Barta on the Braid Dolphin

[BahamaLure]

I don't think Dennis is claiming anything, he and Tred just told the story of what happened and how the fish was sort of weighed. I think he showed a ton of class NOT to be making any big claims other than catching a very big Dolphin.

The thing with dolphin is not really how big they are but how thick they are which is why photos are poor evidence when it comes to guess the weight games.

If you don't weigh it, don't say it. Dennis did't and I respect that greatly.

[WahooKing]

So are you saying that you don't believe his claim?

Bert

Lets put it this way....I have no reason to doubt that Fred had a conversation with Dennis...Lets take a look at the conversation:

I just hung up the phone with Dennis, who called to touch bases after wrapping up videoing in Panama for a TV series. He's been down there for quite a while now, so hadn't seen the latest hullabaloo about that big dolphin. When I asked him about the fish he reiterated that it was hastily weighed, and that the guy who weighed it said that "it bottomed out the scale at 60." Dennis knew it was a huge fish and that it weighed a lot more than 60#, but they were busy doing that show's wrap up while there was still light, so he didn't bother checking further. It wasn't until a bit later that someone there told him that the scale was in kilos, not pounds. By then the fish had been cut, so it wouldn't have been record eligible at any rate.

If you don't weigh it, don't say it. Dennis did't and I respect that greatly.

You are a smart cookie Alan...perfectly worded!!!

[Heli Sports]

What I find most puzzling about this story is the fact that it occured at the Tropic Star Lodge, an operation seeped in a history of IGFA line class records. Alberto the director of operations there, and the Kitterages have a great deal of experience weighing in world record fish. The scale at Pinas Bay weighs in pounds, not kilograms. Perhaps there is more to this story...

[Captain Fred Archer]

I've said it before, but not often and I usually duck when I do, but I agree with Ace on the difficulty of determining a fish' weight from a photo. His examples of the 62 pounder and the IGFA Florida record fish are spot on. For many folks I'd wager that a quick look would call the smaller fish the bigger one. Camera angles can be so deceiving, it's pretty amazing. As far as many other fish photos are concerned, the "trick" of holding the fish out toward the camera further distorts things, especially when the person doing it is good at the game and keeps his fingers and hands behind the fish and out of the shot.

Bahama Lures' point about how thick a dorado is determining what it actually weighs is a mighty good one. We used to catch some really huge ones down in Cabo - most of which we didn't weigh, but some that we did. Some of these huge fish "only" weighed fifty pounds or a little more or less, while others that seemed to be the same basic dimensions and some, like that Florida record fish, that weren't as long, were thick chunks that weighed well in excess of seventy pounds. Dennis remarked that the fish was "unbelievably thick" during our talk and that seemed to be pretty evident in the photo. As I said, most of our biggest dorados never made it to the scales. Instead they were cut while we were offshore and came to the dock all packaged and purty.

I guess the bottom line is that what that fish actually weighed is never going to be known for sure. I prefer to just consider it to be one helluva big dorado and having been involved in and under the pressure of winding up a TV show at day's end with fading light, etc., I can certainly see how a dorado of any size would get cut by crew while the "TV stars" were off somewhere shooting a wrap-up and thus the fish would fail to qualify for the record, regardless of what it weighed.

I agree that Dennis has been a gentleman about the fish, including when we spoke about it. He didn't brag or anything. He just talked about thinking it was a marlin at first and the hell that it raised in the boat. All that he could say was that the fish was a monster, that the guy who weighed it called it a bottomed out scale at "60" and it wasn't until later that the kilo thing came up, after the guys had the show in the can and were reflecting back on the day.

I've driven for some mighty big dorados in my day, but never one like what that one in the photo looks like. Man, I sure wish we'd caught him....but then again, we'd have probably taken a picture or two, then cut him up on the way home.

[WahooKing]

I've said it before, but not often and I usually duck when I do, but I agree with Ace on the difficulty of determining a fish' weight from a photo. His examples of the 62 pounder and the IGFA Florida record fish are spot on. For many folks I'd wager that a quick look would call the smaller fish the bigger one. Camera angles can be so deceiving, it's pretty amazing. As far as many other fish photos are concerned, the "trick" of holding the fish out toward the camera further distorts things, especially when the person doing it is good at the game and keeps his fingers and hands behind the fish and out of the shot.

Fred
The only reason I say all this...is because I made the dreadful photo op mistake on a solid fish...We landed a 76lb Dolphin in the Marsh Harbor leg of the BBC several yrs ago...I'm sure its documented in their archives..

I took the only pic of fish with my father and his friend...Fish was hung - head down...I was a little to far with the camera too...And boy does he look a lot smaller in the pic...The pic just doesn't give the fish justice...

Never again will I make that mistake on such a trophy.

[Captain Fred Archer]

76#?! That's one mighty big dorado, Ace. Congrats! I see what you mean about it not looking as big as it was because of the camera angle and it, along with those pictures of the Florida fish prove the point. Forget weighing fish with a damncamera.

(As an aside, though, I could sure tell from the photo that that was one gorilla of a bull. He was built the way that the biggest, thickest, heaviest ones all are...you sure that fish didn't come from Cabo? )