Shaving off the ounces

[Philip]

I guess I am not alone in always trying to trim down the amount and weight of tackle that I lug about with me and am always looking for ways to rationalize it.

Being a more specimen orientated type of angler one of my biggest bug bears is all the ancillary items I carry that really have nothing to do with the actual catching of fish. In particular those associated with the weighing & photographing of them. ..Cameras, Scales, weigh slings and sacks.

Whats annoying is that you are obliged to carry these items with you but hardly ever actually put them to use. Frustrating !

Nowadays I have compacted it down to a set of spring scales (I still don’t have confidence in digitals) my weigh sling is usually a plastic bag or if after bigger fish a lightweight sling. Camera is a small digital with a rotating screen and infra red remote control and an adapter to allow me to screw it into a banksctick. However more and more often I find myself leaving the camera behind & relying on my Smartphone & its selfie/self take facility & a home made bankstick adapter to hold it. I also tend to carry a lightweight sack, just in case a real whopper turns up and I want to retain it.

I am interested in what other people are doing to rationalize these items. Of course the simplest solution of all is not to weigh or photograph fish, but for those that do , what do you do ?

 

[stillwater blue]

I've took a page out of our continental friends book and started measuring predators rather than weigh them.

 

[keora]

I weigh fish in the landing net, I don't take a separate weighing net.

I don't use a camera. I think fish are out of the water too long if photos are taken.

I used to weigh fish with spring scales, now I use a small lightweight electronic scale that cost about £20.

Maver Digital Scales Weighing and Fish Care | BobCo Tackle

It's accurate because I occasionally check tit using a weight with a known value. It doesn't record pounds and ounces, it records pounds as units and decimals. So a 19lb 12oz pike is recorded as 19.75 lbs. I've got used to it.

If you want to cut down on weight, fishing chairs are too heavy, often weighing 3 or 4 kilos. I use a lightweight camping chair, but these are hard to find.

 

[Philip]

I weigh fish in the landing net, I don't take a separate weighing net.

I don't use a camera. I think fish are out of the water too long if photos are taken.

I used to weigh fish with spring scales, now I use a small lightweight electronic scale that cost about £20.

Maver Digital Scales Weighing and Fish Care | BobCo Tackle

It's accurate because I occasionally check tit using a weight with a known value. It doesn't record pounds and ounces, it records pounds as units and decimals. So a 19lb 12oz pike is recorded as 19.75 lbs. I've got used to it.

If you want to cut down on weight, fishing chairs are too heavy, often weighing 3 or 4 kilos. I use a lightweight camping chair, but these are hard to find.

Some good tips there although in my case I can actually photo a fish quicker than I can weigh it...the key being to make sure you have everyting setup prior to removing the fish from the water. The landing net holding them in the interim.

Chair wise totally agree and its a trade off between comfort and weight. I have used all sorts of chairs and stools from proper reclinging fishing chairs that weighed a ton to tiny stools that weigh literally nothing. Then I got myself a JRC Stealth chair & its brilliant..best chair I have ever had. 4 adjustable legs, comfortable (within reason) great build quality and best of all very very lightweight. Well worth a look for anyone on the search for a roving chair.

Also good point about testing the scales agaisnt a known weight. I would also add that if your inclined to do this (I know some people are not that fussed) its important to test at several different weights and not just one as errors on scales can vary throughtout their range.

In the past I got the guy on the deli counter at Tesco to weigh a number of different weights for me on his scales and then used those as the "marker" weights so to speak. He even gave me the little sticky label to stick on them

 

[flightliner]

I'm in pretty much the same situation Philip. I try to keep the weight down but have come to accept many of the "might need bits and pieces".
I used to take a SLR camera but initially found my I fone a relief but think my piks are poor. So, right now I'm considering going back to a DSLR one.
I would be interested to know what camera u use as you describe it as small/light .

 

[mikench]

I'm still at the contemplation of rationalisation stage and may never get there!! My car is a mobile Tackle shop and I guess it will stay that way so I always have everything I could conceivable need not that far away!

Even on my rare roving forays I take a couple of mules!

I use my phone now and leave the camera at home! For specific photo excursions I use a Sony DSC HX 50 no doubt superseded now but brilliant! It's a 20.4 mega pixel camera with a 30 x optical zoom( not digital) and it takes great pics easily! I would recommend it Mick!

In truth it takes up little more space than my phone but as that is sadly now part of my anatomy the camera is left st home!

 

[barbelboi]

A bit loaded up on this day - I took the JRC X-lite with me. There's a bag of 'bits' under the chair though.................

 

[Philip]

I would be interested to know what camera u use as you describe it as small/light .

