Why do people weigh their fish?
 

A post on a different thread got me to ponder why.Especially if you are allegedly C&R.Could it be for a log,is it measured also?I used to carry a scale but never a tape.To see a number followed by a decimal point makes me curious as to the type of scale unless the fish were weighed at a tackle shop.Do such posts promote a gamefish agenda?

Good point Chris

I weigh my fish to know how much it weighs?:)

All of them Larry,or just the big ones?Do you always carry a scale in the surf?

i fish mostly c&r (i kill a couple for the table each year) and i weigh and measure large. i like to know my pb and yes i always carry a scale and tape...even on the ditch.

No no scale in the surf Chris. I only keep/weigh maybe 6-8 fish a year.....mostly table fish 18-24 pounds.....maybe a couple larger if I get a PB.

I weigh a few - almost always just what I keep - which isn't many - mostly guess as I can be within a couple pounds.

I rarely weigh my fish, or even measure them for that matter( only when I know they are around 50" will I actualy measure them).. I have both items on board, but have a rule ( I release my fish) I dont weigh,measure AND photograph a fish, I pick one method , the pre posistioned, self timer on the camera is the quickest method( I usualy fish alone)... the camera is set on the console ready to take the picture with a quick push of a button... the tape is on the console, in front of the throttle ( and my glasses) if i feel the need to measure ... I've used the scale more on other peoples fish than my own...I usualy use scale to set my drags.. that's about it..

Bottom line is, it is just not that important to me, and in most instances.. the chore of measureing or weighing fish takes away from the actual time I want to fish...coupled with the extended time out of the water... it's not good for the fish either...

I virtually never weigh, but I routinely measure, often by quickly holding a fish along the butt of my rod in order to measure more accurately later. Length seems to be the new standard. Years ago, everyone talked pounds, not inches.

I like to brag. It helps to have a precise number so people don't question it....particularly when you can't hold the fish close to the camera. Unfortunately my scale has gotten too heavy and rusted from lack of use, so I quit carrying it and now make my best guess, add 10 lbs, and report that. It is all explained in the "Plug Fisherman's Code of Honor" book.

On the boat, I have a digital scale and weigh anything that looks to be over 25 lbs. Mostly for my own knowledge. I always guess the weight and then weigh it to see how close I am. I snap a quick pic and release. I just like to know how much it weighs. Never thought much about it.

I used to get PM's from someone that would say- 'fishing was awesome last night.. fished alone.. got a 26.8, 32.5, 18.3, 21.13, 35.9, 24.6.."

turned out he was reading the weights off of his fish market slip. :hs:

When I was a kid my parents never offered me any words of encouragement for my accomplishments. So to fill that void I need to weigh my fish to make myself feel good....women eat Hagen Daaz......I weigh fish. Really sad I know, but I can't help it.

Its a real pain in the ass when I'm Smelt Fishing........

I think BF had the best answer.....so I know how much they weigh. :huh:

Rapala makes a cheap digital scale. Widely available at most tackle stores.

ain't that the truth

:rotf2:

How much do you subtract if you are fishing with eels?

it seems like the dream is to catch a 50 pounder, not a 50 incher. it feels cooler to quantify your fish by pounds rather than inches anyway. :)

I can only answer for myself so I will.
I have weighed fish and released them before and as long as I revive them , they swim away just fine, they don't stand any chance at all in a cooler. I don't measure also, one or the other. In the past at the canal i used to ley the bass in the water along the rockweed and get a tape measurement of it pretty easily without even removing the fish from the water, that may have the least effect on the bass.

I have a Berkley scale that is ditgital and gives a decimal point. Plenty of people have this type of scale, the one I have is remarkably accurate still.
I sometimes like to see what a fish weighs if it's up over 30 pounds. I am not one of those guys who have caught hundreds and hundreds of bass over 30 pounds, so I'd like to see if it's a 40. Maybe someday I'll get a 50 if I should be so lucky.

