Length V Weight

Inspired by Psions fish. Should we weigh and measure I now do both on all suspected 20s and high doubles and its unreal the difference in weights you get compared to length. My longest fish was 112cm and 23lb 2oz. My heaviest fish was 105cm and 24lb 5oz (both Feb fish) and my smallest 101cm fish was 14lb 2oz. Which should I class as my PB. Food for thought. I have had 29 X 20s but must have had way over 40 100cm fish.

It's up to you, which capture do you think about the most? I think we spend far too much time and effort quantifying our fish when we should be enjoying the sport they give us and the whole experience of pike fishing. Lots of people seem to want to compile lists of numbers "Oh I've x twenties and y thirties" but those numbers are like a boiled down version of piking, our sport reduced to its bare bones and stuck on a spreadsheet.

Tell us about the experience not the weight.

Eric Edwards wrote:It's up to you, which capture do you think about the most? I think we spend far too much time and effort quantifying our fish when we should be enjoying the sport they give us and the whole experience of pike fishing. Lots of people seem to want to compile lists of numbers "Oh I've x twenties and y thirties" but those numbers are like a boiled down version of piking, our sport reduced to its bare bones and stuck on a spreadsheet.

Tell us about the experience not the weight.

Amen

Eric Edwards wrote:It's up to you, which capture do you think about the most? I think we spend far too much time and effort quantifying our fish when we should be enjoying the sport they give us and the whole experience of pike fishing. Lots of people seem to want to compile lists of numbers "Oh I've x twenties and y thirties" but those numbers are like a boiled down version of piking, our sport reduced to its bare bones and stuck on a spreadsheet.

Tell us about the experience not the weight.

well in eric....here here

In all honesty Eric I agree with you, but we had a poll about who would catch the first 20 of the season and you quickly let us know you had 5 already. Not 5 great days!! 5 twentys. so the question was, which do you think is the most precise judgement of a specimen fish, length or weight?

Good point low double !  I have been obsessed , I'm sure loads have . ...... With the chase for 20s .  Admittedly sometimes I question myself because it can send you insane ! It can and has in the past taken over me.  I will have caught into the thousands of pike , with only 4 20s . ( and I hope I am not being patronising to those who haven't been lucky enough to get a 20. , by saying ' only ' . )  but my ratio of 20s is low.
In the same instance though , I can remember the long thin ones , over the years ..... I could be wrong and hopefully someone could correct me but I assumed that the majority of the long thin ones could be male ?
It's weight for me though in the weight/ length debate .  I just love the big girls

P.S. I know that some of them can look long, scraggy and not in good condition , but I have caught these type of fish where I know there's an abundance of prey fish as well , so that can sometimes rule out the lack of food.

Craig, without doubt my best fish have been the ones Ive caught with my son and Daughter while Ive spent quality time with them. Never mind the size. But also while guiding for different nationalities they all think we are mad for glorifying fat spawn filled (sometimes) fish, when they firmly believe that length is far more important. I just wondered what everyone else thought , thats all The entire angling world apart from a few are obsessed with numbers so dont feel bad for it lol. No young lad or beginner has ever asked me how many good days ive had or how many 12s. People are judged rightly or wrongly on 20s, 30s and 40s.

Yes your right there ! I have had several conversations over the years with people from the continent who measure them rather than weight, Our friend Dave in Belgium judges his catches on length, funnily enough I always have the tape measure with me , but never used it as such . I promise to give it a try next time.
On another point , when we had a fish in in October , over 3 days , we had 39 fish , and quite a few of those were very, very lean long pike up to say 14 pound . Now , there was 10 of us there , we had a brilliant time ! . A little bit competitive at times , all in fun , mind you...But .... I reckon it would have been better if one of us .... Especially one of the younger lads , had caught the big fat 26 that I know came out on Tuesday , just gone .

lowdouble wrote:Craig, without doubt my best fish have been the ones Ive caught with my son and Daughter while Ive spent quality time with them.  Never mind the size.  But also while guiding for different nationalities they all think we are mad for glorifying fat spawn filled (sometimes) fish,  when they firmly believe that length is far more important.  I just wondered what everyone else thought , thats all    The entire angling world apart from a few are obsessed with numbers so dont feel bad for it lol.  No young lad or beginner has ever asked me how many good days ive had or how many 12s.  People are judged rightly or wrongly on 20s, 30s and 40s.

like I have said you can only catch whats in front of you ..... unless you target waters where you know there are big fish ...... come on we all love a bigun

I myself have been guilty of chasing the big girls in the past sat there for days on end ....weeks and hundreds of hours and yes the bigger girls came along in the end .

but the trouble with me I get bored fishing the same waters week in week out .... unless its miles long and I can move about and fish a lot of different swims...
these days just happy to be out and if a big un turns up .....yipeeeee

That is absolutely correct Stubbo, fair play to you for doing what I do and loving every Pike that comes along, but your missing the real question. do you think we are right and the rest of Europe are wrong for measuring. I dont know the answer I only asked

Well my pb isn't my heaviest pike, nor is it my longest pike, it's the pike that brings back the fondest memories and it's in my profile pic.

