Digital Scale

[bdox]

For people who are bass fishing, stay away from any 50lb digital scales. They're notoriously inaccurate at weighing lighter fish. Stick with a 25lb if you're not going to be weighing 30lb salmon or big muskies.

[Canuck2fan]

Any accurate scale is going to cost some money period. As for weighing fish for bragging rights I just don't get it? Unless you are going for record I could care less how big someones catch is.

 

Fishing tournaments I don't think should be allowed in Ontario, too harmful on fish populations in my opinion. But since they are legal I can understand the urgency on getting it right because money is involved.

 

The only time I weigh fish is after the perch are fileted and going in the freezer and I only do that so I know how much to defrost for the next family fish fry LOL.

[MCTFisher9120]

Truer words have never been spoken! I'm like Charles with the weighing but I have also been running a Chatillion for the last 3 years and have never been more than .2 lbs off on my entire bag of fish! They work out to $80 Canadian by the time they get here but you will never have to buy batteries, never worry about getting them wet and best of all never have to guess how big the fish actually is.

 

Mine looks like a dog has used it for a chew toy and still works perfectly... sold brass and well designed. I have a 50 pounder for Carp and Salmon, a 10 for mid sized fish and my tournament one is the 6 lb version which measures in 1 ounce increments...if I'm culling 6 pounders I'm pretty sure I'm going to win that event!

 

Best money I ever spent!

JP

 

Sounds great but i don't have he money lol. Quick question though, are you allowed to weigh your fish in a tourny, i thought u were only allowed to use those culling things with the two fish..

 

just wondering lol,

O and ill say it again, people get out and buy a scale!

[Fishnwire]

I don't care about how much a fish weighs. Length is where it's at. Tape measures are never out of calibration. Taking a measurement of length is usually easier and less stressful on the fish than weighing it and besides, there's usually little difference in weight between fish of equal length.

 

I agree that some guys are poor at accurately estimating the length and weight of fish...it's hillarious how many folks think 18" SMB tip the scales at five pounds...they're more like 3 or 3 and a half. One time a guy posted a pic of his 53" muskie that was probably right around 40". The thing is, they're not hurting anyone by deluding themselves, so why burst their bubble?

 

One final point. I've noticed that smallmouth bass seem to give the best (hardest, most acrobatic, and longest-lasting) fight in the 17-18 inch range. 19 inchers and bigger pull with more weight, but they are often less fun to catch than the more spunky, slightly smaller ones. It's just another example of how the actual size of the fish is something not always worth focusing on.

[Cudz]

I don't care about how much a fish weighs. Length is where it's at. Tape measures are never out of calibration. Taking a measurement of length is usually easier and less stressful on the fish than weighing it and besides, there's usually little difference in weight between fish of equal length.

 

I agree that some guys are poor at accurately estimating the length and weight of fish...it's hillarious how many folks think 18" SMB tip the scales at five pounds...they're more like 3 or 3 and a half. One time a guy posted a pic of his 53" muskie that was probably right around 40". The thing is, they're not hurting anyone by deluding themselves, so why burst their bubble?

 

One final point. I've noticed that smallmouth bass seem to give the best (hardest, most acrobatic, and longest-lasting) fight in the 17-18 inch range. 19 inchers and bigger pull with more weight, but they are often less fun to catch than the more spunky, slightly smaller ones. It's just another example of how the actual size of the fish is something not always worth focusing on.

I caught a 21" smallie near opening day it weighed 3.04 pounds. I caught a 21" smallie the other day it weighed 5.30 pounds.

You point is valid for musky though.

You are right 19" bass might weigh 3 pounds.

[MCTFisher9120]

there's usually little difference in weight between fish of equal length.

 

27/7'sLargemouth was 21" Long and weighed 5lbs 7oz while my largemouth caught earlier in August was 21" long and weighed 4lbs 10oz...

[bassassin]

just a thought the most accurate scale i know of just dont drop it in the water, not meant for fishing but will do a better job than any fishing scale on the market. Well worth the money...

 

http://shop.heys.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=xscale

[danbouck]

27/7'sLargemouth was 21" Long and weighed 5lbs 7oz while my largemouth caught earlier in August was 21" long and weighed 4lbs 10oz...

 

and i've got a 5# that was 19.5"

[Fishnwire]

I caught a 21" smallie near opening day it weighed 3.04 pounds. I caught a 21" smallie the other day it weighed 5.30 pounds.

You point is valid for musky though.

You are right 19" bass might weigh 3 pounds.

 

 

Although the weight of fish may vary greatly depending on the time of year, most fish of equal length which are weighed against fish from the same region at the same time of year, are close in mass. That's another reason why length is a better measurement of a fish's size that weight. While weight vaires depending on how far into the breeding season a fish is, length does not.

 

Obviously, a fish full of eggs or one that's fattened up for the winter will weigh more that one caught at a different time of year. Big deal.

[SRT8 smoker craft]

Any accurate scale is going to cost some money period. As for weighing fish for bragging rights I just don't get it? Unless you are going for record I could care less how big someones catch is.

 

Fishing tournaments I don't think should be allowed in Ontario, too harmful on fish populations in my opinion. But since they are legal I can understand the urgency on getting it right because money is involved.

 

The only time I weigh fish is after the perch are fileted and going in the freezer and I only do that so I know how much to defrost for the next family fish fry LOL.

 

just curious what you base this on fish that are caught in bass tournements are usually better off when released depending on the live release boat they go into a oxygen enriched tanks and the mortality is very low. When a boat full of 8 guys goes out on LPB and all catch their limit thats 48 dead fish with a mortality of 100% more bass killed in 1 afternoon than prolly all bass tournies the hole season on LPB and I fish most of them and you don't see many floaters most fisheries that have organized bass tournies have thriving populations of healthy bass and see little to no impact from tournies just look at how many are on simcoe and cooch and there world class fisheries.As far as the scale thing goes I have a rapala that I payed $9.99 at BPS and it is accurate from what I have wieghed to test it wouldn't bet money on it but I do use it for culling unless it's real close than I go with the better looking fish

[Cudz]

Although the weight of fish may vary greatly depending on the time of year, most fish of equal length which are weighed against fish from the same region at the same time of year, are close in mass. That's another reason why length is a better measurement of a fish's size that weight. While weight vaires depending on how far into the breeding season a fish is, length does not.

 

Obviously, a fish full of eggs or one that's fattened up for the winter will weigh more that one caught at a different time of year. Big deal.

Well, to me, weight carries more weight than measuring length (pardon the pun). Measuring length is great for musky and big pike but for bass, I don't think length works very well. As soon as the FLW or Bass start using length as their official method of judging fish tournaments then I might buy into it. Until then I want to know its weigh, not its length. By the way I have caught about 5 bass this year that were 21". Their weight varied dramatically even from the same body of water and the same time of year and none of them would have had any eggs inside.