Worst case of guessing the weight of a fish

Fishing on Saturday I saw a guy catch a carp that I would have said to be about 7lb - the chap shouted his mate over and said that it was easy an 8lber. I thought I must have miss judged the weight as these were to experience looking anglers. AS I was packing up the other chap caught a carp and his mate netted it for him. As I stood chatting to them they declared the carp to be "easy a double", the fish looked like it might scrape 9lb to me.

After the carp was put back I chatted to the two guys for about another 5 minutes and one of them said how this was a great water to fish, his mate had had a 7lb perch out last summer!!
Well at that point I decided that these 2 guys obviously either used Spiders scales or tended to guess the weights wrong.

What's the worst case of guessing a fish's weight you seen?

Our local fishmonger ;bp;bp;bp

Walking back to the car after a day's piking on a lonely Lincolnshire drain, my mate and I were approached by a guy who, in a rather excited state, asked,''will you photograph a fish for me, it's a twenty''. Arriving at his swim, he produced the pike from a keepnet.
Shocked by the size of the fish, I asked him if he had weighed it, to which he replied, ''yes''. Let's double check the weight with our scales I suggested.
Reluctantly, he agreed. On our scales the fish weighed 14lb 4oz, at which point he became very animated, telling us we were chiseling him, and that our scales were ****.
A few choice words were exchanged between us whilst my mate returned the fish. I'll draw a veil over what followed, suffice to say, that's one of the worst examples.

Happens all the time if you're interested in eel fishing, like me.
There was the time when I spent a few nights (and a fair few quid) fishing a place that I really don't like, on the strength of the bailiffs advice that he'd seen a couple of three pound eels caught..
No eels for me, not a sign.
Months later, said bailiff posted a picture of his mate with an eel that they both "estimated to be at least 4 pound."
The eel in the photograph wouldn't have weighed much more than a pound and a half !
(So how big were those "three pounders" I went chasing, I wonder.. . about 10 oz ?!)

Then there's my local club water.. Everyone who fishes there, pretty much without exception, is convinced they've caught eels of 4, 5.. even 6 to 8 pounds.
Then there's me.. been fishing the place for about 5 years now, fishing for eels nine times out of ten.. never had anything over 4lb.
3lb 13oz being my best so far.

I think the problem is, I'm actually weighing them.. who knows how many 4lb + eels I'd have landed by now if I only guessed, like everyone else.

Visiting another local day ticket place last summer, one of the lake regulars greets me with "You're the eel bloke, aren't you ?" and goes on to tell me about an eel he'd lost the day before..
"I was taking my bird out last night.. didn't want to get my nets and the car stinky so I had to try hand-lining it in.. my line ended up snapping but this eel was huge... about 8 pound, I reckon."
I walked around to the next regular & got talking to him about this lost monster eel
"Oh yeah, some real big'un's in 'ere" he assured me.
"8 pound though ?" I asked, "I mean.. that really takes some doing!" I said.
"There's bigger than that in 'ere, mate." he told me.
"Seriously?!... eels bigger than 8lb ?! what size are we talking ?!" I asked.
"Easily into double figures, mate."

I can forgive kids - seen kids catch carp and say it's a 10lber when in fact it's just a 6lber but regular anglers ought to have a decent idea of fish weight

A lot don't even seem to know the species.
Spend long enough browsing angling related forums and it's a certainty that you'll find..

Specimen Roach - that are actually Ide.

Specimen Crucian Carp - that are usually some kind of hybrid.

"Wild Carp"... that aren't.

Chub - regularly confused with Grass Carp & vice-versa.

The worst I've heard face-to-face, make that the two worst..

1) Talking to a bloke on a canal boat, on the Lancaster canal, he told me about a spot on that canal where he regularly catches "Silver Bream up to 5 pound."

2) Chatting with a fellow angler about the Catfish pond at Borwick Fisheries, about my lack of luck when it comes to catching just one Catfish, no matter what the size..
"Bah, hate the things myself.." He says. "Can't get away from the bloody things.. had about 16 of them last time I was there. Packed up and went home fed up."

