all fisherman lie (sort of)

[frankypettolina]

Looking at the post about the grander blue eating a tuna and the ensuing debate about calling the fish a grander I decided to start this thread.

Let me start with the statement that i am not discrediting any of the people involved. Mark on the canyon Runner is as good as they come, and i would put more faith in him calling a fish a grander than i would in alot of other people, other professionals included.

I have had the discussion with crewmembers on a mothership in OZ. the word grander gets thrown around alot over there. between there and Kona, that is where the "if ya don't weigh it, don't say it" phrase came from. Lots of grander pluses turn into 900 when they get weighed. it is just the nature of the game. For the magical grander mark, I have to concur with Reel Fool jeff- it ain't a grander unless its hanging from a scale with four digits showing on the read out. And to the guys quesioning his expertise, the boy has spent seasons in places where most of this board masturbate to the thought of going to for a vacation. Jeff has the background and the experience.

I see every catch report that comes through the OC marlin club system. No less than three times this year we have received catch reports for blue marlin that upon further inspection (capt/angler sent me an email with a pic making sure they caught a blue) turned into white marlin. Numerous times on this forum i have seen people post pics of a certain billfish only to find out they caught a different flavor. The one that stick out in my mind the most is when a guy posted a thread about catching sails in the washington in october, yet he was holding up a pic of whitey. he wasn't lying, he just made a mistake. My point is, that I hear alot of fish getting called things they are not. 500 pound blue marlin, let alone granders, are not an every day occurence, yet i hear people talk about them all the time. I have been involved in over 250 blue marlin, i can count on one hand the number i would call better than 500. They are just not that common.

Until we put a qualifed observer on every boat, fish stories will happen. until you hang a four digit fish it ain't a grander, its just a HUGE blue marlin....

[bigfishhooker]

Wait till you see the 15lb lizard fish i caught.....

[scattered_grass]

Black or Blue?

[fish4fun]

What charter boat is that? Is that off Ocean City or North Carolina?

Black or Blue?

[Bonehead]

That looks like a MARLINNBOX.

[scattered_grass]

What charter boat is that? Is that off Ocean City or North Carolina?

not sure, but I heard they were pulling circle hooks, tagging and releasing..

[dirtyj]

Black or Blue?

Thos guys look black to me

[TunaBully]

Definitely a black marlin

[office2]

Thos guys look black to me

Lmaof!

[reel fool]

Thanks for chiming in Franky.
I was in no way trying to take away from a report about world-class fishing that the Canyon Runner delivered for their clients. Top Shelf.

The word "Grander" gets applied to alot of fish. They are rare. On the GBR each year, there are many "Grander"s released, but few weighed anymore. And more than a few of the "granders" that have been weighed have come up more than a few pounds shy of the mark.

I have never weighed my own grander, but have seen 4 digits on the scale. they are MASSIVE. and while we are at it, a 1200 lber lying side by side with a 1000 lb fish makes the 1000 look like bait (almost). They get really fat & thick after they get but only so long.

Some numbers:
123 inches gets you to about 700 lbs.
I weighed one that was 123, with a 67 inch girth. wieghed 690 lbs. do the formula, WOW, it's 690. a bit of a coincidence that it was EXACTLY the weight, but the formula will get you close.

I weighed one that was 114 inches, 61 inch girth. weighed 507 lbs. formula says its 530 lbs. maybe she was skinny, but it got us close.

140 inches and FAT can get you to the mark, but under 140, its doubtful.
144 inches is a better minimum. that's a 12 ft short length. THAT's HUGE. Using the formula, that requires a 74-75 inch girth. That's pretty fricking huge.

The grander weighed at ascension that went 1337 lbs (If I remember correctly) was 149 inches, 80 girth. This is second or third hand to me, so don't hold me to the measurements. But, the formula puts it well under the scales interpretation of the fish's wieght (remember, the scale doesn't lie). formula=1192

So, from 140-144 inches getting you over the mark, to 149 is just 5 to 9 more inches, but 300+ lbs!!! That leaves alot of room for error.

Maybe their fish was that big, maybe it wasn't.
The point is that the mystique & rarity of catching or even seeing a grander is lost when we throw the term around lightly. I would never call a fish a grander unless I weighed it. Before I understood the rarity of catching a grander, I called a fish a grander. Now, I wouldn't. The 950+ I released was MASSIVE. And saw one 2 days earlier that appeared to be quite a bit bigger.
Seen a few other nice ones that I would have liked to have weighed, but we didn't, so they didn't make the magical mark.

That's what it's meant by "If you don't weigh it, don't say it".