Weighing in your fish

[blitzhunter]

How many of you weigh in your fish at a tackle shop and what makes you do that. Is it recognition or helping other guys know that the cows are around?

[gjb1969]

well i do it for the pic i take i get weight and how long so people cant say i tell fish stories

[vpass]

I got myself a Boga with a scale. It good for fish to 30 pounds. What I use to do is measure total length, and Girth before. I will still take measurements to see the accuracy of the weight formula. In all my years of fishing I never took a fish to tackle shop to get it weighted.

[rip316]

I' ve never caught a fish worthy of a tackle shop pic. Now that i am learning I may never. Just take a pic and post it up here to show you guys.

[fishinmission78]

Contests or tourneys, yes, bring the bass to the shop.
Otherwise, a boga on the beach is fine for me.

[finchaser]

How many of you weigh in your fish at a tackle shop and what makes you do that. Is it recognition or helping other guys know that the cows are around?

Shop weigh ins IMO are for tackle store hero's and new bee's as it eliminates so called cowsexperienced fisherman know when the big fish are around.

Boga and a camera best way to go just like Vpass and Fishinmission said.

For me I catch enough bass to guesstimate weight within a pound by length

[skinner]

I think it should be a personal choice. If a guy weighs a fish in at a tackle shop week after week, you already know what kind of guy he is. You could call him a tackle shop hero.
Or, here's a thought - maybe he is a friend of the owner and wants to help the guy drum up business. That happens all the time. I don't see anything wrong with it. I would rather give my business to the tackle shop owner who deserves it, the one that provides me with accurate info on what the fishing conditions are. I don't really weigh in fish, or report too many of my catches on the internet.
What about the guy who goes down to the beach with his kid, doesn't have an accurate boga, and wants to bring his kid in there for a pic and maybe a chance to get in the newspaper. I don't see anything wrong with that scenario.

[finchaser]

Kids are different when it's there first bass but week after week it forms bad habits to kill everything. IMO that's how some adults ended up the way they are following in dad's footsteps. C&R is taught not inherited. Killing to eat is different than killing for a picture. Seen too many big fish killed for a picture and then thrown away.

Good shops don't rely on pictures out front to get customers they have a good customer base. People go there based on reliable service,products and reports. One of the shops I fish out of refuses to do pictures because of the bad press it generates with the bass community . I don't report catches on the internet unless I'm asked to so others can pick up tips..

[clamchucker]

Kids are different when it's there first bass but week after week it forms bad habits to kill everything. IMO that's how some adults ended up the way they are following in dad's footsteps. C&R is taught not inherited. Killing to eat is different than killing for a picture. Seen too many big fish killed for a picture and then thrown away.

Like, father, like son. Killing to eat is different than killing for a picture. Good point.

[jigfreak]

Shop weigh ins IMO are for tackle store hero's and new bee's as it eliminates so called cowsexperienced fisherman know when the big fish are around.

Like the guy who has to buy the corvette or the beemer with the spining rims, he has to show the whole world how great he is.

[Simp]

I don't weight my fish in. Not that I am opposed to doing so, but I know what the fish weighs and quite honestly, most shops ren't open when I walk off the beach with a fish.

[SurfPlug]

I don't weigh big stripers vertically as it is the kiss of death. I only thing I do is the length and from that I pretty much know the weight unless I want to get the girth to be more precise.

[finchaser]

I don't weigh big stripers vertically as it is the kiss of death. I only thing I do is the length and from that I pretty much know the weight unless I want to get the girth to be more precise.

What he said^^^^holding a big fish by the lip is NO GOOD
If you must know a quick measure and look at a chart when you get home

[Monty]

Is a Boga type scale good or bad?
I kinda thought that they would be bad for the fish.

[Pebbles]

Weighing in my fish? What fish?

[Simp]

Is a Boga type scale good or bad?
I kinda thought that they would be bad for the fish.

I don't know if anyone really knows, but I'd tend to think it's not as bad as people think for the overall health of the fish. I'd hazard a guess and say that 95% of fishermen, when they catch a fish, hold up 95% of the fish they catch by the lip, and 95% of those fish will swim off no worse for the wear.

Definitely not scientifically backed data but I'd bet it's pretty close to the truth.

[crosseyedbass]

I don't weigh big stripers vertically as it is the kiss of death. I only thing I do is the length and from that I pretty much know the weight unless I want to get the girth to be more precise.

I found this, but who knows what the real truth is. I think the reasonable thing to do is be quick and careful weighing a very large fish vertically.
http://www.nycflyfishing.com/Easy%20...20gamefsih.htm

REDFISH AND STRIPED BASS
Stunz’ recommendations for releasing speckled trout and weakfish also apply to redfish, striped bass or any other inshore sport fish. However, dealing with larger fish like striped bass and red drum provides additional problems. According to North Carolina trophy red drum guide and biologist Capt. George Beckwith, the gonads and ovaries of spawning-size fish may be enlarged and swollen, so it’s very important to support the fish’s weight at all times to avoid internal damage.
Beckwith agrees that taking a large fish out of the water for any reason is difficult to do without some kind of landing net. If you must remove a fish from the water, he highly recommends a rubber- or soft-mesh net. On the other hand, he does not recommend using a BogaGrip-type tool because it requires suspending the fish vertically, which causes internal organ damage in bigger fishes. Beckwith also notes that lip gaffing is both unnecessary and harmful.
Beckwith and Stunz both point out that survival largely depends on hooking location. Because more than 90 percent of gut-hooking occurs when fishing with natural baits, Beckwith and conservation biologist Dr. Peter Rand of North Carolina State University embarked on a multi-year study to determine the best terminal rig for reducing deep-hooking. The study determined that large circle hooks, not small ones, reduced incidence of gut-hooked fish. It also found a significant reduction in deep-hooking among redfish when using short leaders and fixed weights.