Weighing fish in a grocery bag?

[EGbassing]

I was reading through forums on weighing fish and a few people said to put them in a grocery bag and attach the scale to the handles. Does the grocery bag not wipe away their protective slime coating like grass does? If so, what kind of bag should I use? 

[fishballer06]

Yes, it would absolutely remove the protective slime coating from the fish. Why not just weigh them from the lip and/or gill opening like everyone else?

[islandbass]

I'm not an expert but it sure sounds like a recipe to affect their protective coating. How could it not? 

[EGbassing]

On 8/2/2018 at 8:41 AM, fishballer06 said:

Yes, it would absolutely remove the protective slime coating from the fish. Why not just weigh them from the lip and/or gill opening like everyone else?

I've heard that both of those ways can injure them. Is that true?

[Choporoz]

On 8/11/2015 at 12:28 PM, OkobojiEagle said:

Removing the slime from one side of the fish as can happen when laying the fish on the boat deck to unhook or measure will create a situation of more water resistance on the slime-less side and force the fish to swim in a circle.

 

Please send all inquiries about my mountain top Florida cottage to my personal message account!  Thanks you.

 

 

oe

 

On 8/11/2015 at 1:19 PM, Team9nine said:

A 2007 study that looked at agency guidelines or recommendations in this area (including all 50 states as well as 13 Canadian Provinces) found that "of the 25 agencies that discussed the importance of slime or scales, 19 also recommended handling a fish with wet hands, wet gloves, or a version thereof. Specifically, 59% recommended wet hands, 16% recommended wet gloves, and 25% recommended either." However, as of the study's publication date, there were not any published experiments that specifically dealt with slime removal or handling in a catch-and-release context. However, in aquaculture facilities it is a well known "best practice" that fish should be handled with wet hands and as minimally as possible. As such, that is likely a good guideline to go by.

 

-T9

From an old slimy thread

[J Francho]

14 minutes ago, EGbassing said:

I've heard that both of those ways can injure them. Is that true?

So do hooks.  If you're that worried, get a FishGrip, and and clip it to the scale.

 

Like this:

[Team9nine]

Since the "old slimy thread" Choporoz mentioned, there has been some new stuff published. Turns out different species of fish might have different tolerances in regards to the "toughness" of their slime coat and skin, with bass being on the better end of that stick. I would rather weigh a wet bass in a plastic grocery bag than punch a whole through their jaw or hang them from the gills when it comes to weighing. In fact, I personally do the near equivalent with a PE/PVC based culling bag specifically designed for this purpose. It might arguably be even better than the recently popular "lip grip" scale attachment method.

[WRB]

I may be responsible for the plastic grocery bag suggestion as I have suggested it several times for anglers who weigh bass using a luggage scale or similar blunt hook style scale. The reason is a plastic grocery is very light weight and easy to store and isn't any more harmful then the bags used to carry and weigh tournament caught bass.

the plastic isn't abrasive or harmful to the basses skin. Bouncing bass on boat carpets would be #1 most damaging to the slim coat.

Grocery bag has mulitple uses.

Tom

 

[Catt]

If she aint pushing 10, I aint getting the scales out!

 

If you lucky I might take a picture ?

 

[NHBull]

38 minutes ago, Catt said:

If she aint pushing 10, I aint getting the scales out!

 

If you lucky I might take a picture ?

 

In NH we start weighing at 4 lbs ?

[2tall79]

If it is anywhere near a record of some sort...it needs to be weighed on state certified scales. Hence the grocery store.

[12poundbass]

I wouldn't think a plastic grocery bag would be very harmful. Like @WRB said it wouldn't be much different than the weigh-in bags they use. Think about it the bag is very slippery especially when wet so I'd guess it wouldn't removed barely any slime. A plastic bag I'd would guess would be similar to what @A-Jay uses to lay his bass down. Same concept it's slippery when wet reducing friction thus reducing if not eliminating harm to the slime coat. 

 

Personally the only time a bass touches the floor of my boat is if it throws the hook before I get a chance to grab it. Since learning of the harm carpet and the ground is to their slime I'm very mindful to quickly grab them. I don't even use a net, although I don't think a rubber net wouldn't be bad, I just don't have one. I've gotten by just fine landing them by hand. 

[Todd2]

Anything over 4 automatically gets put into that "around 7" range. Saves me time weighing and less stress on the fish.  ?

