How do post the weight of your fish?

[Guest avid]

I don't think the weight of a bass is all that a big a deal untill you get to around 5 lbs.  (fish Chris, stop laughing)

anyway I was wondering how y'all do it.

I'll tell ya what I do.

when I post a photo of a bass and say it' a two pounder, or I caught a this three pounder, it means I'm guestimating.  

but when I give exact lbs and ounces for example "here is a six pound 4 oz. LMB caught on chrome/ blue ratltrap."  Then the fish has been weighed on my certified boga grip and the lure is the exact one used.

How are others doing it?

avid.

[David P]

I don't own a scale, so I too just guesstimate, although when there's a scale handy, I weigh any fish over an obvious 2lbs just so I can re-tune my guesstimating skills.

Anything over 4 lbs or that looks over 4lbs I take a few docks away from where I usually fish to the Rec center and have it weighed.

[fourbizz]

if it says something like 18lbs 12ozs or 18-12 that means it was weighed on my berkley digital or my buddies salter. now if only i catch one that weighs 18-12 i'll be in business!

i'll usually weigh anything that appears to be over 4lbs specially if it was on something cool like a popper or a drop shot or somethin.

[Catt]

Some time I feel like a nut some times I don't  

I'll weigh every thing or only what I believe is over 5 lbs; I keep a lot of detailed records so I've been known to get carried away.

[burleytog]

If it's bigger than the bait, it gets weighed.

;D

[MALTESE FALCON]

I usually weigh my fish on my Berkley or my spring scale. If it's over 22" I'll put it in the livewell and take it to my buddies bait shop. He has a certified scale there, so when I give a  weight of anything six pounds or over it's accurate.

Falcon

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I just get the fish as close to the camera as possible and lie through my teeth  ;D

If it's over 4, we'll weigh her, if not, she swims again a little sooner.  And same here, any fish posted with a weight that includes ounces, came from my scale.

[pokey]

I weigh every fish over 12 inches (tournament min) for my fishing journal with general specifics of the conditions etc. A little excessive but, we don't have the monsters some of the southern and left coast boys seem to be hauling in. Up north here the seperation between dinks and big fish is a relatively small gap. Plus I fish alot of tournaments so when i fish for fun I pretend i'm in a tournament setting just to see what a stringer would be for that particular day. I use the berkeley digital

[surfer]

Once the novelty of the new toy wears off I probably wont weigh much unless is starts getting close to my PB of 3 1/4 lb.

I just got a Berkley digital this week and weighed two at about 1lb 4oz last night just to try it out.   The scale only goes to 15lbs.  I figure anything over that I want to certify it anyways and can get the weight then.  FL record is ~ 17 lbs

[senile1]

I don't think the weight of a bass is all that a big a deal untill you get to around 5 lbs.  (fish Chris, stop laughing)

anyway I was wondering how y'all do it.

I'll tell ya what I do.

when I post a photo of a bass and say it' a two pounder, or I caught a this three pounder, it means I'm guestimating.  

but when I give exact lbs and ounces for example "here is a six pound 4 oz. LMB caught on chrome/ blue ratltrap."  Then the fish has been weighed on my certified boga grip and the lure is the exact one used.

How are others doing it?

avid.

I follow the same procedure.  If I think it may be getting close to 5 lbs I'll weigh it.  Otherwise, I'll rarely put a fish on the scale.

[bassbob08]

I do the same thing if I catch a small one I guess the wight but if its nice size I wigh it to give a more exact weight, however ,my scale is now no good and had to buy a cheapy one,cant afford a boga grip so it will have to do. I guess this one is ohhhh?????? I dont know 1 to 27lbs 10oz.ha ha ha .

[armesjr]

I typically weigh everything that appears to be over 3lbs on my digital scale.  Mainly because i like trying to guess the weight of the fish, and then see how close i am.  I however feel that if your going to take a picture of it with the intent of posting the picture, you should go ahead and weigh it.  If you have the scale you might as well be as accurate as possible.  We all know guesstimating isnt very accurate.    