Sixteen Catfish in an afternoon session & the bloke packs up early & goes home fed up !????

I never did figure out what those supposed Catfish actually were, the pond also contains Grass Carp, Ghost Carp, Rudd, Perch, a few Koi, Golden Tench and Barbel.
Would assume he's somehow confused Barbel with Catfish but don't think there are enough in there for him to have caught 16 in a few hours... baffled !

amos keato said:

1) Talking to a bloke on a canal boat, on the Lancaster canal, he told me about a spot on that canal where he regularly catches "Silver Bream up to 5 pound."

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many people don't know that Silver Bream are not immature Bronze Bream

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:

regular anglers ought to have a decent idea of fish weight

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Hijacking thread slightly, but recently we had a match and I landed a common, which eventually weighed 9lb 2oz (One for Sam ), chap in the next peg thought it went about 4lb...

But I digress, having fished for the last 25 years, I have NO idea what fish should weigh! Are there hard and fast rules for "guestimates" of weight?

Something along the lines of 1oz per inch? 1lb per foot?

Help?!

Thanks,


Jason

MarkTodd said:

many people don't know that Silver Bream are not immature Bronze Bream

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I understand that.. I've just never seen a Bream of over 4lbs that hasn't darkened in colour, hence finding "Silver Bream up to 5 pound." perplexing!

---------- Post added at 11:13 ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 ----------

pertinaxone said:

Are there hard and fast rules for "guestimates" of weight?

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I've occasionally seen some vague guidelines, stating rough weights and ages of fish based on their length but wouldn't trust anything claiming to be a hard & fast rule because I believe it very much depends on the venue - e.g. a 24" carp from one venue might differ in weight from a 24" carp from another venue, depending on things like diet, body shape, stocking density, time of year (full of spawn or completely empty,for female fish)...
Too many variables.

You've got to weigh a few fish first so you know what a 'double looks like then you might be able to make an educated guesstimate.
If you regularly do'nt weigh fish you could be way out.

pertinaxone said:

But I digress, having fished for the last 25 years, I have NO idea what fish should weigh! Are there hard and fast rules for "guestimates" of weight?

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The easiest way is to think of bags of sugar, 2lb each. How many fit into your fish. It aint perfect but you'd be supprised how close it gets you.

Just remembered another..

A phone-call from a bloke I know through fishing a lot of the same places...

"You know Brian? Yeah, we've fished with him a few times, yeah, listen.. you 'ain't gonna believe this..
He was out fishing the (Lancaster) canal this afternoon, right, using a bit of sweetcorn, you know, threw some in too, like..
Anyway, he's gone and caught a REALLY nice Tench.. guess how big ?"

My voice increasing in pitch with each number, I ask "Four and a half ?.. Six?.. Seven?"

At that point, I stopped and said "Come off it !"

"TWELVE POUNDS!!" He says.

I can't repeat my initial response, but it was followed with lots of things like. "I've been fishing that stretch since I was six, never seen anything like it, never heard about anything like it... I've seen a couple of Carp about that size, are you sure it's a Tench ?"

"Well that's the thing see.." began the zero confidence inspiring response..
"He's shown me a photo he took.. but you know, I can't see too well anymore.
it's a dark picture and I can't really make it out."

I asked what made Brian think it was a Tench..

"Says he had a bit of trouble un-hooking it, like.
Says the lips were all tough and rubbery like, so he reckon's it's a Tench.
Anyway, he's got the photo, so you can check it out when you next see us."

Turned out to be several months until I got the chance to see them, the intrigue was agony.
Brian had printed the photo and set it as a talking point in the centre of his living room, I approached...
The fish in the photograph.... this incredible monster canal Tench I'd waited over half a year to see....


Was a two and a half pound Bream.

Did anyone ever see the video clip of the then R Tees 'national record' 8lb-10oz chub :j

A few years back I was chatting to a chap fishing the Wear who claimed the chub he had in his keep-net was over 7lb. I offered to check with my scales but he refused; it didn't look much more than a good 4 to me. He then went on to say that he hadn't had a chub under 6lb that season. Neither had I, but I hadn't had any at that time

To be serious; there is a very accurate length/girth/weight chart in the CSG book 'Chevin'
It's very good for chub but I don't know how other species would come out.

