No longer weighing fish

[Tree123]

Aftermarket to carping after serval year chasing roach and perch. I'm making the choice to mirror over  my choice ro not weight fish anymore for the following reasons: 

For me personally  it take away from the capture you have because it's not the 2lber/20lber  you wanted..

Less gear to take and buy and  gram now to matter when staying mobile.

Anyone else followed suit and stopped weighing fish?

Also can anyone advise if anyone still does a net station like wychwod used to that I use to keep the fish in whilsti get the mat and camera set up.  I know I can Jay put a bank stick in the apreaker block but that does seem very secure.

[salokcinnodrog]

5 minutes ago, Tree123 said:

weighing fish?

Also can anyone advise if anyone still does a net station like wychwod used to that I use to keep the fish in whilsti get the mat and camera set up.  I know I can Jay put a bank stick in the apreaker block but that does seem very secure.

Avid and Jag both do a Net-loc or Lock down Landing net holder as each one calls them.

I don't weigh every fish, pike I frequently estimate, unless it is a decent fish over doubles, and I have probably returned a few of them unweighed, even chub, unless I reckon it's  4lb or more straight back,  roach I take a pound and a half.

Each species has its 'special point', be that 8lb, 10lb etc.

The only species that I currently do weigh every fish, ironically, is carp as we are trying to gauge growth rates of every fish in the syndicate lake.

On other waters I return most unweighed.

[InteraX]

Looking at the Avid and Jag products, I think I would prefer the Wychwood. It looks like Wychwood still do their Netstation. A quick search shows 2 sites with it in stock for £18.  When it first came out, I thought it was a bit of a silly idea, but I now know different.

As for weighing every fish, it really depends on the water involved etc. For a new water, it's useful to get an idea of what's lurking around. For a water that I know tops out at 15lb, I probably wouldn't bother, but for a water that tops out around 25lb, and it looks over 10lb , I might just weigh it. If the water tops out over 40lb, I probably won't bother until I'm over 20lb. It also depends if I've had a break and need to refresh my memory of what's what.

[kevtaylor]

I weigh most fish unless very small, I'm nearly always on a venue where a new PB is possible so scales stay in the rucksack.  As I'm also after a PB perch I carry a lightweight but good Avon scale for that.

The venue owner wants to know how stockies are growing so appreciates being sent pics and weights.

I think some are kind of giving the impression that it's cool to not weigh anything below a possible PB but for me I want to catch a carp at every pound interval between 1 and my pb and I have 2 weights to go so I will continue weighing for the foreseeable.  If I'm luck enough to beat my PB considerably then there will be even more gaps to fill hopefully, I like to have targets of sorts.

[kevtaylor]

1 hour ago, Tree123 said:

Also can anyone advise if anyone still does a net station like wychwod used to that I use to keep the fish in whilsti get the mat and camera set up.  I know I can Jay put a bank stick in the apreaker block but that does seem very secure.

You need 2 long bank sticks - stick them in the 2 net corners - simple as that.  I've got a type of net station but don't use it just get the sticks out, seems like another answer to a problem that doesn't exist tbh

[Tree123]

Yeah. I was thinking about this after  I posted...  bivvy pegs would work too

[kevtaylor]

10 minutes ago, Tree123 said:

Yeah. I was thinking about this after  I posted...  bivvy pegs would work too

Bivvy pegs - not really you need to get the rim of the net a good 1-2 feet above the water or they can easily jump free, net station or sticks it doesn't matter but you don't want your prized capture escaping early.  I've lost a coupe of decent fish and the nets were fairly high.

[kevtaylor]

[bobcross]

I don’t think I have weighed a fish for years now, just unhook and check for damage then release.

[salokcinnodrog]

6 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

As I'm also after a PB perch I carry a lightweight but good Avon scale for that.

Oh Mate, I went fishing with Levi down to the local park lake, didn't even think about any scales. He hooked and landed a massive perch, which I gave him an estimate of 2lbs. When I look back at the pics, I reckon I have done him out of a lot of ounces. Well over 2lbs, the fish of a lifetime. 

 

6 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

I think some are kind of giving the impression that it's cool to not weigh anything below a possible PB but for me I want to catch a carp at every pound interval between 1 and my pb and I have 2 weights to go so I will continue weighing for the foreseeable

 

6 hours ago, InteraX said:

For a water that I know tops out at 15lb, I probably wouldn't bother, but for a water that tops out around 25lb, and it looks over 10lb , I might just weigh it.

I caught a fish out of Bromeswell that made double figures, I was chuffed to bits, yet a week later I had a 10lb carp out of Nazeing and was upset or annoyed. 10lb from Bromeswell is a big fish, yet from Nazeing must have been the smallest in the lake.

I too have a couple of weights to fill in in my list, never had a 27, 29 or 31, although the other weights up to my largest fish are in, and of course I'm fishing a lake that can provide a personal best largest fish.

[kevtaylor]

15 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

Oh Mate, I went fishing with Levi down to the local park lake, didn't even think about any scales. He hooked and landed a massive perch, which I gave him an estimate of 2lbs. When I look back at the pics, I reckon I have done him out of a lot of ounces. Well over 2lbs, the fish of a lifetime. 

I recently did a day session on the river lure fishing for perch - managed to forget my net of all things, I obviously had my biggest Perch by a long way 2-3lb, had my left hand under it when the hook pulled and it slid slowly out of my hand - I nearly dived in after it - gutted! 🤣

[newmarket]

In my experience, what looks like a mid-double can actually only be a scraper .

I always refused to weigh fish that visibly looked smaller than my pb but recent experience, and I mean this year after my sabbatical, has had me thinking about it a lot .

Size and weight aren’t really that important to me but the 2 fine fish I caught first time up on a day ticket were estimated to be mid-double and because I didn’t think they approached the , magic for many , 20 mark I didn’t bother weighing .

I now think at least one of them at least may have been a twenty .

Because since then on my new water Ive over and under estimated many Carp .

I’ve taken to weighing every second or third fish now , when I’m lucky enough to catch that many that is , as some I’ve estimated at 13-14lbers have only actually been 9-10lbers.

My last fish I estimated at about 16 and was in fact nearer 18 & a half .

im getting a better idea of the size shape and general stamp of fish in my syndicate now so I’ll know when I get a big un .

Where it gets difficult I feel is when you fish many venues rather than a regular water.

Edited October 22, 2022 by newmarket

[barry211]

only been targeting carp for around a year after a lifetime of course fishing, never really weighed my catches as was just pleased i caught something and could never stop smiling long enough to get a set of scales that topped more than my mighty 3lb specimen set

i really only fish one local day ticket water as that is all i can find the time for and to be fair the battle and joy of landing one is enough for me, i know i will never be able to hit some of the renowned waters or venues so for me a PB is about if i caught it using one of my own rigs or tried something new and it worked. i did once weigh a catch as needed the weight for something and a lad near me let me use his scales and it came in at a mighty 11lb 7oz so in theory that is my only recorded weight. i think i have caught bigger but then again i am still to excited when i actually land something to notice.

during the hot summer i was releasing direct from the net in the water and not landing anything but do admit i would lift it quickly out to have a look then plonk it back in rest and release, it was just too damn hot to put on a mat no matter how cool i tried to get it so wouldn't have known any weights of those anyway.