Fish Measurer DIY Project

[Homer Is King]

I've been looking for a quick, easy, fish friendly way to measure fish. I saw a device on a fishing show a while ago and decided to try to copy it. Here is what I came up with.

 

I bought a 4" diameter X 10 ft piece of white sewer pipe from Home Depot ($12.99). I also bought 5 end caps ($2.45 each). Total was about $25.

 

I then cut the pipe into lengths, 2 and 3ft, 1 and 2ft, 2 and 16 inches.

 

I then glued the caps onto the pipes and ripped them in half down the length. I clamped them to the workbench and used my skill saw with the blade set vary shallow, just enough to get through the pipe wall. I cut one side then rotated it and cut the other. It was a little tricky to keep the cut straight but it worked.

 

I ended up with 4 – 3 footers, 2 – 2 footers, and 4 – 16 inchers. 10 measurers for about $2.50 each!

 

Now the hard part (and most expensive), putting on the scale! I bought a couple of stick on scales for the 3 footers but they are about $7 each. On the smaller ones I drew the scale on by hand.

 

They work really well. They are light but tough. They a cheap and fiarly easy to make. They are very smooth and don't hurt the fish at all. If you keep it wet the fish just slide right out and back into the water. They are way better than having them flop around on the ground next to a tape measure!

 

Here's the 3 footer with my first Lake Trout (caught on Lake Joseph in March 2011)

 

Here are a couple pics of the 16' modle. The pics are from our family "Simcoe Perch Derby" from March 2011.

[mercman]

What a great idea !!! Im going to make myself a couple

Thanks

 

Paul

 

 

[Beans]

Motivator made one simlar only she used a piece of eavestroughing, cap end and one of the stick-on rules that TJ sells...

[Nipfisher]

Motivator made one simlar only she used a piece of eavestroughing, cap end and one of the stick-on rules that TJ sells...

 

Me too. I have 2 of them made from evestrough.

[GBW]

My son and I made one this evening with a broken $store tape measure and wood that was kicking around.

 

[GBW]

PS, yes that is purple hair not blood as it was "makeover day" at my wife's home daycare...

[Homer Is King]

I looked at eves trough when I was planning out my measurer. The cost was about the same and would have been no cross cutting (definitely a plus). I figured the sewer pipe would be a little more rugged. A little more kid friendly!

 

Got any pictures of the eves trough model??

 

Geoff - Great measurer! Simple but effective!

 

Anyone have any other styles they'd like to share??