[KU_Bassmaster.]

All 4's get weighed and picutred if she's purty :-*.

[nboucher]

Generally, I'll weigh only larger fish, but once in a while for fun I'll do a couple of random spot checks to see how close my estimates are. From these I've learned that I tend to underestimate weight. But I won't go public with a weight unless it's from the scale.

[Guest avid]

I however feel that if your going to take a picture of it with the intent of posting the picture, you should go ahead and weigh it.  If you have the scale you might as well be as accurate as possible.  We all know guesstimating isnt very accurate.

I understand where your coming from, but I just can't see that it really matters if I say " Here's a two pounder" and it only weighs 1 lb 9 ounces.  I mean really at that weight who cares?

It is true that once you get an accurate scale your fish do shrink, so it does take practice to guestimate with any degree of accuracy.

While we're beng finicky, let me tell that all scales are NOT created equal.  Many digital scales are little more than guestimates on an LCD screen.  If your really serious about having an accurate log of weights, than you gotta invest in a quality scale and have it IGFA certified.

[George Welcome]

For complete accuracy use the term "almost": for example today while fishing I almost caught and landed a 16 pound bass.

Interpretation: If my cast had been 10 inches to the right I know that there was a 16 pound bass there that would have bit. Well she might have almost bit anyway. ;D

[senile1]

Generally, I'll weigh only larger fish, but once in a while for fun I'll do a couple of random spot checks to see how close my estimates are. From these I've learned that I tend to underestimate weight. But I won't go public with a weight unless it's from the scale.

Guestimating isn't very accurate when looking at a media representation of a fish because things can be distorted by the manner in which a photo or video shot is taken.  However, when holding the fish in your hand I've found my guestimates are off by only a few ounces at most.  When I'm talking about a fish less than 4 or 5 lbs I don't think a few ounces makes a difference.  Actually, I usually guestimate a range anyway such as "I caught 10 fish that weighed 2 - 3 lbs."  

[pokey]

I agree with not all digitals are equal. I got the berkeley to "get a pretty good idea". At work we do alot of weighing of parts light and heavy and I had our certified scale tech check the berkeley. He went through the applicable weight range and responded" holy#$%@ this thing is dead n&%*, I thought it would be close but not dead on".

[mattm]

Seems like everyone does almost the same thing.  I to weigh everything that I think has a chance of going 4 just so I don't miss one thats 5lbs.  I agree with avid that 4lbs is a nice fish, but 5lbs is when it starts to matter.  I've actually had one that went 5 on the dot that I would of missed if I didn't weigh everything that I thought had a chance at 4.  Only exception to this rule is if I know i'm going to be posting the fish I do get a weight.

[Guest Steve_P.]

I'm with you Avid. I weigh it if it looks to be 5.0 or better. I also use a Boga Grip. As you already know, they're expensive, but worth it to me so I know for sure what a fish weighs. I think you've got the weighing part down perfectly. You REALLY need to focus on finding someone, somewhere, to teach you how to take a picture!! ;D :-*

[Guest avid]

You REALLY need to focus on finding someone, somewhere, to teach you how to take a picture!

I promise if we go fishing again, I'll bring my real camera and take expert pictures of you with your catch.

You handsome devil you.    

[Valascus]

I have found that I am bothering less and less with putting the fish to the scale and taking a pic. Most of the fish I catch are in the 1 to 3 lb range. I have yet to even break 4 lbs this year... . If the fish is 3 or over, the fish will get weighed and have it's pic taken.

[the ohh face]

I like to just guess most of the time.  Then leave a really wide range when I talk about it.   Like that fish was somewhere between 6 and 12 lbs.  You can never tell from a cell phone camera anyways.

[Lightninrod]

All the Bass that I post pics and state their weight have been weighed on a digital scale and taped for length.  I posted a couple of pics when my very expensive Salter scale quit registering the weight but I didn't state their weight.

Dan