My heaviest pike was probably also my longest pike, though I didn't weigh it and in all honesty, it doesn't enter into my top three.

lowdouble wrote:That is absolutely correct Stubbo,  fair play to you for doing what I do and loving every Pike that comes along,   but your missing the real question.  do you think we are right and the rest of Europe are wrong for measuring.  I dont know the answer    I only asked

think we should stick with our method of weighing like we have always have ...and let the other countries do what they have always done..... measure ...... why change...me thinks
but I know what you mean about spawn bound fish it really is not the true weight of the fish ...but that's just my opinion
some anglers do fish for them at this time when they are at there heaviest ...... rightly or wrongly.....
but if we caught a uk record fish full of spawn would we claim it .........even though it had 5lb plus eggs added or a 3lb tench wedge in its throat........ no comment on that

Whack a Tench in it lol lol lol. Stubbo your a cruel man My favourite fish Eric is the 23lb 5oz fish I let my Son strike into and land on my rod because he had missed 5 on the trot on his own rod And the hug he gave me will stay in my memory far longer than any weight i can remember I will still weigh mostly and occasionally measure as long as theres no harm to the fish

In Ireland they run a fishing competition where each competitor is given a measuring board and a camera. When they catch a fish they put it on the measuring board and take a picture before returning the fish back to the water. This has proved to be a lot less stressful for the pike than weighing. A plus is that it is a lot harder to cheat.

There are quite a few different competitions using that method now Psion, and I think its far better than the barrel. But others think that the measuring is easier to cheat on, as they can leave runs longer and can potentially deep hook fish to make sure they land it. And return them dead. But when the fish are taken to a weigh station they have to swim away strongly to be accepted. a photograph of a recently dead fish looks like a healthy fish!!!!

I don't understand, why should measuring lead to people leaving runs longer?

i think he's on about in competitions where no third party weighs the fish. fanatical competitors could allow the fish to swallow the bait to ensure catching it for a photograph and then release it to die.

Thats absolutely what i meant Rozzo. I might not have worded it correctly but you got it spot on Sad but true I am afraid.

I don't really believe that, at least I don't think it happens any more than it does in normal fishing.

Ask yourself this; would you rather have a few hundred quid or a forty pound pike? Those people fishing Chew have a real chance of the latter and if anyone is going to leave a run it will be them. I think that 99% of pikers won't do it in any circumstance while the other 1% will do it all the time, just because they are nobs!

obviously being a piker i would rather return healthy fish and for that reason i agree with lowdouble that in competitions the fish should be weighed by a third party

With all due respect, It doesnt really matter whether you believe it or not Eric.  Over here it happens,  has been seen happening,  and guys have been disqualified from competitions for doing it.  Boat competitions mostly.  When theres several thousand Euro up for grabs,  you would be surprised what they would do. I am desperately looking for the photo I have of the Pike with a 3lb lead bar pushed down its throat that a competition angler did for €150. Yes they are definitely Nobs Eric, but unfortunately the chance of easy money attracts more of those Nobs than real anglers. Thats why its a different than the Chew situation Not all comps are bad obviously, but all are open to cheating.

lowdouble wrote:Inspired by Psions fish. Should we weigh and measure I now do both on all suspected 20s and high doubles and its unreal the difference in weights you get compared to length. My longest fish was 112cm and 23lb 2oz. My heaviest fish was 105cm and 24lb 5oz (both Feb fish) and my smallest 101cm fish was 14lb 2oz. Which should I class as my PB. Food for thought. I have had 29 X 20s but must have had way over 40 100cm fish.

I'm reading this post with great delight, at last a question to which there are many answers, or should I say views....myself have been lately measuring by length as to weight, as I find this method less stress full to the pike,, after all we all have the best welfare for the pike at heart....that's the main point... The welfare of the fish

Then the next move would be a video of it swimming away. Its hard to come up with a systems that's foolproof

We have competitions here with the length method
Rules are simple if u catch a fish it has to be measured with another angler present and he signs of on your amount of cm,'s
Fish has to swim away
Your alowed 1 rod for bait and 1 for predator
Al be it perch zander or pike
Cms count so you can win with a few good pike or 100 small perch
And because it's mixed competition
You have lure anglers roving round the fort and set live fish/deadbailt anglers
So roving or stationary someone is always nearby and watching

The reason we use length I honestly don't know
But it was ever so bream carp tench and white fish in general are weighed
And predators like eel pike perch zander are all measured
After Al how many non anglers have a clue how big a 10 pound pike is
But give them the length and they know

have a look at this guys,, yeh i know graham is a bit eccentric but at the end he tries out some measurement formulas and also compares some scales. worth a watch to the end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y26wBAo9nc