WEIGHING A FISH?

[DOUBLELUNG]

I hope this doesnt offend anyone, but how do you weigh a fish? I was seeing some of those bass pictures you guys posted. 5lbs? hold the fish out alittle farther towards the camera and it could be the new state record. I weighed some fish that i thought was huge. 5lbs for sure. Nope 3lbs. 2 1/2lbs. And these fish looked bigger than the majority. Do you weigh your fish on a scale and then x2. Just wondering. I thought my scale was off. Nope. I even went and bought another scale. Lets be honest about the weight guys. How do you guys weigh a fish? I still think I am missing something, or I dont know how to weigh a fish.

[Cecil]

Well, I think the more you are around larger fish the better you can tell the weight. If someone is somewhat new to bass fishing they tend to over-exaggerate the weight. So, if someone thought they had a 5# fish and it turned out to be a 3.5# fish, then you were off on your guess. Doesn't really mean everyone else is off...

[Craigums]

In a basket on a digital scale. Just gotta zero out the basket before you put the fish in. I only weigh fish if i'm in a tournament though

[Nick Kuhn]

I leave weight guesses to the trained eyes of these forums. I don't carry a scale so I'll measure length if it's a good sized fish. When you catch a 5lber you'll know it though, it looks like a monster next to a 3.5lb fish.

[Dylan33]

I think most people who have caught a confirmed(tournament, or certified scale) 5 pound bass remember what it looked like and how big it was. By the sounds of it Doublelung you have not. I trust most people on this forum(with a few exceptions) ...if they say it was a 5 pound fish...it was a 5 pound fish. Also, pictures never really do justice to this big fish.

[Craigums]

fwiw, the two fish in my avatar weighed in at 3.54lbs for the largie and 3.1lbs for the smallie. So going strictly by a picture can be deceiving

[blakjack23]

I agree some of the "5 lb" and "6 lb" pictures posted here honestly look like 3 or 4 lb'ers to me. I'm not sure if people are just guessing or if their scales are way off. Or maybe the person holding it is 6'8 and 300 lbs, that does make a big fish look smaller then someone who is 5'7 150 holding it.

Personally I don't even have a handheld scale, I don't believe they are very accurate, so unless its tourney day, I just measure the bigguns. And even then I think a lot of people measure wrong, as I've seen a lot of people measure holding the fish from the lip or putting it on the measuring board with the mouth open. Both way can add 2-3 inches to the true length.

[JBMasterAngler]

I tend to believe rounding UP when guesstimating the weight of a fish is human nature. Nowadays I prefer to measure fish instead of weighing them (unless it's a really big fish).

[Gekhang]

same happened here. caught what i thought was a huge largie ended up being a 2.5 pounder. I didnt trust the weight and so i weighed a bunch of weightlifting weights and all of them came up to the numbers they were rated for. So still waiting on catching my first 5LBer for the year..=(

[DOUBLELUNG]

People don't weigh there fish? Ohhh, estimating what the fish weighs. Sounds better than actually finding out. I thought I had to do something too my scale to get it to work better. Thanks.

[TonkaBass]

The way to tell for sure the size of a bass in a picture is to compare the size of the gill plate to the hand of the person holding it.

[TruthWalleyes]

Pictures don't do much justice to the size of a fish, this is the same fish my buddy is holding.

[Burchoid]

There are some ultra accurate digital handheld scales out there now... accurate down the 1/10th of a oz. It can be tricky to get the fish to hold still sometimes though.

Even with all the bass tournaments I fish its still hard to estimate some fish. I've had a few I thought would break 5lbs for sure only to find they are 4.5.

[Duffman]

I don't know what it is with bass, maybe it's the body shape, but people sure do tend to overestimate the weight of the fish. The fish in my avatar are 18 3/4" and 19 3/4". When I'm in my boat I'll just measure the bass 18"+, if it's over 20" I'll probably weigh it as well just to see. When in my canoe, I don't have a tape mounted so I usually weigh the bass if I think it's approaching 5 lbs.

A person gets pretty good at estimating the length of a bass thru experience. The more big fish you catch, the better you get at guestimating. At least on length, guessing weight is tougher, too many variables.

Two weeks ago I video'd myself landing a nice bass in the canoe, on the vid I said it looks 19", then I weighed it twice, both times it came in at 5 lbs 4 oz. It could've been bigger than 19". Although it doesn't look like it's 5 lbs. on the vid. (I still need to check that scale)

You'll know when you catch a 5 lber, because that's a dang nice fish in MN. A lot of folks without much experience will think a 3.5 lb bass goes 5 lbs. I see it all the time, caught an 18"er this year and it jumped a couple times, the guy in the boat next to us saw it and screamed "IT'S HUGE!!". I guessed 18", it came in at 18", but I don't think the guy in the other boat had seen many large bass in his life. 18" is a decent fish, but it's far from huge in my book.

