Fish Scales

Hookset · 06-11-2001, 12:21 PM

After never owning a fish scale, I'm finally going to cave into enormous pressure from a family member, Mom. After Mom caught her first springer this year, first question she asked was how much did it weigh? Uhhh, about 24 pounds I said. How do you know that? Years of experince I replied back. In other words, you really don't know was her reply. It's a pretty good guess I said. I guess it'll have to do was her reply.

Now whenever she brags about her fish it's not good enough to just say 24 pounds. It goes like this, "My son thinks its around 24 pounds but he doesn't own a scale so we don't know for sure. You'd think he would purchase a scale after paying 30K for a new boat." (It gets worse) Geeeshhhhhh I've heard this a few times already and other people think it's funny when they ask me about it.

Now, to get out of this hole, I'm going to actually buy a fish scale. Saw the digital, spring loaded, brass scales and a few others. What works best for salmon and steelhead.

Never been a bragger before and actually I can guess with the best of them. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Appreciate the help, thanks,

hook

06-11-2001, 12:33 PM

The amount of money that you spend on the scale should be in direct relation to how much you really care about knowing the accurate weight of the fish.

With that in mind, I'd say experience is your best choice. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Either that or you can tell your mother that she can get the scale for you for father's day.

Artwo · 06-11-2001, 12:56 PM

Hook,
I was surfing the channels yesterday affternoon and came upon this guy bass fishing, he ahd just caught this nice largemouth and wanted to try out his new scale. The scale he had clamped down on the lower jaw of the fish and had a bar type scale on it in about 1/4lb increments it looked like. Kind of neat beacause it was designed for catch and release and didn't hurt the fish. He didn't say a brand name but I wouldn't think they would be to hard to find.

JK

finclipped · 06-11-2001, 01:16 PM

I never trust a scale. I mean, who is going to believe a rusty old scale anyway. Its much better to ask 3 or 4 fisherman's opinion on how much it weighs and then get an average. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

THE REEL HEY_YALL · 06-11-2001, 01:53 PM

Mom was the biggest reason for me to get a scale as well, Gregg [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] so I won a very nice, digital one in a bass tourney about 5 years ago, but the only bad thing is, it only goes up to 50 pounds I think.

The one Artwo suggested (owned one) is great, but I think they only go up to 25 pounds, but I think they make larger models. They would be great for steelie fishing though. The saltwater models go up into the hundreds of pounds, but are larger and restrict space. I suggest doing a search for king mackeral fishing tournaments and see some of the sponsors who contributed. There are some cool scales like Artwo said used in those tourneys for the boaters to get a guesstimate of their standings before official weigh-in.

Salmonator · 06-11-2001, 03:14 PM

I've used the stren digital scale for the last few years and they are very accurate, just don't get them wet! If you've never owned a scale before you might be in for a bit of a humbling and swear the scale must not work or is off or something. I've seen people hold up some "20 pound steelhead" at the ramp and it was all I could do to refrain from digging out the scale. Every so often I check mine with a 5lb bag of sugar or a 35lb olympic weight and even with the 35lbs it hasn't been off by more than 3oz... Joe

Richter · 06-11-2001, 03:30 PM

Gregg,

I purchased a Normark Electronic Digital Scale from Bass Pro Shops, maybe 5-6 years ago. It weighs fish up to 50 lbs, and is very accurate, within a couple ounces. I prefer not to weigh the fish unless someone really wants to. My estimates are usually a little higher than the actual weight, imagine that [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] .

Hookset · 06-12-2001, 02:43 PM

Thanks for the help everyone. Looks like the digital scales are worth checking out. I was just looking in my catalogs for scales.

I saw the jaw gripping scale, called the boga grip, only goes up to 30 pounds.

Thanks for the help,

hook

Stz ll · 06-12-2001, 03:49 PM

Try the Stren electric digital scale. It is quite accurate and easy to use. On of the neat features about it is it stores the heaviest weight recorded until it is ereased. One fishing buddy had the heaviest on my scale until last year when we weighed one smelt dip on the owlitz and it came to 31 pounds. Sorry Dale!!

Snagly · 06-12-2001, 04:04 PM

A few words on BogaGrips, my favorite saltwater fish handling and weighing devices. But first, a description. Boga's have rounded clamps that grab the fish's lower lip. This greatly simplifies unhooking (MOST of the time -- see below) fish. In addition, there's a built in scale with half-pound increments for a quick weigh before photo or release. The contraption weighs about a pound in the 30lb model.

A few more points:

1. Two models exist, 15lbs and 30lbs. (There used to be a 60lb model but it's not made any more. Anyone finding one new or used, it's GOLD.)

2. Boga's are pricey at $110 per pair. Use the wrist lanyard! (I should know . . . sob!)

3. The scale is very accurate. In fact, the IGFA will certify the scale for catch-and-release world records if you send the scales to them and pay a fee ($10 I think)

NOW THE BAD NEWS. Bogas DON'T work for C & R steelheading (and salmon, I imagine though I've not used them). The jaw grippers on the Boga spin, and steelhead are great twirlers when grabbed by the lower jaw. So instead of lying still or thrashing a bit like 99 other species of salt and freshwater fish, a steelhead grabbed goes into a frenzy of twisting. This results in the leader being wrapped around the Bogas and untangling the resulting mess usually requires cutting the line. I tried this 7 times in Alaska this past April and had a complete mess on my hands.

Other people warn against using Bogas to weight steelhead and salmon, saying that the jaw structures are too fragile to take the weight of a big fish hanging while it's being weighed. This sounds plausible, but I've not tried it. I just know that the Bogas don't work for steelhead handling.

As for proper scales, I used to own a spring scale made by "Chantillon" (sp?). Pricey but accurate and you could get it wet. Weighed up to 50lbs, I believe.