Northwest Fishing Reports

Have you ever noticed that a lot of people post reports of huge fish that sounds rediculous. And what do you know they never have pictures to back it up. Why do they do that.

I think it's the nature of a fisherman to embelish the story a little. But putting a fish on a scale for the first time can be a humbling thing. I think most of your two or three trip per year fisherman have never put there catch on a scale. I know I always thought the fish I caught were alot heavier before I started using a scale. I think that is responsible for some of the reports of 15" five pound fish or as I like to call them basketball trout. The others are embelished or straight fish tale.

A lot of folks don't carry cameras with them while fishing. And, for all I know, you may or may not be referencing some of my reports! My partners and I catch a lot of BIG fish, rainbows and browns in the 20-25" range, when fishing our favorite E. Washington lakes and have reported it. And I've submitted several reports where the action was less than stellar. Report don't always have to follow the good days. And, at the conclusion of these ridiculous trips where we get the bigguns, we often say, "We've got to remember to bring a frigging camera"! And yet, there we are a day or two later, NO CAMERA.

I love the 18" 5lb trout people claim they got when they post...Try 2 lbs guys...

Sam Kafelafish wrote:I love the 18" 5lb trout people claim they got when they post...Try 2 lbs guys...

Maybe power bait is like fast food to fish and what we are seeing is a fish obesity problem. LOL

bigastrout wrote:I think it's the nature of a fisherman to embelish the story a little. But putting a fish on a scale for the first time can be a humbling thing. I think most of your two or three trip per year fisherman have never put there catch on a scale. I know I always thought the fish I caught were alot heavier before I started using a scale. I think that is responsible for some of the reports of 15" five pound fish or as I like to call them basketball trout. The others are embelished or straight fish tale.

I agree with what you said about putting a fish on a scale. Several years back, I purchased my first fish scale. I was very humbled to find out that most 17, 18 inch trout are only 1.5 - 2 pounds, and likewise bass that I thought were 3 pounders were only two pounders. I now always carry a tape measure, digital scale and digital camera in my arsenol so that I can provide accurate reports and weights, as well as proof of what I am claiming to catch. It's almost like the phrase "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, will anyone hear it?" In this case, "If a fisherman catches and relases a six pound rainbow and no one is around, was it a six pounder or six incher?" Haha, something to think about. Tight lines folks

Joe

Yes, I think I may have done that once with my brown trout:^o . It was around 18", and I assumed that they were a bit denser than rainbows, so I estimated 4 pounds.

Ego, my friends, ego!!! a mans fish must must be at least as large as his "ego" ,for if it is not, what else does he/she have to talk about!!! Gotta love it:)

I once caught a fish so large it swallowed the camera...when I released it all that I had was a picture of his tonsils!!! LOL:)

for your picture-takers, but non-scale-carriers, take your wife's/girlfriend's lightest colored nail polish and paint little hashmarks at 1 and/or 1/2 inch intervals on your fishing rod above the grip. lay the fish next to it or hold it next to it so you have some reference later.

somewhere online i saw (here maybe??) some formula for estimating the weight of the fish by multiplying it's length by a number and then dividing by yet another. if i can find it, i'll post it. i remember that unless you have rainman in your boat you may need to whip out the cell phone calculator to punch it up though!

or, if you happen to cross the lower granite dam (snake river, SE washington) stop by the visitor center and pick up some nice 18" army corps of engineers sticker with hash marks on it. i put one on the top of my cooler and one on the handle of my net. maybe the other ACoE sites (locks in seattle?) have the same stickers? they have some message about wearing your life jacket on it.

remember... size matters. =d>

First saw this phenomenum with salmon years ago, wondering why my salmon always weighed less than others. Figured it out over time, guys really do over estimate by about 25%.

Mike Carey wrote:First saw this phenomenum with salmon years ago, wondering why my salmon always weighed less than others. Figured it out over time, guys really do over estimate by about 25%.

NO......... really. Me personally have never stretched the truth about a catch:-" ........... LOL

Ever looked closely at some of the guide pictures from Alaska? I have a friend in Anchorage that owns a fly shop and guide service. When they take a picture, they have the person holding the fish, hold the fish away from their bodies towards the camera. This gives the illusion of a much larger fish. It works. Granted, the fish in Alaska are very large, but they have figured out how to make them look larger in the photo and make the viewer drool. =p~ Not a lie:^o , just exaggerating it a bit.

Marc Martyn wrote:Ever looked closely at some of the guide pictures from Alaska? I have a friend in Anchorage that owns a fly shop and guide service. When they take a picture, they have the person holding the fish, hold the fish away from their bodies towards the camera. This gives the illusion of a much larger fish. It works. Granted, the fish in Alaska are very large, but they have figured out how to make them look larger in the photo and make the viewer drool. =p~ Not a lie:^o , just exaggerating it a bit.

