Why do people weigh their fish?

[SAUERKRAUT]

[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?

[Rockfish9]

[QUOTE=SAUERKRAUT;792897]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

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?

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...

[Sea Dangles]

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.

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

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?
.

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".

[Sea Dangles]

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

[tattoobob]

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.

[Mike P]

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.