True weights
By Paul Cooper
Have you ever caught a carp, weighed it accurately and then a few days later the same fish is caught weighing 2 to 3 lb heavier by another angler. 
Watch some of the angling video’s on the internet web sites and you can witness for yourself, examples of fish being weighed in-correctly.
I have in fact caught a feeding fish at 9.30 am and returned the fish for it to be caught later at around 11.30pm that evening by another angler, weighing in at an extra 3lb. Do you think that is possible? No! It is not. So why do anglers claim these exaggerated weights. Is it ignorance, self esteem, or simply knowingly cheating?
Let’s first of all go into the basics of what is required to land and weigh that trophy carp.
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Adequate sized landing net.
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Large enough unhooking mat
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Large weigh sling
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Good accurate weighing scales
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Firm and sturdy weighing location (If possible).
How to add those few pounds to your trophy carp.
1/.To add at least 1lb 8oz to the weight of your fish, support the scales from the bottom, this will guarantee an over exaggerated weight. All fishing scales are designed to be supported from the hook or handle on top of the scales.
2/. Zero your scales without the weigh sling being soaked in water prior to placing the fish in for the final weighing, or better still zero the scales without the weigh sling. Both these options can add a further 1 to 3 lbs in weight to your final weigh in. You might not think this happens, it does and it will carry on doing so.
Correct procedure for weighing a fish.
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Suspend the scales by the upper most point which should be a handle or metal loop.
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Thoroughly wet the weigh sling.
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Place the wetted weigh sling on the lower hook of the scales and zero the scales.
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Remove the sling from the scales and safely place the fish into the sling.
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Secure the sides of the sling and return the sling back to the hook at the bottom of the scales.
Follow these simple rules prior to weighing each fish, and we should all have a correct picture of what our fish weigh.
Paul Cooper
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Tags: angling, bait, boilies, cheating, esteem, fishing, point, procedure, size, support, tackle, technique, tips, trophy, water, web, Weight
We have all seen and witnessed it. Amazing how many anglers think they can kid others as to the weight of their fish. Unfortunately once you get caught out once you never have any credibility again as regards to the truth about the claimed weights of your fish.
I even remember weighing a 29.15 in front of someone who came out with the comment “You may as well call it 30 - no-one will know”.
My response was a little bit of a frown and a very definate “I do”!
I can happily claim quite a lot of 19.15’s but only ever 2 smack on the dot 20lb.
I have also caught several 29.15 but never one smack on the dot 30lb.
I had a 39.14 which was always a 40 when anyone else caught it but it weighed what it weighed. If I ever catch a fish of bang on 30lb or bang on 40lb then this is definately what they will have weighed yet you know full well someone will come out with the snide “Are you sure it was smack on that weight”?
To me the weight is merely a figure and it can only be the figure it is. I have no idea how many 30’s I have caught and don’t particularly want to know although I could count them up from my diaries. I think this is a problem in many cases where you get someone stating “I’ve had so many 20’s, so many 30’s so many 40’s” and so on. All the anglers seem to do is put themselves under pressure then to increase that amount in the hope of impressing someone when in truth the people they probably would like to impress really don’t give a monkeys!
Happy weighing
I am probably going to be shot dowm in flames here, but I believe that alot of anglers think that they are accurately weighing their fish when they are not. A classic case comes to mind I had caught a common of 28lb something at the Magrove, another angler caught the same fish a couple of days later and claimed that it was well over 30lb. The problem was there was a very strong wind blowing. The effect of the strong wind blowing against the side of the weigh sling was to add pounds to the weight of the fish (for those of you interested in maths the weight of the fish plus the force of the wind gave a resultant force greater than the actual weight of the fish). This always happens in windy conditions, if a true weight is wanted the fish should be weighed in a sheltered position. Or if you want your scales to read more find the windest position possible. I always try and find the most shelter position possible as I want to know the actual weight of the fish.
Nice comment Jim and one I had forgotten to mention. I have often hovered in the bivvy door when weighing a fish trying to get a truer weight. On some waters there is very little cover particularly during the winter so take advantage of anything available. The biggest problem I find is zeroing the scales when it’s windy. It’s like flying a pair of Nora Batty’s knickers in the wind!
Its always been a bone of contention for me weighing fish.Without sounding as though I know it all and new carpers know nothing it is often less experienced anglers that incorrectly weigh fish.I take great pride in correctly weighing fish and always wet the sling then zero the scales even when anglers around you suggest otherwise!! ‘weight the sling after etc etc’.
Its a simple procedure and takes literally seconds.You are only cheating yourself with incorrectly weighed fish. I know of lads who have weighed fish in a wet landing net and called the fish the total weight of the lot!!!!!!!!!!!!….massively inaccurate by a number of pounds. Do yourselves a favour lads and weigh em properly!!