I didnt know that.........and most certainly have NEVER done it

gpc wrote:
I didnt know that.........and most certainly have NEVER done it

A fine example of lying. LOL

TroutCowboy wrote:somewhere online i saw (here maybe??) some formula for estimating the weight of the fish by multiplying it's length by a number and then dividing by yet another.

TroutCowboy -

In regards to the Formula it is as follows (saw this on Bill Dance Outdoors) - I've have never worried to much about the ounces - but in case you're curious the formula for that is there also.

The Formula:
((Girth x Girth) x Length) / 800 = weight in pounds
(girth and length are inches)
Example:
If the fish’s girth is 15 inches and its length is 29 inches, the formula would be used as follows:

15 x 15 x 29, divided by 800 = 8.16 pounds

Then the ".16" or "16/100" is converted to ounces (multiply by 16)
.16 x 16 = 2.56 or 3 ounces

so this fish is 8 pounds 3 ounces


Hope this helps...

Tight Lines

glastron876 wrote:

TroutCowboy wrote:somewhere online i saw (here maybe??) some formula for estimating the weight of the fish by multiplying it's length by a number and then dividing by yet another.

TroutCowboy -

In regards to the Formula it is as follows (saw this on Bill Dance Outdoors) - I've have never worried to much about the ounces - but in case you're curious the formula for that is there also.

The Formula:
((Girth x Girth) x Length) / 800 = weight in pounds
(girth and length are inches)
Example:
If the fish’s girth is 15 inches and its length is 29 inches, the formula would be used as follows:

15 x 15 x 29, divided by 800 = 8.16 pounds

Then the ".16" or "16/100" is converted to ounces (multiply by 16)
.16 x 16 = 2.56 or 3 ounces

so this fish is 8 pounds 3 ounces


Hope this helps...

Tight Lines

I am assuming this formula is for Bass Only. You cant expect it to work for all fish as the psyical charicteristics vary so much between species. Right?

Yeah I couldnt imagine the same formula work for bass and say crappie, they just look too diffrent to get the same results. But the first time I saw this done was on a bill dance show. He explained that this method was used to find the weight of a huge fish. When I saw it done it was they were ocean fishing and the fish was "bass shaped". But WAY too big to put on a scale, unless you had one of those cranes like they have at the shark tourneys

well, since i suck at math and have a lousy poker face (my 5 year-old called my bluff when i tried to pass off a prune as a giant raisin) i best go out and get a scale!

BigAsTrout & GPC's

Good points made, so I double checked myself and did a quick Google on Fish Weight Mathematics.
Check out the following link

http://www.ogmoreriver.com/info/weight.php


Here it is in simple terms. The general formula for all fish is: WEIGHT = (length x girth2) / 800

Where: length & girth are measured in inches, Girth is the distance around the body of the fish at its largest point, and all answers are in pounds.

To measure your fish: A = length and B = girth

This formulas is the generally accepted formula for all fish with a 5% error factor. Below you will see some formulas specific to species. Using these will reduce the error factor for these species. As a general rule, even for marlin and the like, the “trout weight” formula will do just fine.

Forumulas

bass weight = (length x length x girth) / 1,200

pike weight = (length x length x length) / 3,500

trout weight = (length x girth x girth) / 800

For example, you catch a 16 inch trout with an 11 inch girth. Using the formula for trout above: (16 x11 x 11) / 800 = 2.42 pounds. Your trout weighs approximately 2.42 pounds.

bigastrout wrote:

glastron876 wrote:

TroutCowboy wrote:somewhere online i saw (here maybe??) some formula for estimating the weight of the fish by multiplying it's length by a number and then dividing by yet another.

TroutCowboy -

In regards to the Formula it is as follows (saw this on Bill Dance Outdoors) - I've have never worried to much about the ounces - but in case you're curious the formula for that is there also.

The Formula:
((Girth x Girth) x Length) / 800 = weight in pounds
(girth and length are inches)
Example:
If the fish’s girth is 15 inches and its length is 29 inches, the formula would be used as follows:

15 x 15 x 29, divided by 800 = 8.16 pounds

Then the ".16" or "16/100" is converted to ounces (multiply by 16)
.16 x 16 = 2.56 or 3 ounces

so this fish is 8 pounds 3 ounces


Hope this helps...

Tight Lines

I am assuming this formula is for Bass Only. You cant expect it to work for all fish as the psyical charicteristics vary so much between species. Right?

Acutally, it works for most species, because it includes both the girth and length. I said most species, because Northern Pike and Muskie have bigger and denser heads, messing up the formula a bit.