PONDMEISTERS & FISHLOVERS: Announcing the 'Fish Calculator' an informative, helpful, handy, simple to use and great tool for working with numerous species of adult fish.
INTRODUCTION
This useful program was created by Jason Roehrig, a fisheries biologist of OH State Univ. and employed by Inspired By Nature (IBN). Jason occassionally contributes to this forum. IBN's BECKY worked hard and got a few gray hairs trying to get the program up&working on the website. IBN (Don&Jason) and I wrote a series of 5 Holistic pond mgmt. articles for PBoss magazine in 2001 so you can trust us to always treat you right. 'Fish Calculator' program is clean and virus free for downloading. IBN is very reputable pond management company and their server (Dacor) will not let any virus or bugs pass through their system for up or down loading. PS - The Holistic article we wrote about 'Aquamats' is also availabe to read on the IBN website. Aquamats were tested by several gov. fish hatcheries & edu. agencies and proven as tremendous fish attractors and fish habitat in addition to good pond/lake biofilters; now cheaper in 2003 thru IBN.
METHODS
Fish calculator contains length - weight data for 33 freshwater fish species with 37 fish types. Background data for the standard weight determinations are from formulas of the American Fisheries Society and from several fisheries reference books. Fish weights & lengths in 'Fish Calculator' are universal for fish all over North America.
The calculated weight or length will not be real accurate for fingerling or small subadult fish or gigantic, fantasy fish. For example, how much does a 30" bluegill weigh? The formulas/weights are accurate primarily for realistic, catchable fish lenghts. (It is kinda of fun though to see what a 20" or 30" bgill would weigh.)
If you do 'get' or catch a female fish, full of ripe eggs (not accounted for in this program) you can add 10% to 20% extra weight (depending on species) to the calculated weight of the program to make the wt. estimate more accurate for the fish's gravid condition. From the literature I examined, many 'fully egged' females have abt. 10% to 20% more weight due to a fully developed egg mass. Female LM bass (all sizes) just prior to spawn are 10% heavier than normal due to egg mass (Heidinger 1975). When fully gravid: yellow perch = 10%-26% heavier, walleye 10%-31% heavier (Carlander 1997).
DISCUSSION
You will find that this program is really "neat" and helpful if you want to do a better job of do-it-yourself managing of your fish populations.
FISHERMEN can catch a fish from any water body, weigh OR measure it in the field and then RELEASE it. Back at the computer, punch in the weight or length and the other measurement pops up.
You can use 'Fish Calculator' to tell if your fisherman buddy is lying about his "big catch". If he tells you he caught a 9 lb, 22" bass, you can go to the 'Fish Calculator' and punch in 22" bass and see what it really should weigh if it is a normal fish. Even fully egged, a 22" bass is 6 lb 4oz + (10%eggs) 10 oz = 6.87 lbs. A wise old fishing camp operator had a favorite saying, "All fishermen are liars except YOU and ME, and I sometimes wonder about YOU". Now we can "check out" 'the other guys' fish stories.
PONDMEISTERS - You can now compare the robustness or weight condition of your fish to a national standard. Just catch one of your fish, record LENGTH & WEIGHT and go back to the computer and enter the length of the caught fish to see if your fish is UNDER or OVER weight. If your fish are under weight you probably need to start looking for reasons or get some help for why your fish are too skinny.
If your fish are at the standard weight or slightly above std. weight your fish are happy and you can pat yourself on the back for being a good Pondmeister and you are doing things correctly in your fish management or maybe you are just lucky. No one seems to worry about their fish being too fat which is a sign they are getting plenty to eat & growth is optimum.
Your pond fish populations are ALWAYS slowly but constantly changing due to aging, mortality, forage density, reproduction success, survival rates, predation, and changing habitat such as weed & microplant densities which affect food base and refugia/cover. Now with the 'Fish Calculator' you will always have a quick and handy guage to monitor how the fish that are caught, measure up in the weight department. The general health of a fish, as also with humans, is usually determined by its closeness to a normal weight. The 'Fish Calculator' provides you with the normal fish weight or standard weight for numerous fish species.
COST - The only cost for using the fish calculator is - I ask a favor of you. Use it, and AT LEAST once come back to this TOPIC: Fish L/W Calculator, heading: "Evaluating & Adjusting Fish Populations" on Pond Boss forum/board OR go to the IBN website and email them how well it is working for you and if you find it helpful. Later, Jason says he can easily add some other simple fish formulas or calculation features or add more fish species if the users want them.
DOWN LOADING INSTRUCTIONS & INFORMATION
Here are detailed step-by-step instructions for getting "Fish Calculator"
A. Go to Inspired By Nature's website using either
www.ibnature.com or left clk on the colored print.
B. On the left side of IBN Homepage left clk on "Download Our New Fish Weight & Measure Program" gives a screen with simple instructions. 44 KB program
C. At page bottom: Left clk on Fish Weight & Measurement Program
D. At top left corner: Left clk on Fish Calculator - gives a file download window & asks "Open" button or "Save" button. "Open" button will open program without saving it and you can use the Fish Calc. program within the IBN website.
E. Left clk on "Save" button and it gives you a "Save As Window". In "Save As Window" you can save onto: Desktop or another destination you choose. I chose Desktop so I can open the program quickly any time my computer is on.
F. Left clk "Save" button and computer will save files & show saving progress in window & signal when finished.
G. Exit IBN website using X button top right or browse thru the IBN website for other helpful pond mgmt info. they usually have their current newsletter in the webpage.
H. "Fish Calculator" will be on your desktop titled IBN Fish Caluculator.
OPERATION OF FISH CALCULATOR.
Operation is pretty easy and self explanatory.
Click anywhere in the Fish Species box or on the drop down arrow to get the fish species list. Note a few fish are out of alphabetical order.
A. Highlight the desired fish.
B. Choose the known parameter by clicking dot for weight or length.
C. Enter known length or weight, Clk "Calculate" button or hit "enter/return" and program provides the other parameter.
D. Clk reset button for a new entry.
E. Use "Close" button to end program.
Please don't forget to come back and let us know how you like the program, if it is useful and if there any other fish you would like added to the program. Don Schooner, Pres.IBN, Jason IBN, & B.Cody "The Pond Doctor"