I have no idea if such posts promote gamefish agenda and I don't see the correlation:confused: do you mean weighing is bad or weighing and releasing is good?

Chris, I heard you were out there off the neck yesterday, I went out there too with Danny, it was flat calm, beautiful day. First time my skiff ever got out in front there.

great point:uhuh:

[QUOTE=Sea Dangles;792848]A post on a different thread got me to ponder why. Especially if you are allegedly C&R. Could it be for a log,is it measured also? To see a number followed by a decimal point makes me curious. Do such posts promote a gamefish agenda

Answers No. 1 and 3: YES and YES. The fish was Littoral Society tagged for release-- tag No. 918852, if I remember this number correctly without going back to the log book.

No. 2: Would you prefer lbs. and fractions, or lbs. and ozs?

Addendum to your thoughts and curiosity (which I have pondered myself often, and without any definite conclusion or answer):

* Accuracy equals honesty, both to myself and outside myself.
**Do you ever carry a camera? What's the difference, really, between packing a camera and packing a scale and tape?

[QUOTE=SAUERKRAUT;792897]I find the camera to be the fastest method of "capturing the moment" and treating the fish most humanely( from a boat anyway)
IF.. the camera is set up ahead of time, which I will do when "class" fish are being caught... after landing, and de-hooking, it's a simple matter of pushing a button as the camera counts down, to hoist the fish into posistion, imediatly after the flash, the fish is in the water, revived and released, there is no re-do, the picture takes or it doesnt... scales and tapes are more tramatic to the fish IMHO than the camera if you plan ahead...

I used to have a boga,but have since sold it(30 lb.).I now have a scale TO left on my boat and use it for bluefish.My brother has a 60 lb boga and was weighing a fish yesterday on my boat and then asked me to take his picture with his phone.I hate holding fish up on the boat,it feels like I'm calling all anglers.I take pictures if my kids catch fish but can't remember the last time I posed with a bass I intended to release.
Alan,I wonder why you have to be honest with yourself,after all these years I would think you can trust yourself.As for others,why do their opinions matter to you?
I suppose if I ever get a fifty I would get a photo and then hopefully release it so I could get a plug from George and an attaboy from those who care about such matters.

Berkley also. Weighs in 1/10 of a pound and has a lifetime battery. I have had one for 10 years and it still works.

It has nothing to do with honesty. If he doesn't write it down he forgets what he caught and has to ask me....to which I respond "nothing".

Thus the reasoning for catch documentation,Father Time catches up with all of us.

I always carry both plus a camera, and never ever use them unless my son catches a nice fish, I feel it's a waste of time and the faster I get the fish back in the water the better. I could care less what I caught never mind what other people think.

I don't carry a scale. I guesstimate the fish. I might tell whoever I'm with that it was "about" whatever if it was a good fish.

I kept one decent fish a few weeks ago because my wife was wanting fish. I guessed 25. I weighed it on a boga knock off before I filleted it. It was 23. The arm and eye scale isn't off by much more than 10% ;)

I might pick up a Manley spring scale this fall, before the Gibby tournament starts, just so I know whether a big fish is worth keeping for the official scale---but it would have to become the leading fish.

I got a 49" a couple years ago and really wish i had a scale to weigh her on. So i carry a boga 30 which doesn't do much good. Gotta grab a 60. I can eyeball a fish up to about 30 or so, after that my guesses are just that.

Plus don't all the cool guys talk about pounds not inches?

No it just means your old :)

thanks bob...and i thought i was cool :wall: now i know i'm old :uhuh:

I weight fish because I personally think it gives more a more accurate representation of fish's size. Length only gives you a two dimensional measurement of the fish. I measure fish because I like to know if I am improving. And isn't measuring fish via weight is like as old as the salt in the sea? :).

