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How to weigh fish properly.

just to poke my nose in the thread,
in years gone by some carp men used to weigh their fish as soon as they were caught unless they were showing TOO MUCH stress this was done mainly to get the weight while the fish was wet and tired so it remained relatively calm,
wet and little if any weight loss. personally i dont weigh fish and you just wont find a camera in my gear unless we are at an event or get together:)
those few wet ounces count on the scales:cool:
 
Robert Buttress said:
Totally in agreement with you Nigel, Far better to handle the fish whilst in a exhausted subdued state, better for the angler & less chance of fish being damaged......!!!

Remove Hook & check mouth for secondary hooks - Photo - Weigh - Recover fish - Release
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Sorry i cannot agree with your statement. I always rest a photographed fish and apart from the odd flap i have never had a problem. All your doing is harm to the fish imo. When a Barbel has just gave its all plus another 10%, it deserves a considerate rest. I have personally seen what happens and its not a pretty sight to have a dead Barbel or anyother fish in your hands. You should show good handling skills to your peers and young folk around you, the safe considerate way to handle fish.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Sorry i cannot agree with your statement. I always rest a photographed fish and apart from the odd flap i have never had a problem. All your doing is harm to the fish imo. When a Barbel has just gave its all plus another 10%, it deserves a considerate rest. I have personally seen what happens and its not a pretty sight to have a dead Barbel or anyother fish in your hands. You should show good handling skills to your peers and young folk around you, the safe considerate way to handle fish.
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Totally agree with you Jon, always rest the fish first!
 
Dave Taylor said:
Blimey Tim, you're going back in time,...I would have thought you would have been to young to remember all that palaver !;):D
Yes it was the Wey, and it was the lockeepers son whose name excapes me, who was the proud captor...Jason something perhaps ?
He was able to fish in front of the lockeeper's cottage, so had exclusive use of one bank of the wierpool.
My club had/has fishing rights above and below the wier and a couple of days after the fish was caught Jason walked past me and could'nt resist giving me the full sp on his new 'British record,'..to which I did'nt believe a word!
The following weekend I was cynically relating the tale in my local tackle shop and the owner produced a copy of the times or mail with a pic. and asked if this was the fish in question,...I must admit to being surprised at the size of the fish on first impressions,..but it was'nt a 15 .
The press had a field day on that little escapade,...we however had a nightmare with poachers!! Happy days.:rolleyes:
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I am lucky enough to fish with Martin Hooper on a regular basis, he told me about it I think he said the fish was referred to at the time as " the no way Wey fish"
 
Hi Robert,

I'm afraid that while a fish is being weighed and photographed it is in effect suffocating rather than resting.

Matt
 
Robert Buttress said:
The Fish Is Resting whilst having the photo shoot & weighing ceremony - knowing I have safely removed the hook, and checked for secondary hooks.

Ive never lost a Barbel & never will - I have on the other hand witnessed anglers who follow your method of resting fish first, then whilst having photo drop the fish because its tail slapped them "Angler had no unhooking mat under fish either".

Also Jon, larger fish are considerable stronger - therefore more due care and attention is required.;)
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All on the side of safety and consideration for your capture with no selfishness entailed.
 
Jon Frisby said:
All on the side of safety and consideration for your capture with no selfishness entailed.
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I don't think Robert or Nigels method involves selfishness at all Jon, it's just another way of weighing and photographing the fish in the least harmful way possible. We have two different views; one risks the fish getting a little more breathless out of the water, the other risks a fully recovered fish flipping out of the anglers arms and possibly doing considerable internal damage. I would tend to go with Nigel and Roberts methods if there was only a choice between the two but tend to come somewhere in the middle where I allow the barbel a minute or so in the landing net. It hasn't fully recovered to be a problem handling but has had a bit of a breather.

Of course, whichever method you choose is a piece of cake compared to a sizeable eel!
 
Just a point on zeroing your digital scales to cancel the weight of the sling, it seems to me that some scales re-set if the sling is then removed (to put the fish in), the weight then becomes fish + sling again, I tend to weigh fish + sling, then sling alone and deduct.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Sorry i cannot agree with your statement. I always rest a photographed fish and apart from the odd flap i have never had a problem. All your doing is harm to the fish imo. When a Barbel has just gave its all plus another 10%, it deserves a considerate rest. I have personally seen what happens and its not a pretty sight to have a dead Barbel or anyother fish in your hands. You should show good handling skills to your peers and young folk around you, the safe considerate way to handle fish.
Click to expand...

its also not a pretty sight to see an angler wrestling with a fully recovered barbel on the bank physically restraining it in order to subdue it enough for a photo and then having to go through the whole recovery procedure again.

Let's just say I've seen hundreds of big barbel being weighed and photographed and it is that which has resulted in me adopting a different approach to that recommended in the opening post. Each to their own I guess so long as the fish goes back safely.
 
unless your unnacustomed to the size of fish your weighing the in my opinion why weigh em at all?, in defence of nigel if your weigh sling is ready prepared and waiting before you hook fish then how many seconds does it take to weigh it,
and we are talking seconds to a well prepared angler, probably about the same time as hook removal, and as i said unless your really meticulous in your ecords why bother weighing average sized fish
 
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