Judging fish by pics

[slonezp]

This bass was only about 5"

[soflabasser]

9 hours ago, Tlauz said:

My season is short.  The opener is in May and I don't get out much till June.  I put the boat away at the end of October.  During the long 6 months of waiting, I will look back at pictures I took just so I have something to look forward to. It is nice to see dates and times on pics also.  I almost always fish alone.  I  have it figured out now so I put the phone on the console and use timer.  Pics are really for my benefit and enjoyment. 

Do you fish for other species during those 6 months you do not fish for bass? It would be difficult for me not to go fishing for more than 1 month, 6 months would be way too long! I also take pictures for memories and have albums filled with big bass I have caught throughout the years. At this point in my life I feel that I need to properly document my catches to show the true size of the bass. I do this by taking length and girth pictures. I take pictures of bass being weighed if they weigh at least 8 pounds and do not bother weighing bass if I think they are under 8.

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

The thing that really stinks on a lot of photos are selfies. I would honestly rather just take a photo of the fish on a measuring board than try to take and post a selfie. Either that or ask someone else to take your photo but enough with the selfies!

Anyone can make a 2-4 pound bass look like it is +8 pounds by long arming the bass but a accurate measuring tape never lies. A 25 inch bass is 25 inches when it is properly measured just like a 8 pounder is a true 8 pounder when weighed on a decent quality scale. 

[soflabasser]

On 3/18/2019 at 9:52 AM, NYWayfarer said:

I test my scale every so often by hanging a 1 pound bag of coffee or a 5 pound dumbbell from it.

 

 

That is a good way to see how accurate a scale is. Another good test is to weigh a gallon of water which weighs a little over 8 pounds. If a bass does not feel as heavy as a gallon of water then it most likely weighs under 8 pounds. 

[Scott F]

On 3/18/2019 at 8:50 PM, CrankFate said:

I test my scale with 5 and 10lb dumbbells. But I don’t usually bring it, because I do not expect to ever catch anything over 3.5lbs except carp. Will start bringing it again. 

If you want to test the accuracy of a scale, use a package of meat you bought at the grocery store. It was weighed on a certified scale including the packaging. A dumbbell isn’t necessarily exactly the weight that is stamped on it. Same thing with a bag of sugar or coffee. They may be close enough to the weight on the bag for you, but there is no guarantee it is exactly 5 pounds. 

[J Francho]

That's a pretty good idea.  Those scales are tested by US Weights & Measures, and tolerances are pretty close for accuracy.

[EGbassing]

13 hours ago, gimruis said:

The thing that really stinks on a lot of photos are selfies. I would honestly rather just take a photo of the fish on a measuring board than try to take and post a selfie. Either that or ask someone else to take your photo but enough with the selfies!

I fish from the bank so it's my only option. I don't want to toss them in the grass (which removes their protective slime coating) and I'm usually by myself, so...

[Glenn]

On 3/18/2019 at 6:30 AM, A-Jay said:

selecting a wide angle lens and holding it very close to the camera lens makes every dink I catch appear like it's a 6 lb smb or even a 10 lb lmb.

Yup. There's an infamous photo/Thumbnail of a well-known YouTuber on one of his more popular videos holding up a monster fish. He told me it was a 2 pounder, but he held it up close to his GoPro in wide-angle mode to make it look like a 7-pounder so more people would click on his video.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, I caught a 9-pounder, and in the pictures it looks every bit a 5'er! LOL

 

Point of this thread is - there's absolutely NO WAY you can accurately tell how big a fish is simply by a picture.  Y'all can complain about holding the fish out, selfies, using special lenses, photoshopped, etc. But it all doesn't matter. You'll never know even if the photo is shot exactly to your preferences.

 

So stop worrying about it. Stop dumping on people because you think the photo is gamed somehow, and instead just congratulate them on catching a nice fish.  Because fishing is, after all, supposed to be fun!

 

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, Glenn said:

Yup. There's an infamous photo/Thumbnail of a well-known YouTuber on one of his more popular videos holding up a monster fish. He told me it was a 2 pounder, but he held it up close to his GoPro in wide-angle mode to make it look like a 7-pounder so more people would click on his video.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, I caught a 9-pounder, and in the pictures it looks every bit a 5'er! LOL

 

Point of this thread is - there's absolutely NO WAY you can accurately tell how big a fish is simply by a picture.  Y'all can complain about holding the fish out, selfies, using special lenses, photoshopped, etc. But it all doesn't matter. You'll never know even if the photo is shot exactly to your preferences.

 

So stop worrying about it. Stop dumping on people because you think the photo is gamed somehow, and instead just congratulate them on catching a nice fish.  Because fishing is, after all, supposed to be fun!

 

2

Fantastic.

And none of that will ever change or in any way have any bearing what so ever on the way I chose to display my catch.

btw @Glenn 'dumping on people' has never been my style.

A-Jay

 

[Glenn]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

btw @Glenn 'dumping on people' has never been my style.

A-Jay, I wasn't specifically calling you or anyone out.  Apologies if it came out that way.

 

I was speaking more of "that  guy" who you usually see on social media, or on other forums... whenever somebody posts a nice fish, he immediately says it's photoshopped, or held wrong, or.... does whatever in an attempt to discredit the catch.

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, Glenn said:

A-Jay, I wasn't specifically calling you or anyone out.  Apologies if it came out that way.

 

I was speaking more of "that  guy" who you usually see on social media, or on other forums... whenever somebody posts a nice fish, he immediately says it's photoshopped, or held wrong, or.... does whatever in an attempt to discredit the catch.

Thank You Sir.

 

A-Jay

[NHBull]

The only thing that takes away from a good size fish is long arming..Taking something great and turning it into a cartoon character ruins the experience.