 

 

[Deleted account]

You could keep them in a fiber glass aquarium for a few hours, move them to a plastic bag and walk them around a bit before dumping them onto a laundry basket, and THEN weigh them, and then for good measure grab them by the lip and swing them around while folks take pictures, I'm sure they'll be fine....

[Spankey]

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

So do hooks.  If you're that worried, get a FishGrip, and and clip it to the scale.

 

Like this:

Aboslutly. I have a Rapala plastic fish gripper that will hook to my Digital scale. Everything sort of looks similar to the set-up they use on MLF. No real reason to mishandle fish that you are going to put back. Things can happen but.......just try to pay attention to what you are doing. But things can accidentally happen.

[Tennessee Boy]

Always check you your grocery bag for holes before you leave home.  You don't want any water to leak out and lower your weight.?

[JustJames]

8 hours ago, Catt said:

If she aint pushing 10, I aint getting the scales out!

 

If you lucky I might take a picture ?

 

I might as well get rid of my scale since I don't dream to catch DD bass pretty soon.?

8 hours ago, WRB said:

Grocery bag has mulitple uses.

Tom

 

I agree,

To put dying fish in the bag instead of throw it back in water or leave it on the sand.

And also you can put a rock or twos in there when weighing fish and nobody would know.

5 hours ago, Todd2 said:

Anything over 4 automatically gets put into that "around 7" range. Saves me time weighing and less stress on the fish.  ?

 

 

I thought he has done that.

[EGbassing]

18 minutes ago, JustJames said:

I thought he has done that.

?

[Catt]

8 hours ago, Catt said:

If she aint pushing 10, I aint getting the scales out!

 

If you lucky I might take a picture ?

 

 

My point being set goals!

 

You don't need to weigh every fish!

 

Selfies is another one, get a quick shot & put em back in the water!

[813basstard]

2 hours ago, reason said:

You could keep them in a fiber glass aquarium for a few hours, move them to a plastic bag and walk them around a bit before dumping them onto a laundry basket, and THEN weigh them, and then for good measure grab them by the lip and swing them around while folks take pictures, I'm sure they'll be fine....

Haha^! Sometimes folks forget they are animals like us. They’re generally a little tougher to break than that.  While your worried about the slime coat, the dude on the bridge sitting on a bucket with a cane pole and night crawler is letting them die on the asphalt until he’s ready to bring them home for dinner. 

Weigh’em. High five. Put them back. Fairly simple process

[Glaucus]

Sometimes gotta drag a bass on to the bank, sometimes it shakes loose and flops on the carpet or grass, and I weigh them in any ole bag. Don't wet my hands to handle them.

 

Here's where it gets crazy...

 

I set the loose, and you never see them swimming in a circle or going belly up. Weird!

 

Sigh

[EGbassing]

Just now, Glaucus said:

Sometimes gotta drag a bass on to the bank, sometimes it shakes loose and flops on the carpet or grass, and I weigh them in any ole bag. Don't wet my hands to handle them.

 

Here's where it gets crazy...

 

I set the loose, and you never see them swimming in a circle or going belly up. Weird!

 

Sigh

You never see them swimming in a circle because it would take days for losing their slime coating to affect them. It's not like hooking them in the gills where they immediately go belly up...

[Glaucus]

3 minutes ago, EGbassing said:

You never see them swimming in a circle because it would take days for losing their slime coating to affect them. It's not like hooking them in the gills where they immediately go belly up...

Mostly fish ponds. Don't see autistic bass or dead floaters. They're animals. They're resilient. Caught a smallie at the river Monday that had a rusted hook in its throat and a foot of line hanging out of its mouth. Still swimmin,  still eatin

[scaleface]

A plastic grocery bag would be prone to rip . I use the fish grip .

[islandbass]

4 hours ago, Spankey said:

Aboslutly. I have a Rapala plastic fish gripper that will hook to my Digital scale. Everything sort of looks similar to the set-up they use on MLF. No real reason to mishandle fish that you are going to put back. Things can happen but.......just try to pay attention to what you are doing. But things can accidentally happen.

That seems more humane. Could you tell if fish grips also make removing the hook(s) from their mouths easier, in that you would have a better grip on the fish (and thereby can remove the hook faster) as compared to holding it directly by hand? If so, I'll

definitely be buying one.