[MN BassFisher]

Yeah, some people are hilarious when guestimating their bass, the two kids I fish with most of the time are pretty spot on though. We caught an 18" from Coon last night in a tourney and it went 4.27, just missed big bass. One guy in the tourney said he had a five, it went under 4. Ha.

[grab the net]

I have two digital scales, if I think its a five or better I weigh it on both. There close enough to each other in weighing that I think they verify each other. once in awhile I weigh a known weight on each to make sure they are still close. measuring is just that a length. Take DD's last pig, I believe it was 21 inches, but weighed over 6lbs 13 oz.. Most 21 inch fish will push 6, not come close to seven, so a measurement and a weight on a digital gives me a clearer picture than just measurement.

[eyeguy 54]

Strrettcchhhh the truth? Nobody on here would do that would they? heehee

I like it when somebody tells me they got a couple 22 or 23 inchers on the sippi. The club I am in has released more than 15000 smallies in the last 6 years and the biggest to date is 21 1/2 inches. From monti to little falls. So I just say nice job. I guess we havn't hit the right spot yet.

[harvey lee]

I weigh my fish if they are worth weighing. I have also taken the length and girth measurements and check the weight that way also.

I could care less if one states their 4# fish is 6#'s, they are just kidding themselves. What I do not like is when others state ones fish is not that large after one weighs it and also check the Length and girth.

Some people will always stretch the size of their fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I really only weight a fish if I think it will come close to 5 lbs.. I have tested my scale to see how accurate it is,and its spot on.. I have the berkley scale with the clips that clip on the lip not put a hole in it.. and I have yet to have a fish flip off when weighing it.. so any fish that I post its weight.. subtract .025oz off its weight as I have the scale hooked to the clip not the fish....

But for the most part.. People over estimate the weight of fish.. flat out.. Today, I caught a mid 3lb fish, and two good anglers both stated it was a 4 lb fish.. I looked at them and said nope.. It was 3.5, I guessed it at 3.4... they were both shocked.. fish can fool you.. I could have swore my fish last week was going to break 7lbs.. I would have bet my life on it.. came up short by 3oz.. we make mistakes.. get caught up in the moment..

But really.. who really cares how big it was... Really?.. Who cares.. Was it fun??? was it fun for you??? then it was a good fish...

Heck last night I won a small tournament on Big Marine lake.. I caught on back to back casts two 3.5lb fish.. You would have think I won the lottery.. I couldnt stand.. had a hard time breathing.. Just a week earlier I caught a fish twice that size, but not during a tournament..... I had to keep telling myself to breathe... Stupid... Its why I fish tournaments though... Love that feeling.. dont care how big they are...

[Morneau132]

I have a Salter Brecknell Electro Samson Digital Fish Scale that is incredibly accurate. I do not typically weigh my bass unless I think they'll go over 4 lbs. I weigh my fish in a vinyl tournament bag and then just subtract the 12 oz. that the bag weighs. The bag really helps to keep the fish from shaking off and hitting the boat floor and it puts no added stress on the lips or gills (other than being out of the water).

[Slob_Samurai]

To answer the original poster:

You can make a good sized bass look huge or relatively small by the way you hold it. Take a 3+lb bass, out stretch your arm, using the bass to hide your arm and it will look enormous. If you take a 5lb bass and hold it horizontal close to your body is will look small.

So basically it is very hard to judge a bass's size only from it's picture. If you hold it one way people will cry "liar", and if you hold it another way then you are a legend.

There are many pics on this forum and in my personal collection that prove this theory

I prefer a scale with the big ones, a digital scale cant be more than an oz or two off, girth can play a big roll when measuring bass. I once had two 19"ers in the boat that were 12oz apart.

[RumRiverRat]

Fisherman lying...................you must be joking.

[TODDY]

Hey Deitz, do watch hunting videos? Your lack of breath, tough time standing reminded me of Stan Potts. ) I swear he's gonna keel over after every buck he takes. I'm the same way. It's part of the draw to all my outdoor sports (hunting and fishing).

TODDY

p.s. I have a small postal scale and a little rubbermaid tub for weighing the few I actually weigh. Accurate to 1/10 oz. I've checked and it's spot on.

[Fisherman45]

I am 6'1" 280# and most fish I take pictures of look small when I hold them up then add the darn phone camera that gets used when the regular camera is left home. I have the Berkley scale that grips the lip also and only bother weighing fish over 20" anymore and most of the 20's are in the upper 4# range and you can tell when they are bigger when they have that belly bulge or real thick tails and wide backs and if they are lighter they usually have the bigger head But what ever the size it was a great time catching them.

[TODDY]

A follow up to my previous post. Check out 1:50 to the end.

TODDY