Do not buy a scale! 2025

K_Mac reply :

I recently purchased an XTools digital gripping scale. I verified that it was accurate and consistent before weighing any fish. Today I caught a rock solid 4+ that weighed 3-11. My wife caught a beautiful 5+ maybe 5 1/2 that weighed 4-14. I do not like my scale. :

I recommend buying a very cheap scale, and then when this happens you can feel comfortable knowing there is a certain margin of error... ;D

soccplayer07 reply :

hahaha. well said.

did you shoot the pic in your avatar?

Jeff H reply :

LOL....I have an old Norrmark scale that's a bit "light" too, at least 1/4 lb if not more. I also think my ultra precision "tournament board" measures a bit short too.

K_Mac reply :

Quote
hahaha. well said.
did you shoot the pic in your avatar?

My wife took the shot. She has a natural ability to see what works. I can't even take decent fish pictures.

basspimple reply :

ahhh, my scale is the worst thing i have ever bought. makes those 5 pounders 3 pounds for some reason

Goose52 reply :

I think my fancy electronic scale is off by at least 1/2 pound - I put a 2lb rainbow on it the other day and the scale only said 1.47 lbs. Guess I should take it back...

VolFan reply :

You guys need to learn to pull the tail to get an accurate weight. It makes sure the fish is in lne with the scale.

bennybass reply :

i agree with volfan if they are not in line or flopping around you will get a false weight

Dwight Hottle reply :

K_Mac is right. A good scale will humble you.

Paul Roberts reply :

Quote
I recently purchased an XTools digital gripping scale. I verified that it was accurate and consistent before weighing any fish. Today I caught a rock solid 4+ that weighed 3-11. My wife caught a beautiful 5+ maybe 5 1/2 that weighed 4-14. I do not like my scale. :
I recommend buying a very cheap scale, and then when this happens you can feel comfortable knowing there is a certain margin of error... ;D

Welcome to the real world! Sometimes it hurts when our bubble's are burst.

I don't have time to rattle on here...but...I will say that the fishing media can really skew expectations.

If it makes you feel any better, and it should, those are darn nice northern bass. Sure 5 and better bass are caught throughout the north, but they are much more rare than many anglers realize -except to those with calibrated scales.

Congrats on your catches. Those are darn nice bass.

Hammer 4 reply :

Geez, even here in so.cali..a 4lb bass is a nicfe fish ..

BassThumb reply :

The Rapala digital scale is close to accurate, it's only a few oz off. You can calibrate your scale with water if you're curious. You probably cannot adjust it, but it'll give you an idea of where it's at.

A gallon of water weighs 8.35 lbs, a pint 1 lb, and quart 2.1 lbs roughly, etc. It's not hard to pick up a quart or gallon milk jug handle with the scale. Or can hook it under the handle, and it that doesn't fit, loop a ziptie around the handle and use that.

Grey Wolf reply :

There have been many ten pound bass caught without a scale in the boat.

Beastie Bass reply :

Heres a good tip I came up with! Take two 5lb bags of sugar and throw them in a wal-mart bag! Scale should weigh in right over 10 lbs! I've found spring scales to be more accurate I have a 8year old Stren spring scale that still weighs perfect, but the plastic cover got sunscreen on it and the needle is hard to see now. I bought a new one just to shut my buddies up.

timothy_spain reply :

thanks guys. was thinking about getting a digital scale this year too ..

J Francho reply :

A good scale will ruin a great run of trophy fishing!

But seriously, when that scale reads 7-2, you will poop yourself. I speak from experience, LOL.

D4u2s0t reply :

you have now learned why some people are skeptical when someone says "check out this 7 pounder" and it's really 3-4lbs at best... lol. definitely a humbling experience. Show how much we like to over-estimate our catches.

Paul Roberts reply :

It's a pet peeve for me, bc too much misinformation gets passed around. I don't want to be a jerk, but if I can set someone straight, tactfully, I will. Add up the excitement of the moment, media influence, wishful thinking, and ego, and things get outta hand fast.

I think everyone needs to use a CALIBRATED scale, at least long enough to get the real picture.

zerofivenismo reply :

I take my Rapala digi scale on grocery trips to weigh my produce and meats ;D

D4u2s0t reply :

I try not to say too much about it, because I don't like to start problems... but i've been members of a few car forums for years, and we had similar people on there... "well, i have this done, so i'm making this power, which means i can run xx time at the track, which means I can beat xyz car no problem because road and track says it runs xx".

Scales are cheap, pick one up. Definitly a pet peeve of mine as well.

RoLo reply :

You go K_mac

My weight scale has torn the heart from my chest on many occasions, so now I use "accurate" guesstimates.

Hefty Chunk: 6-lbs <> Big Fat Hog: 9lbs <> Incredible Mindblowing Pig: 12lbs

Now how hard is that? (Jesting of course) ;D

Roger

J_Pearson reply :

ah scales..love them. Those 5lbers turn into 3.5s real quick lol..

I've tested the Rapala digital scale with a number of things in a wal-mart bad (gal. of water..bottles of water, bags of m&ms ;D) and it's read consistenly accurate, so I'm happy with that.

Red Bear reply :

i got a spring scale for christmas, ive only used it 3 times, and even if it is a little off, i have a basic idea of what the fish weighs. i like it because it will keep me from grossly overestimating the weight of a fish. weighed a 3lb catfish my brother in law caught back last month, what i thought/estimated was a ten pound catfish i caught last year i bumped down to 5-6 lbs after seeing the 3lber, atleast with the scale i can keep myself honest if nothing else

Paul Roberts reply :

For easy cheap calibration I picked up some a 2 and two 5 lb weights (barbel weights) from a Salvation Army for a few bucks. I can calibrate to 2, 5, 7 and 10lbs with those three pieces.

Fishing Rhino reply :

Ah for the days of the Langley De-Liar.

Paul Roberts reply :

I once weighed a pot-bellied 23" LM on a De-Liar (Zebco version), and it pulled 7lbs. I wonder what it REALLY weighed lol. Probably pretty close -I like to think it was a bit light ;D.

Chaz Hickcox reply :

Stop whining, I caught a bass last year that was 21 inches long with a 6 1/2 inch head that I was sure was at least 5-6lbs. When we weighed the skinny thing she was only 3-14. Just maybe you have been catching bass a lot smaller than you think. How are you going to judge the weight over a, as you said, verified scale?

weekendfisherman reply :

;D I love this post! I was looking at this scale in my Bass Pro Mag. and thinking about ordering it...Maybe I will wait on that. I hate to see my results go down and start catching "smaller" fish! LOL!!!!!

Goose52 reply :

Quote
I once weighed a pot-bellied 23" LM on a De-Liar (Zebco version), and it pulled 7lbs. I wonder what it REALLY weighed lol. Probably pretty close -I like to think it was a bit light ;D.

I've owned this Zebco version for about 45 years now and still wear it on a lanyard when fishing from the bank and have it in the canoe when on the water (mostly for the tape measure feature). I used this to measure and weigh my PB - 26" and 7 3/4 lbs. Everytime the bass wiggled, the scale would "bottom" at 8 pounds. When it was still, the indicator would move up just a tad to 7 3/4. I did pulls from this De-Liar to a Rapala digital and they correlated reasonably well all the way to 8 lbs so I call my PB a 7-12 (although I wish I could call it an 8 )

RoLo reply :

Yep, that's the one I remember best.

Roger

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Do not buy a scale! 2025

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