77 pound Chinook caught at Langara yesterday

Sir Reel

Sir Reel

Well-Known Member
265223EA-DC69-4A3F-BE66-F65003D46762.jpeg Talk about a fish of a lifetime!
This 77.2-pound Chinook salmon was caught and released today at Langara Fishing Lodge, Haida Gwaii.
Congratulations to NHL legend Geoff Sanderson, who landed this spectacular specimen while fishing with buddies Brian Burke, Aaron Everingham, and guided by Paul Gedak (at left).
It was caught off Seath Point this afternoon, carefully measured to 49” in length, 35.5” in girth, and then successfully released.

That number 77 is sometimes referred to as “double hockey sticks”, so this an especially memorable catch for this group — Geoff and Brian both had long careers in the NHL as a star player and executive.

Congratulations Geoff!

This Chinook salmon came so close to topping the all-time Langara Island record of 78 pounds, which has stood for over 30 years! (June 22, 1989 by Cem Sekerci)
 
I'm always interested in the different shapes and sizes of salmon and how that works out in the weight area.

When I saw the dimensions given as 49" x 35.5" and the weight at 77.2 I recalled that the 61 1/2 pounder caught here in the Tyee Pool was in the 50" range but certainly not as rotund, so I called Mike Gage and asked what the length and girth were on his fish from 2013.

His fish, carefully measured by a taxidermist, was 50 1/2" long, 30 1/2" in girth and weighed 61 1/2 pounds, 16 pounds less than the 77.2 claimed at Langara.

Longer but much leaner and only a five year old too.

I wonder how old the 77.2 was?

Kudos to those guys for releasing that one and here's hoping it gets to make babies some day.

Truly a once in a lifetime catch for sure.





Take care.
 
Whitebuck said:
Dead skeena fish

Wonder how many come back to the skeena each year that Size anymore....
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Unreal,, just unreal.

Would have been dead for sure if I caught because I would have introduced it to my club.
 
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Dave H said:
I'm always interested in the different shapes and sizes of salmon and how that works out in the weight area.

When I saw the dimensions given as 49" x 35.5" and the weight at 77.2 I recalled that the 61 1/2 pounder caught here in the Tyee Pool was in the 50" range but certainly not as rotund, so I called Mike Gage and asked what the length and girth were on his fish from 2013.

His fish, carefully measured by a taxidermist, was 50 1/2" long, 30 1/2" in girth and weighed 61 1/2 pounds, 16 pounds less than the 77.2 claimed at Langara.

Longer but much leaner and only a five year old too.

I wonder how old the 77.2 was?

Kudos to those guys for releasing that one and here's hoping it gets to make babies some day.

Truly a once in a lifetime catch for sure.





Take care.
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There is a salmon calculation that can be used but its not totally accurate but better than bonking on head, the only issue is trying to measure accurately and quickly. Yes fish should be left in water but for this beauty it comes in the boat for a quick measure and back it goes to fight again in the tough ocean gauntlet.

Length (inches) x Width (inches) x Width (inches again) divided by 740. Looks like Langara used / 800 to get 77.2 lbs. Using either 740 or 800 will get you close to a weight. You can then average it out if you want between the two.

So in both cases this would be the weights

77.2 lb spring would be 49 x 35.5 x 35.5 / 740 = 83.45 lbs so maybe it was bigger or smaller depending on scale, how rough it was to measure etc etc. Either way big fish. This error was 6.25 lbs so its much larger error. Langara used divided by 800 to get 77.2 lbs. Either way big fish congrats. Avg between both weights is 80.33 lbs. So it could have been over 80 lbs let the stories begin. This is why we fish!

In your example

50.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 / 740 = 63.48 lbs so this is much closer to the what the taxidermist measured. the measurement of the width / girth is a huge factor in this calculation. So just under 2 lbs in error 1.983277 to be exact. if divided by 800 would have been 58.72 lbs. Avg between two weights is 61.1 lbs

But it will get you close enough if you don't have a scale or can't weigh it but can measure as best as possible. Obviously best is to release in the water is best. But a fish this big deserves to be measured and release as safe as possible.
 
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Whitebuck said:
Run a marathon, Then go underwater for however long that fish is out of the water for. Now imagine this fish trying to escape a seal or sea lion.

Hats off to the guys who keep them in the water!
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I guess you better stop fishing now because you don’t want to risk hooking a big fish and having to release it. By letting it live, you’ve killed it, at least in your mind
 
Down here in WA in many areas it is illegal to remove them from the water; same with billfish in Costa Rica. Just cuz they swim away doesn't mean that infections from scale loss while netting won't kill them days later. Super huge problem at Langara with pinniped's hanging around to pick-off stressed Salmon after release.

cby said:
But a fish this big deserves to be measured and release as safe as possible
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Incredulous
 
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