always used:

*as close to the Golden Gate Bridge as possible
*closest I can park to the water
*least amount of climbing or scrambling
*least amount of breath holds to get a limit
*most meat yield after trimming

Nate

I think there should be a new unit of measurement called an "abalone inch" which equals 3/4 of our standard inch. That would greatly increase one's odds of finding 10s, 11s, and 12s