Another way of exagerating the weight of a fish is to jerk the scales upwards and then tilt them back. This will lock the dial at an incorrect weight.
A couple of years ago I was fishing a water in loughborough with my mate who had just bought a set of the Fox digital scales, he caught a fish and wanting to try his new scales out, he duly weighed the fish which if memory serves me correctly weighed around 13lb. I was suprised as I had guessed around 16lb and I am normally pretty accurate. Later in the day and he caught another fish again I thought the fish was bigger than his scales were reading. This time I checked the weight of the fish and found that his scales were a mile out. Not just that but we then proceeded to weigh several items and found that there was no formula to the percentage they were out.
A bit long winded I know but the point I am getting at is how do you know your scales are calibrated? I check mine every couple of months and touch wood they are still as good as the day I purchased them.
Just another little comment. How often do you see in the magazines fish that are clearly nothing like as heavy as the captor claims? As Shaun touched on a little, with regards to impressing people. Add on the deals with bait companies and tackle sponsors and it is easy to see why some people exagerate their results. 20 fish in a 24 hour session topped by a 32lber sounds a lot more impressive than, this 27lber was caught along with 3 doubles during a 6 day stint on the local runs water.
Almost drifted off thread there sorry
Cheers
Jamie
Anyone want to lie about their catches and exaggerate the weights then read the posts above. A wealth of information for the would be cheat.
Must admit to wondering if this post may even encourage more to cheat?
How sad, when we talk about “cheats” in sport but Beijing olympics it aint, come on Carpers, who ya cheating ? The lakes we all love to fish are full of big, weary, clever fish that make you work for the honour of puttin them on your scales.
Does Tiger pinch a shot on every hole he plays or Paula Radcliffe start a race 100 metres ahead of her competitors, NO! lets give these fish and lakes the respect theyve earnt, theyre keeping their side of the deal so lets keep ours and do things properly.
Some really good comments from everyone here. I would like to sing the praises for good digital scales though. In the early 1990’s I spent quite a bit of time after big Nile Perch in Africa with possible 200lb fish on the cards. I needed a set of scales I could carry with me that would be able to weigh really big fish. I found a company at the time called Weigh Mate that had brought out a pocket size set of digital scales that could weight 50kg (120lbs) in 1oz or 10 gram divisions. This set fits into the palm of my hand. They were originally intended for weighing grain. I never worked out what I would do if I caught one bigger than 120lbs (my biggest went 104)!
If you can remember a photo of a small black set of digital scales when Lee Jackon caught Two Tone they are the same ones. Unfortunately they stopped making them not long after because they were too expensive to make and then sell. They were bloody expensive too - £120 back then - but they have been worth their weight in gold. From time to time I have checked them against the weights at Walker’s of Trowell (which have to be checked every year by law) and they have always been bang on the money.
Jamie mentions problems with another set of digital scales. Maybe the earlier cheaper versions were rubbish but I would never consider going back to a mechanical dial set ever again. For a start they don’t bounce around which really annoys me. The reading takes a few seconds to settle and then it stops. There’s a button for kilos or pounds and another for on/off and zero’ing them. As I said, I haven’t tried the modern versions but I really would encourage you to take a look at digital scales again.
Just a final point here about the set I have. I once weighed a 50lb common for a mate. After zero’ing and then rechecking the weigh sling, weighing it again and deducting the sling, it really was bang on 50lb. So much so I laughed out loud! With the digital scales I have I can say for certain it was a 50. I’ll leave you all to debate whether that actually matters or not!
Elie
Opened a bit of a can of worms here haven’t we? I have a set of Fox digital scales and regularly check them and have always found them spot on. They are back lite, have a zero feature etc. The only thing I don’t like about them is that you can’t switch them off. As they have a clock the batteries run down even when they are not in use. I take the batteries out between sessions.
Prior to this I had a set of Nash scales and they gave a different weight every time I tried them. I ended up throwing them in the bin. The point is scales need checking regularly to insure they are working correctly.
I agree with Jamie, it amazes me how many pictures you see in magazines with “Joe Bloggs catches ……..” (Joe Bloggs has a lot to answer for) when the fish is clearly about half the size of the claimed weight. In the old days when scales went around several time there was at least an excuss. There is no excuss now, how do people show their faces at the lake after making such outlandish claims? Claiming the wrong weight doesn’t impress me, infact I find it rather sad that people feel the need to cheat.
Hi Jim
I do also have a set of Eagle Claw digital scales and they are spot on to my Ruebens. I also know a few people who swear by their Fox digitals. Lee probably just had a bad set, which has put me off them for life.
Cheers
Jamie