Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Best portable scales for weighing Bluegill?

It's time to start seeing what my BG weigh and try and keep up with a pond record. Any suggestions on the best, most accurate scale?

I use digital food tray scales - $15 at any big box store, and put a colander on top which cradles the fish nicely. Obviously it's not as convenient as a hanging scale but I'm fishing for BG from a dock typically so the tray scale sits there and mobility isn't an issue for me, I'm just recording LxW stats and measuring WR of my BG.

Corkman, I use a digital scale and basket like TJ, and I've also used a baby scale. Most allow you to zero them out before you weigh a fish, and that makes it easy to negate the weight of the basket that holds the fish.

I keep my fish wet when weighing them also.

I'm not sure why I never thought of that. Thanks Guys!!

At what point in time do you begin weighing and measuring? How many weeks after stocking? What type of trap do you use to get your sample fish? How big of sample size do you keep track of? Do you weigh/measure a % of the stocked fish?

Like my crazy friends above, I use a cheap digital scale. Mine was about $8, tax included, from Harbor Freight. It included a pan that can be zeroed-out.

I've actually got three of them. One in my butchering kitchen, one in my fishing backpack, and one in boat bag.

If you use these cheapie scales, just keep a ready supply of fresh batteries. The Chinese batteries have a way of going dead at the worst of times. The scales I have include a place to store an extra battery.

Ken

I go through an awful lot of AA and AAA batteries. Or, I used to. This year I bit the bullet and changed to Lithiums. They're a game changer.

Key to Lithium batterys is to pay very close attention to the amp hours. If you use lithium batterys with the wrong amp hours you will not be happy with them at all.

Don,

When I buy rechargeable Lithium batteries, I choose the highest amp hours I can find, thinking that will give me the longest run time between charges. Is that wrong?

OK, help me understand the amp hours. I've just bought whatever Walmart carries.

Dave,

my understanding....

For example, a 4 Amp hour battery can provide a continuous 4 amps of current for 1 hour so if your device only draws 1 amp then the battery will last for 4 hours. Only draws 1/2 amp then the battery lasts 8 hours, etc.