Proper Way to weigh a bass?

[SuthernProg]

There's a pic in my BPS catalog of a hand held weigh scale in which the fish has actually been impaled through the lower jaw by the hook of the scale. Is this the way it's supposed to be done? I always thought you gently hung them by the gill slit. I dont much like the "through the lip" way.

Marion

[VABasser]

I generally think you weigh them through the gill slit like you said, I'm sure tearing a hole in their jaw is not good for the fish.  If you were going to keep it then I guess it wouldn't matter.  But I'm curious to see how most people weigh the fish with scales that have the hook not the clamps.

[jbass]

I agree, gill slit at the jaw. Easier and no puncture wound.

[Guest avid]

I disagree. A small hole in the middle of the lower jaw should heal and do no more harm to the fish than the hole left by the hook that caught him.

Messing around near the gills on the other hand can be fatal.

Think of it this way. You can pierce your lower lip and be in style

Pierce your lung and your dead.

I use a boga scale.  It uses very secure grips on the jaw.  No damage at all.

[jbass]

At the jaw you are less likely to touch the gills if you are careful.

[FL_fisher]

I weigh them behind the gill plate and I think that it would be pretty hard to miss and hook the gill (even if you tried to).

[langs15]

I weigh it at the lower jaw...near the tounge. No holes or puntures or harm to the fish since my scale has grips to it.

[roadwarrior]

This was an idea from KU_Bassmaster that works perfectly with no harm to the fish:

Put the fish in a plastic grocery bag and attach the scale to the handles. Releasing the fish is a breeze.

[aggiebassin]

i poke a hole in the lower jaw.  i don't want to put anything near their gills if i don't have to.  especially a scale hook, b/c fish almost always seem to flop when you take your hands off of them, and i don't want to risk one flopping and getting the scale hook hooked on one of the gills.

[KenDammit28]

Think about where bass live and what bass eat for just a second......

the gills aren't as fragile and delicate as some would like you to believe.  I'm not suggesting that someone go in there and just start poking around with a scale hook, but using the gill slit right at the jaw is not gonna be harmful to the fish.  Why keep putting holes in the fish if you're planning to release it?  So, all in all, I say don't go runnin wild in the gills but using the first slit up near the lower jaw isn't going to hurt the fish any more than hooking it in the first place.

[RoLo]

My first choice is the hole made by the hook itself.

If that isn't feasible then I'll pierce a small hole in the tough membrane

behind the lower lip, the same as a hook would do. This is tenacious membrane

designed to withstand abuse and the possibility of infection is highly remote.

One thing you never want to do is mess around near the delicate tissue

that forms the gills, which is an external set of lungs.

Roger

[Darold_31]

I use a X-tool, which has a grip like Avid's Boga grip.  No harm is done at all.  The pinchers on the end hold the fish very well and the scale is very accurate.  I like using this one b/c it tells you which fish to cull in a tournament.  You just put the corresponding float in each fishes mouth and when you catch and weigh #6 it tells you which one is the smallest.  

[RoLo]

I use a X-tool, which has a grip like Avid's Boga grip. No harm is done at all.

I totally agree Darold.

I wish I'd read through the responses before posting, I plumb forgot about the Boga Grip :-[

Thanks to you guys, the "Boga Grip" is already on the list for my next online order.

(pheww....what a price discrepancy between the 30-lb and 60-lb caps!)

Roger

[K_Mac]

This was an idea from KU_Bassmaster that works perfectly with no harm to the fish:

Put the fish in a plastic grocery bag and attach the scale to the handles. Releasing the fish is a breeze.

That makes good sense to me. It may be too easy though...

[RoLo]

This was an idea from KU_Bassmaster that works perfectly with no harm to the fish:

Put the fish in a plastic grocery bag and attach the scale to the handles. Releasing the fish is a breeze.

That makes good sense to me. It may be too easy though...

Placing the bass in a bag and then removing the bass from the bag

is extra handling that may knock off valuable slime, similar to a net.

Roger

[roadwarrior]

Well, I have lots of time and I use a rubber net!

As recreational C&R fishermen, we don't weigh many fish unless we think they are really big. My partner and I usually weigh what we think is our first 5 lb smallie (he always thinks it's 4 1/2 if it's mine). Then it's just big fish after that. We take a picture of just about all of our 5+. With stripers it's a little harder to get a good feel for 10lbs, 8 to 12 lbs look a lot alike. But...we weigh our big fish, our benchmark being 20 lbs.

BTW, if you buy the Boga Grips, they eliminate all of the hassel and they can be certified, too.

[Riqiv]

This seems like a pretty safe way to use a hook scale towards the end of this video, under the jaw, if you don’t own a boga grip scale.

 

[WRB]

The grip didn’t exist in 2006 when this thread was posted!

Wonder how we will be weight bass 15 years from 2021?

Tom

 

[David 7]

It really seems like measuring is just easier at times, especially in a kayak.

[gunsinger]

I just bought a Rapala grip to hang on the scale hook. I try to grip on the thinner part of the upper jaw. 

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, gunsinger said:

I just bought a Rapala grip to hang on the scale hook. I try to grip on the thinner part of the upper jaw. 

I modified my scale - removing the hook and replacing it with a carabiner. That way if the fish (what ever species) flops around, the grip can't jump off the hook.

[dj1975232]

I added a plastic mini grip to the scale instead of the hook so I just grab them with that like a fish grip instead of the hook. 

[Jleebesaw]

I used to use scales with a hook. I always used a set of plastic jaw clamps and zeroed the scale with them on it and then clamped to the lower jaw. Bass pro shops sells the plastic jaw clamps for $3. They are kind of like non adjustable plastic vice grips. I fish waters with muskies and northerns so every boat has jaw clamps in it anyway!

[moguy1973]

On 6/15/2021 at 3:55 PM, WRB said:

The grip didn’t exist in 2006 when this thread was posted!

Wonder how we will be weight bass 15 years from 2021?

Tom

 

HAH! I'm sure no one realized this was from 2006.

 

For my input, I used to just put the hook on my fish scale through the gill slit closest to the bottom of their mouth but I switched scales to one of the cheap e-bay luggage scales and the hook is much smaller so now I use my fish grips that have a hole in the handle to hook the scale onto.  The only issue with this is I have to TARE the scale with the fish grips on it first before weighing the fish or the weight will be a little off due to the weight of the grips.

[Scott F]

The easiest way is the way the majority of fishermen do it. Hoist up that 13 inch bass and say, ah..another 3 pounder!