Every fishery has its benchmark fish. The trophy fish. The size fish that everyone’s after. On South Andros, such fish is the ten pound bonefish, and we’re lucky to see quite a few of them over the course of a season.
A double digit bonefish is certainly a milestone for any serious flats angler, but when the fish comes to hand the question becomes; just how big is a ten pound bonefish anyway? Duh.. Ten pounds, right?
We prefer not to weigh fish if we can help it. We’d rather keep them in the water as much as possible. Plus, some believe that devices used to measure fish out of the water can cause significant damage to the fish as well. We’re not sure if they do or not, but as always we like to give the well being of the fish the benefit of the doubt.
Instead, we prefer to take a simple length measurement. If the fish is 30 inches or longer, it’s probably safe to say it’s a double digit bonefish.
30 inches equals 10 pounds. Simple as that!
Obviously weighting a fish is bad for it’s health. Not only the fact of putting a hook in it’s gills is bad, but hanging the fish with his head up will damage his internal organs by stretching them downward. The safest way to weight them is to put them in a net but nets aren’t so good either!
Never a good idea to weigh fish!!
Every 2lb Roach or 2lb Grayling I ever caught always magically lost a couple of ounces when actually weighed!!
Glad to see how you figure wt of 10 plus lb bonefish. Guide Charlie told me he looked at length and girth. Told me 10+ for my fish because he couldn’t stretch his hands around the girth of fish. What do you think?
Are we talking about total length or fork length? Generally, the rule of thumb with bones is fork length, but it’s never specified within the article. Thanks!