Boga style scale and mortality ?

[SAUERKRAUT]

Great question and dilemma presented by Mr. Clogstan and this thread. Congrats, incidentally, on both the Catch, and the Release...C&R.

I weigh my beached bass...not all, but a lot; and I take relentless SH..from the Numbskull for doing so. But I just cannot help it. I am an engineer by inclination, and if I do not obtain objective evidence, I WAY over exaggerate myself...even after all these years. Recent Example: 40" but only a little over 20. That's it and that's all.

I have a method: a 9 or 10/0 SS tuna hook, bent out to a "J" and the barb filed off. And an electronic scale. This scale is lighted, has big numbers and easy to read. The hook goes under the lower jaw, out-to-in, while fish is sitting in the tide pool, etc. scale into the hook. Thumb jaw lift vertical and smooth gradual weight transfer from thumb grip to scale and the fish back on the ground in 5 seconds. And released.

I use this method on big Lake Ontario brown trout and steelhead under the right conditions also. These fish swim away strong. And these species just suck compared to a striped bass in terms of strength of handling.

I therefore make the respectful suggestion to DZ, Mr. Clogstan, do not hold a culpable or guilty conscience for catching (or weighing) your FRIENDS. The commercials are all over this argument that "recreational fishermen" contribute to 71% of the striper harvest mortality.

As Numbskull says: "Stripers are my Friends".

[FishermanTim]

I've only weighed one bass I caught from shore.
water was waist deep, and I couldn't get the tail section out of the water. At that point it weighed 27 lbs.

After that I just went with lengths, as stated here, it puts a whole lot less stress on the fish. I can say that all but one fish I released from shore swam away like a rocket, and that one was cradled and revived until it could make iton its own.

[Diggin Jiggin]

I'm with SAUERKRAUT. I think bass are pretty tough. I've had a boga for a long time and I don't think a quick weigh on the boga in any way affects their ability to swim off. I've always felt the hand under the gill plate was the thing to avoid and the boga helps with that. I think it's probably easier on them to do a quick weigh on the boga than drag them up onto shore/the bike path for measuring and a picture but I've done both plenty of times and they swim away fine.

[JohnnySaxatilis]

Great topic I've been thinking a lot about this too. Just bought a boga this year because actually the opposite of saurkraut I was getting sh... for not wieghing my shore caught bass, all I was using was the plastic gripper. I don't think hanging a fish for weight does any damage to it at all... This fish shot off like a monkey in a box when I weighed it then took the picture then released it last year, but I got all kinds of grief for hanging it vertical to take the picture...

[Jackbass]

Originally Posted by JohnnySaxatilis

. This fish shot off like a monkey in a box

You'll catch me saying that eventually. This has been a good read lots of stuff on both sides. I have one I use it when a fish is bigger I have only killed one bass in my life (on purpose that came home) it was the only fish that didn't give me a shower and wasnt really floating the correct way for swimming. So I ended its misery i did try like hell to get her moving. Pretty sure the issue was not the boga
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[bloocrab]

I'm no anatomist, but all that should be happening (from a physical standpoint) ..would be that its intestines, gonad, etc would settle near the fish's stomach/anus area. Nothing critical is getting crushed.
From a mental standpoint, the fish can't think....it's not thinking why is the human holding me or what's he going to do next. I would think that the fish's instinct is fear, whether or not your unhooking it to release it OR weighing for the few seconds that it may take.

For me personally, this low addition (weighing process) to the already experienced stress of being hooked and dragged to shore would not deter me from weighing something that I felt deserved the respect of being weighed. Yes, there is some inner-ego in yearning to know if this particular one is your personal best, but there's also respect being shown to the fish...as not all are worthy of seeing the scale.

Who knows, maybe it even makes the bigger fish feel better by stretching the spine....maybe it forces some new blood into some old crevices.....always seems to help the old lady....LOL

There is some truth in there somewhere...for those who choose to seek it.

[zimmy]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

I'm no anatomist, but all that should be happening (from a physical standpoint) ..would be that its intestines, gonad, etc would settle near the fish's stomach/anus area. Nothing critical is getting crushed.

The anatomy of a fish is evolved for the neutrally buoyant forces of a primarily horizontal existence in water. When the fish is removed from the water, the resulting force on the anatomy of the fish is dramatically higher. "Settling" by hanging the fish has been reported to tear the tissue as a result of the non-typical force. It isn't a crushing issue. Humans die all the time from side impact car accidents in which no visible damage is done, but a non-typical sideways force causes the aorta to tear. The person appears fine and a few minutes later bleeds out and dies. Those types of injuries, along with dislocated jaws are the concern.