[soflabasser]

50 minutes ago, NHBull said:

The only thing that takes away from a good size fish is long arming..Taking something great and turning it into a cartoon character ruins the experience.

You should see the picture of the IGFA ''length record'' largemouth bass. It only measured 24.016 inches in length yet it appears to be over 30 inches long in one of most well known pictures from how bad the long arming is. Did not have much girth either so that bass was probably under 8 pounds.

[slonezp]

13 hours ago, J Francho said:

That's a pretty good idea.  Those scales are tested by US Weights & Measures, and tolerances are pretty close for accuracy.

Years ago our grocery stores had scales so you could weigh your produce so you knew exactly how much you were getting. In my foolish youth, I caught my first "big" bass and brought it to the grocery store. Put it in a plastic bag and weighed it on the produce scale and confirmed it was a hair over 5lbs. Grabbed some bread crumbs and french fries and took it home for dinner.

10 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Fantastic.

And none of that will ever change or in any way have any bearing what so ever on the way I chose to display my catch.

btw @Glenn 'dumping on people' has never been my style.

A-Jay

 

They don't call it a fish-eye lens for nothing....?

7 hours ago, NHBull said:

The only thing that takes away from a good size fish is long arming..Taking something great and turning it into a cartoon character ruins the experience.

It made Jimmy Houston a millionaire. 

[22RangerZ520R]

Can be hard to judge at times, but I saw a guy make a claim on a smallie that was so far off the chart it's laughable....  Especially since his smallie was within 2lb or so of the world record.  Some of you may know the smallie I'm referring to.  He didn't get a length or girth measurement and only had a couple weird pictures of that monster trophy catch.

 

And with all the measuring devices on the market, there's no reason what so ever that a "record/trophy" catch can't be properly documented with pics and a video of measuring the fishes length and girth along with it on reputable scale.

[haggard]

Most phone cameras and GoPro-like video cameras use wide angle lenses that make objects close to the lens appear larger than their more distant backgrounds. It's natural to proudly display the fish at arms length close to the camera, but to show proper scale (pun intended) hold the fish right against your chest or body. It won't feel as glamorous but will give the viewer a much more accurate assessment of the size of the fish.

 

[jbsoonerfan]

Look at Shaq trying to make this basketball look bigger. LOL

[Scott F]

2 minutes ago, haggard said:

........It's natural to proudly display the fish at arms length close to the camera,......

I’ve been taking fish pictures for over 50 years, until I saw fish pictures online, it never occurred to me to hold a fish at arms length to make it look bigger in the photo.

[CrankFate]

On 3/20/2019 at 6:22 AM, soflabasser said:

Do you fish for other species during those 6 months you do not fish for bass? It would be difficult for me not to go fishing for more than 1 month

Shhhhhhhh! ?

 

I haven’t been fishing since November or December and am not catching another fish until May.

[soflabasser]

On 3/22/2019 at 10:40 PM, CrankFate said:

I haven’t been fishing since November or December and am not catching another fish until May.

Why have you not fished since November? You don't have to go far to catch a bass in Florida so you can always do a quick 1 hour fishing trip.

[CrankFate]

8 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Why have you not fished since November? You don't have to go far to catch a bass in Florida so you can always do a quick 1 hour fishing trip.

I wish I was in Florida. Here in NY it was a high of 40 degrees out with wind gusts close to 40MPH.

[Fishingintheweeds]

This guy...er, gal, here, until it jumped, had me wondering how big the pike get in this lake or if one of the big carp grabbed my chatterbait. I didn't have a scale, nothing that I could put it next to for reference. So, I just grabbed my phone and clicked a bunch of pictures. When I realized she was staying curled and all my pictures probably sucked, I went for the shot from above. I didn't want to lay her on the ground and like to get the fish back in the water as quickly as I can. Ha, I only know a few people who would care, besides the internet, but having at least something as a record is nice. The best I can do is reasonable length estimates based on my height or how. I held the fish by my leg, arm angle etc. 

 

The sad part is, again, the fish doesn't look that big here. Ha, but I've also caught teeny tiny ones that people saw the picture if and thought were good sized. What can ya do?!

This was another attempt at the same fish. Looks preeeetttty average. 

[J Francho]

That mouth, though!  That's a nice fish!

[Fishingintheweeds]

And this one from last year, that I have a pretty good estimate of length in, outside of the internet asking, yeah, but how do you know? Believe me, I would ask someone the same thing!

 

Well, the file for the next picture is too large and I can't reduce it enough. Anyways, the one I was going to show was a pretty good sized (according to only my length estimate) fish and I was going to show that this one above was significantly larger. But because if my bad camera skills and difficulty estimating size from pictures, you'd never be able to tell.

16 minutes ago, J Francho said:

That mouth, though!  That's a nice fish!

In Michigan, even! For the past several years, I'd only caught a bunch of 12-14" at this lake. I guess maybe they're growing up. But I did get the right spot at the right time of day at the right time of year. 

 

I had gone to another lake just before that I knew bigger fish were in but I'd never caught anything there myself. Well, 3 guys dropped a boat in right before I got there. They talked about going to spots and headed off. This was a good sized lake, so, I figured no problem. Ha, wouldn't you know it, they decided to open her up and do laps around the lake, for the whole 30-40 minutes I was there. I left and went to the spot I caught that one. 

[J Francho]

10 minutes ago, Fishingintheweeds said:

Well, the file for the next picture is too large and I can't reduce it enough.

https://postimages.org/

 

Copy and paste the direct link here.  Forum software will do the rest for yout.

[Fishingintheweeds]

15 minutes ago, J Francho said:

https://postimages.org/

 

Copy and paste the direct link here.  Forum software will do the rest for yout.

Let's give it a shot.