I do it becouse i cant tell the difference between 30 and 40...I might be the worst "guesstimator" you've ever seen....

glory hounds
 

self glory.... most of u girls have nrver caught a 40lber or bigger so u go nuts when it happens . its called look at me i.m great. if u get one set it free to breed be a man . it takes more guts to let the big ones go....btw if its selling season i kill m all

I only weigh and measure large fish. I like to know if i just caught my pb. The rest I estimate.
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When I first started out I was like many others in that I wanted to continually raise the bar on my "PB". Given the fishing climate at the time, everyone kept and sold most of their catch, thus everything got weighed as a part of doing business....you got a "slip" with the "official" weight on it.

I always carried a brass chatillion in my vehicle because many of my fish went into the back doors of restaurants and they relied on my scale (for better or worse) to determine the weight.

Once I stopped selling fish to restaurants (early 90's) the scale stayed at home as most of my fish were released if I couldn't sell them. The commercial fish were coming in bigger numbers for me by then because I had my own boat. It became impractical to unload big numbers of fish at restaurants(also illegal :angel:) thus I took everyting to Chatham fish and lobster and got paid wholesale.

Past experience has given me the ability to guesstimate pretty well, and if its a really large fish I might keep it for bragging rights, documentation, tournaments, or consumption. I have no problem killing one big fish here and there.

Guys who made claims without producing weight slips were often looked at with suspicion, and in most cases (even today) its still the case.

I do carry a scale in my vehicle just to save me a long ride to an official weigh station if I get lucky enough to land a substantial fish. If the scale says its close to a weight I might want to get certified, I will then go to a shop and get it officially weighed.

Chris,
Before the 1980s I also sold every legal bass I could. During the early 1980s I realized the fish I loved to chase stood a real chance of disappearing. I "saw the light", changed my ways and vowed I would do all I could to keep that from happening.

Started carrying a Chatillon brass scale in 1984 - the year of the RI striper moratorium. Damn thing must have weighed three pounds. Tried other scales through the years and finally settled on a Cardoza "No rust" 60 lb spring scale. Carry it with me most of the time. I'm a pretty good judge of size - when/if I'm fortunate enough to land one that takes two hands to lift I weigh and release her.

Let's face it - any surfcaster worth his salt wants to know how large his fish is. Dyed in the wool striped bass fishermen (especially surf casters) have that "50" pound pinnacle always in their sights. Those that say otherwise...

The scale, in small part, allows me to continue what I love to do, and allows me to see if I've reached another pinnacle without killing the largest of the species I love to pursue.

DZ

Lots of great responses here and some leave me puzzled.This year has been different for me in the weight regard.During comm season I may have gotten some to weigh in for the Cup but neglected to do so solely because it was not convenient.To hear someone say they weigh their fish so they know if they are improving is a little disturbing.To have another say any surfcaster worth his salt wants to know how large a fish is also makes me scratch my head.But the curiosity factor is hard to resist soto each their own.The response that made the most sense to me was from Sauerkraut and his secret society of bass avengers.If there are enough like-minded anglers out there perhaps the future for bass can brighten.I remember a thread where Numby was talking about the different stages of surfcasting and I may be coming to understand his point of view.

Oh my god!!!! Sex with wild animals??? Ugggg, you've changed. Make sure you wear protection.

I love ya Dave but I always enjoy these comments from the former commercial fisherman who "Got Theirs" and had a hand in depleting the stocks back when! Those were the days when almost anyone could get a 40.....cause they were there!!! Not so many now for various reasons......but so what if someone wants to weigh it and release it or if they have the legal option to keep it as is the law?? Guys like you begrudge many of us the same opportunities you had in "your day". The day comes when I "Get Mine"......I hope to get a picture of it, boga the weight and get her back in the water.....I hope I can be that selfless....easy to do when you already spent a lifetime selling trophy bass. Damn right I will go nuts when I do.....it will be the accomplishment I hope for every time I go out there.....just like every other fisherman!

Still love ya Dave....don't hate me cause I am beautiful!!:love: