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I don't want to be overestimating the weight of the fish we catch and we don't have a decent scale so I was wondering how long would a 1#, a 1.5# , a 2# and a 2.5# fish be. I know that the weight would depend on lots of things, such as time of year caught, etc but on an average what would your guess's be? I have been told that a 16" fish would average about 2#.
Thanks for your input.
Charlie
Personally and just my opinion I don't think you can go by the length to tell the weight. Because I see fish(crappie) all the time that just don't have the so called shoulders(thickness) that others have. I don't have a good set of scales myself and I just show pictures of the length of the crappie by putting a ruler in front them. I think that some postal scales would weigh them pretty close to right better than most of the fish scales that I have owned.
You can go by the guesstimater calculators, but even their weights can differ widely. And that's not even taking into account the difference in the body structure of a White Crappie vs a Black Crappie.
Take a 16" fish & use a calculator site ... and you get 3.41lbs :yikes ( :Rofl uhhh, not hardly !!)
Take the girth x girth x length/800 formula ... and your 16" fish weighs 1.81lbs or 1lb 13oz (much more likely !!)
So, just measuring the length of the fish isn't going to cut it ... but, measure the girth along with the length & use the formula GxGxL/800 and you'll get a pretty close weight.
Now, let's take your guesstimate of a 16" fish being an average of 2lbs ... and assume the girth of the fish is 10"
10x10=100 100x16=1600 1600/800=2lbs :HandsClapping
Now ... let's say those measurements were from a Black Crappie, and a White Crappie of the same length doesn't have quite the same girth. Let's say the White Crappie only has a girth of 9.5" ... so:
9.5x9.5=90.25 90.25x16=1444 1444/800=1.8lbs (which was the "girth" I used in the original formula statement)
So .... if 3oz is the only difference between the two fish of the same length, and you're not guesstimating your tournament weight, then a 16" fish averaging 2lbs is a reasonable standard. IMHO, only ... of course. :biggrin
... cp :kewl
a formula for estimating fish weight. would never have guessed it.
A decent set of digital scales is not very expensive, why not just buy a set and quit guessing?
As a taxidermist, it's amusing how many "8 pound bass" I mount that weigh 5-6 pounds. I mount a few crappie that are the same way. To me, it is just like a whitetail deer. To have a buck that field dresses over 200 pounds, it must be much longer than a typical buck I see. Same for fish. I just go along with whatever weight the customer tells me. If they want them weighed, I'll weight them but most want to go with THEIR weight. Now when they start telling me their bass could have swallowed a basketball and the mouth on their mounted bass is much smaller than they remembered, I will take issue with that.
There's so many variables with fish weight, it's pretty near impossible to guesstimate a crappies weight. Time of year being the number one. A 15 inch crappie with eggs in April will weigh much more than in July. A black crappie the same length will weigh more than a white crappie will but the white crappie grow quite longer than the black do. A shorter black CAN weigh more than a longer white. Best advice is to get a digital scale and a good ruler too. Some guys guesstimate length of their fish too.
I release a lot of larger crappie that I never weigh . I have measured a few ...length and girth and been called names for the estimates .
one fish in particular is my avatar ....she had a girth larger than her length (spring fish)and was estimated from 3.8 to 4.4 .....
now mind ya at the time I thought she was over 3 for sure and to this day I still wonder ....but for sure this ....
like the fish in my signature ,,,,,,I will never know what she weighed either .....just put it back in the water I did ...LOL
I seen a ton of fish that were well under 2 being called over 2 and so on and so forth ....
so if you really want to know what one weighs I would buy a 20 dollar digital fish scale .
it will surprise you to see how little a big crappie weighs for sure
last fish I weighed was back in the early fall and both of us thought easily 2 and she came in at just over 1.5
and my mate on that trip regularly fishes crappie tournaments ....they are very deceptive on a .....
guesstimate for sure :ThumbsUp
Attachment 222631
like this
The chart is very close to the fish I catch here in South Carolina in the spring/late fall, just know in the post spawn/summer they will weigh lessQuote:
Originally Posted by theygotaeat
this seems to line up well with what we have found so far with the fish that we have measured and weighed this year in NC.Quote:
Originally Posted by theygotaeat
This weight formula got me interested and a quick google search provided this
How to Measure Fish
The formula in question is explained as well as a couple of others, along with the proper way to measure the fish for use in the formula.
Thanks for the information
15" fish here is 2 pounds any time of the year, 17 is pushing 3 in the summer and we'll over 3 in the spring. Its all relative to your location, Grenada fish are just heavier much like Arkabutla and Washington. Sardis is good but not in their class. Enid fish seem to be a little skinny compared to the other of the Big Four. Caught a 16.5 inch fish at Okatibbee couple of summers ago that weighed 1.75, the same length fish on Grenada would have been 2.5 easy and probably more.
Get a good set of scales and then compare them to someone's tourney scales and take the guess work out.
I'm with you on length / weight . I see fish on some lakes here in Arkansas 15'' is well over 2 lb mark in spring and some lakes in summer 16'' can be well under .Quote:
Originally Posted by Rees Guide
Thanks to everybody for their input.
Merry Christmas
Charlie
I always have digital scales with me ....but don't often weigh fish of any kind anymore...cause I just don't care much. From the ones I have checked over the years the chart above is very close. I weighed a couple over the last year ... one was 16.5" and weighed 2lb 11 oz. and had eggs. One that was 16" and weighed 2lb 6oz and had eggs. Have not caught a 17" plus in a while to check. You have the odd fish that is under or over the weight for length here and there....but all in all the length is pretty consistent for weight for all species. Oh yeah I weighed a white bass that was 18" or there abouts forgot exactly but it weighed 3lbs 14oz.It was a big female with eggs and out of the Mississippi and the white bass there are hefty for length. You check em I think you will find a pretty close correlation to length of course with the odd one now and then,and a little adjustment for the body of water your fishing.