CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

None.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates generally to devices and methods for measuring fish, and more specifically to a rigid bump board with a slidably engageable cradle and a method for verification of tournament fishing measurement.

II. Description of the Prior Art

The ability to accurately measure fish has numerous applications. Most common of which is being able to substantiate the fisherman's “story”. A more substantial reason to obtain fish size is that many jurisdictions require fish of a certain species to be a minimum length to be kept, otherwise the fish must be returned to the water unharmed. Such minimum length regulations are particularly common for fresh water game fish such as walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, trout, bass, perch and the like. Furthermore, certain species also have an upper length limit to ensure the sustainability of the species. These upper and lower length specifications create a so-called “Slot Limit” for certain species of both fresh water and salt water species. Sport fishers therefor commonly need to measure the length of a caught fish to know whether the fish may be kept or must be returned to the water.

A further reason for accurate measurement of fish length, and one for which the present disclosure is well suited, is during fishing tournaments. Conventional bass tournaments, for example, require the angler to keep the fish in a so-called “live-well” in their boat until the day of fishing is over. At which time they are transported to a central weigh/measurement station, perhaps many hours after they have been caught. Fish mortality in these conventional bass tournament circuits are alarmingly high. Mishandling, oxygen deprivation, high water temperatures and high ammonia or carbon dioxide result in dead fish at the weigh-in scales. Many more die following their release due to oxygen debt, toxins in the bloodstream and infections. Indeed, total fish death at such tournaments approach the 50% rate.

In any event, common devices used for measuring the length of a caught fish include, for example, i) using a cloth, metallic or plastic measuring tape; ii) using a stick or other rigid elongate object having a distance measuring marks; iii) placing the fish in an elongate U-shaped half tube having a cap at one end and distance measuring marks inside the U-shaped portion extending away from the cap; and iv) using a so-called bump board. The present disclosure is a unique and novel advancement to bump boards.

Conventional bump boards are typically formed as an elongated rectangular substrate with ruled markings and include one or more bumps that project upwardly from the place of the elongated substrate. In use, the fish head-end is held firmly against the head bump and measurements of length are taken from the fish tail-end against the markings.

While prior art bump boards are widely considered the best devices to measure fish length, particularly during tournaments, they nevertheless have their shortcomings. For example, numerous designs are formed via some type of plastic and thus become brittle after limited use. Additionally, many bump boards are flexible and accordingly are susceptible to flexing and thus (purposeful) mismeasurements (i.e. cheating).

Even CPR tournaments have been susceptible to cheating techniques. By way of background, CPR stands for Catch, Photo, Release. In almost all CPR tournaments, length rather than weight is the basis for each competitor's catch. Essentially, a contestant catches a fish, lays it against an approved measuring board, and takes a photo using a digital camera or smart phone, etc. The photo is then uploaded to a server using a web browser, app or the like to a web-based Tournament Management System (“TMS”). Use of a smartphone captures time and geolocation information in the META data of each photo. The fish is then returned to the water, unharmed, after having been photographed. As handling and time out of water are minimized, the mortality rate for CPR tournaments are a fraction of conventional weight-based tournaments where fish are transported in live-wells, other holding tanks and even bags.

The TMS displays each event's photos on a website leader board. The number of fish per contestant can vary from one to five or more per day, depending on the event rules. As a contestant catches successive fish and photos are uploaded, photos of shorter fish are replaced so only the highest-scoring fish remain at the end. At the end of competition time, the cumulative length of bass (for example) for each contestant determines their ranking on the leader board. Unfortunately, it has been discovered that some anglers have been able to flex their board and/or use modified and/or imposter boards (i.e. cheat) during such CPR events.

The present disclosure overcomes the problems associated with the aforementioned conventional fish measuring devices and methods. Accordingly, it is a general object of this disclosure to provide an improved fishing measurement device and method.

It is another general object of the present disclosure to provide a rigid fish measuring device that prevents flexing and inaccurate measurements.

It is a more specific object of the present disclosure to provide a fish measuring device that includes extended and curved sides for support of larger fish.

It is another more specific object of the present disclosure to provide a hinged rigid fish measuring device with a cradle for accurate measurement of longer and larger fish.

It is yet another more specific object of the present disclosure to provide a fish measurement device and method that allows verification and authentication of every measurement.

These and other objects, features and advantages of this disclosure will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a device for measuring fish including a generally rectangular board with a front and back end and a top surface. The top surface includes ruled markings starting from the front end of the board. A bump is perpendicularly positioned at the zero mark of the board. An elongated cradle has sides for supporting a fish and is dimensioned for slidable engagement with the board.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a device for measuring fish including a rectangular board hinged to form two halves and capable of folding upon one another in a collapsed state and opening to form an elongated board in the expanded state. The top surface of the board includes markings which start near one end which includes a perpendicularly positioned bump at the zero mark. An elongated cradle has sides for supporting a fish and is dimensioned for slidable engagement with both halves of the board.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for measuring the length of a fish whereby the angler places the fish on a bump board with the nose of the fish touching the bump, takes a photograph of the fish that includes the board identification indicia, uploads the photograph to a server and verifies the authenticity of the photograph.

