Lenght to weight ratio for smallie's ?

[Curly]

Howdy

I'm new to the board. I live in Wa state. I was wondering if there is a formula or chart one could use to get a rough idea on a fishes weight knowing how long it is. I often fish on foot and would rather not pack scales as I already carry multiple rods and a backpack full of "stuff". Today I caught a 20" smallmouth and wondered how much it might weigh? I would have guess 5lbs anyway...but I'm seem to be getting weaker as I get older so I'm loosing faith it my estimates.

[Gatorbassman]

Yes, once again. This web site has it all. Go to the Tacklebox at the top of your screen. Click on the Fish Weight Calculator and there it is. I also do a lot of back country hike in fishing and  I use a little lightweight scale I got at BPS for 10 bucks. It looks like this.

[Curly]

Thanks. I should have know to look as this is "The Ultimate Bass Fishing resource Guide".

I ought to be able to fit one of those scales in my pack.

[Marty]

I use the charts for most of my bass (I have what info I need pretty much memorized) and weigh just my largest fish. I'm afraid your estimate of 5# might be on the high side unless it was a real football. Here's a link to NY's tables:

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/foe4cwgf.html

[Curly]

Interesting chart. If I spread my fingers, from the tip of my middle finger to the end of my thumb is just over 8.5 inches and it was every bit of that not including fins top to bottom.   It was more of a slab then a pig. Had a little bit of a pot belly but I've seen bigger porportionally. The best part of this fish was the first jump. It wasn't a missile launch but it made the loudest crack/slap I've ever heard. Our summer weather started last weekend so I'm just getting into hot weather fishing.

Well I better just get a scale and go catch some more I suppose.

Thanks for the chart and info.

[Nick]

I'd say five pounds is correct.  All the ones I catch weigh five pounds egardless of their length. lol

Seriously, if I catch a 20 incher on a float stream in summer, it may not go 3.5 lbs., but out of Lake Erie in fall, it may go over five pounds.

[roadwarrior]

Marty,

Thanks for the link, but the chart only goes to 25" for smallmouth. Guess we're still going to have to weigh the big ones!

[Wabassin]

Where did you catch it at?

[Curly]

This one came from the Columbia River in WA. state.

There is a ton of food in there. It's basically an untapped fishery in my area. More people fish it downstream in the area where Oregon is on the other side of the river. The thing that makes this river so exciting for me is the variety. You can never be sure what's on the end of the line. I have caught bows to 25" on white curly jigs.  These are wild bows and cannot be targeted though. They put up the best fight for I trout I know. There are steelhead in the river much of the year and salmon, shad, sturgeon etc.. There are lots of dams so it's fishes like a reservoir in some places. Then in other places there is some pretty strong current. I fish mostly in an area where the dam releases average around 120, 000>130,000 cfs and this is a drought here now. A tournament guy said the males average 2.5 lbs in this part of the Columbia. I found that interesting as he said in the potholes and seep areas they average 1.5 lbs. I  have measured them to 23" inches. I also feel I have seen significantly bigger ones than that. On that same outing I saw what I though was a pair of carp cruising by the outside of a weedbed. Then I thought "wait that second one isn't a carp" and I tossed my brown trout rapala out there and sure enough the trailing fish turned and and came 25' to strike. He came unbuttoned pretty quick. We fish for those carp & bass on the flyrod when it can be done that way. Sometimes I need more distance or depth then I can get on the flyrod for bass so I always carrying a lightweight spinning rod. Point being that bass was big enough to be a carp, but he wasn't. It's not unusual to see bass tooling around with carp for me. I am on foot mostly although my fishing buddy has a Lund and we get out on it some. I fish backbays and side channels and the bank proper some. I have this side channel that is as big as many rivers that is my favorite. There is a V shaped riffle or break in it. If you catch it right it becomes a feeding lane. When the dam releases are low you can stand above it and seen the bass patrolling just below the break, back & forth. Every so often (moon related?) midday I really get into them there. I tell people you could get them on a bent fork if you catch it right. Overall I like sight fishing them best. We get alot of wind though and it messes that up often. I know guys who think nothing of 100 fish days but their sizes are smaller. I prefer to fish current and for fish that are on the hunt. That's probably why I catch less...but bigger fish I feel??

The 20"er could have been spawning....I think it's a little screwy here. We have water height variation of 5' due to dam releases. We also have snopack runoff from British Columbia and the east slopes of the north Cascades. That can vary flows and temps a bunch. Sometimes I find a bass on a redd in late July. Mostly it seems like late May thru June though. That even varies depending on what stretch your on. If your right behind a dam they find warmer bays or shelves it seems and go on schedule so to speak. Below a dam seems more varied though.

If anyone is from central WA. I would love to get out with a Bass specialist. I grew up fishing for bass back in the Susquehanna River and tributaries in the 60s.

We sure caught lots as kids but out here the fish seem way bigger on average.

Tips and comments welcome of course.

[Marty]

Marty,

Thanks for the link, but the chart only goes to 25" for smallmouth. Guess we're still going to have to weigh the big ones!

Yeah, that's one of the chart's big shortcomings. We'll have to make do by extrapolating for all those 26+ that we catch. Maybe I'll e-mail the DEC to update the chart so our estimates are a little more accurate.  :