Is this allowed?

[Saltheart]

I would trust a none cerified scale in the hands of an honest person over the worlds most accurate scale in the hands of a dishonest person.

So , the scale is not the issue.

I don't know why but past experience indicates that people have said that their fish are bigger than they really are.

[DZ]

We allow catch, weigh and release on hand held scales in our year long fishing club tournament. We run our tourney on the honor system. Only requirement is the weigh-in must be witnessed by someone 16 or older. We instituted this rule many years ago to allow the release of large fish. Most of our members like this aspect of our tourney - very few gripe about abuse. Prizes for winners vary from 10-30 dollars so there doesn't seem to be a great incentive to cheat. The most prestigious trophy we award is for the largest bass caught and released which has no cash prize - but has an honor not easily matched when your name is engraved on it.

DZ

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by DZ

We allow catch, weigh and release on hand held scales in our year long fishing club tournament. We run our tourney on the honor system. Only requirement is the weigh-in must be witnessed by someone 16 or older. We instituted this rule many years ago to allow the release of large fish. Most of our members like this aspect of our tourney - very few gripe about abuse. Prizes for winners vary from 10-30 dollars so there doesn't seem to be a great incentive to cheat. The most prestigious trophy we award is for the largest bass caught and released which has no cash prize - but has an honor not easily matched when your name is engraved on it.

DZ

Best aspect of our humble club DZ!

[FishermanTim]

That's why "fish stories" always include the words "the fish/beast/monster/cow was THIS BIG" (use hands spread apart to indicatee size), instead of saying the fish WEIGHED this much.
Remember, the more a fish story is told, the bigger the fish seems to get.

In any tournament, unbiased officiating is key. If an unscrupulus person wants to cheat, they'll find a way to try. Lord help them if they get caught.

I remember a fishing show a couple of years back, I believe it was something like the "Mad Fin Challenge", that covered an East vs. West shark tournament. One of the boats had what was an undersized fish, and claimed it was legal size. When the boat docked at the weigh in station, the fish was weighed and IMMEDIATELY cut up, preventing any verification of the fished size.
Keep in mind, the fish weighed less that what a legal size fish should weigh, meaning either the fish was sick and malnourished or the fish was undersized. The worst part was that they had comments from the crew stating that it was short, but they still called it in as a legal fish.
So, like I said, if there's a will (and money) there'll find a way.

As for me, I give whoever is running the tourmanent the benefit of the doubt.