Flight the camera I use is an old discontinued Pentax Optio 750z. The essential point for me was it having a screen that can be swiveled round to face me and an infra red remote for shutter release. There was not allot of choice and it was the smallest I could find that had both features at the time.

This setup makes self take photos a doddle as I can frame myself and see the photo I am taking. It also works well in the dark. I use a small adapter to screw it into a bank stick. Camera, remote and adapter fit in a waistcoat pocket and weigh in at 10oz. The remote is wrapped in cling film to keep slime and wet out..




That said I am finding myself relying more & more on just my smartphone set in selfie mode and the front facing camera. This also allows me to frame myself and see the photo I am taking. Set it Selfie mode I can take the photo by raising my palm to the camera. It then takes 3 photos in succession after a short delay. I wedge mine into a home made adapter that screws into a bank stick.…



The downside however of smart phones for me is two fold ; first & very annoyingly for us anglers they always make the front facing camera (the one on the screen side on which you can see yourself) lower quality than the back facing camera. The second downside of smartphones is that they are not very good at photos in the dark as the flash is generally too naff for angling purposes.

Final point, I think its easy for people to get hung up on pixal counts. Unless you plan to blow your photos up to poster size then after a certain point it makes little difference to the naked eye in normal sized photos.

 

[flightliner]

Mikence, many thanks about the the Sony. I've googled it and it reads a little cracker, better than my canon sure shot at much the same price. Sadly it appears not to have a remote/infra red facility that I feel is what I need for self takes and poor light conditions but Many thanks for informing me about it.

Philip-- what you have would seem To be what I'm looking for. Pity they arnt made anymore as I would check them out.
Maybe a look on e bay might turn up a decent second hand one or another similar product.

 

[terry m]

Another vote for the JRC Stealth chair. Great compromise between weight and comfort.

I am overdue a review of my kit to shave some weight off. My mantra, especially for roving the rivers is that if I have not used it for the past year then it should b removed.

 

[Philip]

Philip-- what you have would seem To be what I'm looking for. Pity they arnt made anymore as I would check them out.
Maybe a look on e bay might turn up a decent second hand one or another similar product.

At the time I was looking there was not a lot of cameras that had both the infra red remote and the swivel screen , I seem to recall it boiled down to the Pentax or a Canon but the Canon was bigger.

The Pentax has its faults, the user interface is awful and its only 7mega pixals but still does the job well enough for me anyway but I imagine there will be better available now.

On that front one thing to consider, there seems to be quite a few modern cameras with flip screens available…some of these I would imagine will come with a facility to take Selfies…for example the camera will take a que from you to release the shutter..for example it will recognize a gesture or facial expression to take the picture. This would do away with the need for an infra red remote and enable truly hands free operation.

Anyway something to think about.

 

[Notts Michael.]

I'm by no means a specimen hunter, but a gadget I came across and now really love is a quick release landing net adaptor, (mine is a 7 quid Korum one) this makes weighing a fish while it's in the landing net a very quick process, I know my net minus handle and fish weighs 11 oz wet, so can whip the handle off and quickly weigh a fish, then get it back home quickly.

 

[keora]

Does any one know how much the JRC Stealth X Lo chair weighs please?

The JRC site mentions the dimensions but not the weight.

 

[seth49]

JRC(R) Stealth X-Lite Chair | JRC(R)

According to this it’s 3 kg.

 

[peterjg]

Flightliner, instead of a DSLR it might be better to consider a bridge camera. I recently bought a Canon SX510 HS from a CEX shop for £85 secondhand. It is very small, light and takes very good pictures. Image stabilisation is good, has a 30x zoom, Auto and PASM, etc. Spare batteries cheap on EBay.

If you want to spend more I also have an Olympus Stylus 1s which takes superb photos and is unusual in that it has a fixed aperture across the full zoom range. Too good a camera for me to take fishing.

 

[mikench]

My daughter bought me a Korum Aeronium chair made from alloy! It weights 2.4 kg and appears comfortable! It's certainly the lightest chair on the market! It also attaches to my Korum ruck bag! Look it up !

 

[keora]

Thanks for the weigths of the stealth chair and the Korum Aeronium chair, I'll look out for them.

 

[Philip]

Does any one know how much the JRC Stealth X Lo chair weighs please?

The JRC site mentions the dimensions but not the weight.

I just weighed mine...6lb 12oz ...including mud..

 

[browndog]

The secret to cutting down weight is to buy a small rucksack on only carry what you fit in it. I've not weighed a fish for years or taken a picture I just don't feel the need. I can second the JRC chair much better than sitting on an unhooking mat.

 

[john step]

JRC(R) Stealth X-Lite Chair | JRC(R)

According to this it’s 3 kg.

I have one. They are light alright but quite small if you are on the large size.