I'm trying to get the file to post on our web site.

I came across a guy a few years ago fishing a section of the River Lea, where i used to fish.

Doing any good I asked !

Had plenty of Roach he said,

Nothing wrong there as it was known for it's Roach numbers but not size.

Whilst standing there he caught another, there you go another 1lb plus fish, had about 30 of those and 7 or 8 at 2lb plus also.

His 1lb plus Roach were around 8ozs and his 2lber's around the 1lb mark.

I'd have been in my mid teens; although I never caught a fish there until I was nineteen, I'd seen old hands at the Welsh Harp weigh enough roach over the pound mark to know what they looked like.
So this geezer comes along and asks if I have a spring balance, cos he may have just caught a three-pound roach...
This I had to see! My 4lb Little Sampsons leapt to hand like a jangly light-sabre, and off we trotted... out came his keepnet, and there was the biggest roach I'd ever seen, by at least an ounce. I politely suggested that it wasn't quite as large as he hoped. We weighed it very carefully - as I had suspected, a pound and a half.
"Very strange", he said releasing the fish, "it looked a lot bigger than the two pounder I had last week!"

I've always been proud of the diplomatic silence I managed to maintain...

Its always difficult to guestimate weights. When I first start catching Chub in the new season, three pounders look like fours and fours look like five. It takes about 5 or 6 fish befor i get my eye in.

Most chub on my river that are 4lb or over are 20" or longer. Mouth size is also a good indicator. as soon as the lips break surface, you know wether to get excited or not.

The thing is, 6lb chub, 10lb bream, 2lb roach, 3lb+ perch and 20lb+ piken (i'd be frightened of a 30lb'er) just look so rediculously big, you are shaking before you even get the scales out.

Does anyone look at pictures in the press and question the weight? I know photograghs can be deceptive, but I saw several 7lb+ chub and they looked a lot smaller in the photograghs. top tip: keep a seamstress tape measure in the camera bag. It is useful to know how long a fish is.........

There is a weight for length scale for pike. Originally formulated in ''Mona's scale'', but that was over fifty years ago. Today, ''Mona's scale'' has been refined by the likes of, the late Barrie Rickards, Fred Buller, George Sharman and many more.
Most experienced pike anglers however can make a reasonably accurate guestimate to weight, if only as a bit of fun with a companion, prior to the actual weighing. Which begs the question, if the weight is so important, ''don't guess the weight'', invest in some good weigh scales.

piking on a local water years ago when a regular on the water had a fish and was struggling to unhook it so i went along to offer some help, after getting the hooks out he asked how big do you think it is,about 14 or 15 i said,he weighed it on some old rusty scales in the landing net handle still attatched,the scales read just over 20lbs,i told him that his scales and the way it was weighed was not a very accurate method but he insisted it was over 20lbs. some days later i was fishing the same water when a freind came for a chat, he mentioned the 20 i told him it was around 14/15 and how it was weighed,he then told me that the captor was telling other anglers that i had weighed the fish.i dont mind anglers fooling themselves about fish weights but it annoyed me that i had been used to verify the incorrect weight of the fish,i told the captor this when i next spoke to him,we never spoke again.

With pictures its very differcult to judge the size,without a reference ,peoples hands are all different sizes etc and then will always look bigger if it is moved closer to the camera as well .
The worst cas I have heard of over weighing was in a pike comp in the north about 2 months ago ,A day after the competition they found a dead pike with a big lump of lead FORCED down its mouth .

Tipping a bag of caster into the keepnet in a match is naughty; THAT is plain evil, and I hope they can catch and disqualify (with rusty shears) the beggar involved.

It would be good if we abandoned our obsession with weight, and compared our fish on the basis of length, perhaps? Like the rest of the world...
Wouldn't work too well on seventy pounds of dace, of course, but there ought to be a common-sense solution somewhere.