Are my scales broke?

[xiqual fish]

Greetings,

 

I recently cought several silver bream (i think thats what they where) some where a little bigger than the one in the photo but due to a technical prob thats the only picture that remains. anyway they all weighed in at 4lb. looking in some angling magazines i see people with smaller bream claiming them to be in 6lb plus region. do you think my scales are crap or is it a case of people making false claims?

[Andrew Burgess]

Sorry mate, but I find looking at the picture look like a common bream to me - if you have caught a 4lb Silver bream then you have broken a record fish! The record is standing a 1lb 13oz!

[Mat Hillman]

If you are worried they are out try testing your scales by weighing something with a known weight - bag of sugar etc

 

Mat

[rooney888]

that bream of your looks about 6lb to me.

were i fish every bream you catch is about 4lb. and your looks quite bigger.

Edited December 17, 2006 by rooney888

[Ken L]

You'll find that your scales work better if you don't hold the fish quite so far out from your body.

[BoozleBear]

You'll find that your scales work better if you don't hold the fish quite so far out from your body.

 

Good point - it's also worth adding that holding a fish at arms length means you are far more likely to drop it if it struggles.

[Guest Ferret1959]

You'll find that your scales work better if you don't hold the fish quite so far out from your body.

 

Fish weigh more at arms length.

[ColinW]

Silver bream are a very rare fish. They have very big eyes and reddish fins. The record is less than two pounds! Unless a water is known for them it is fairly safe to assume any bream you catch is a common.

Never believe anything you read in the papers. Even if the angler reports the weight correctly, the papers might add a bit! I know of an eight pound thornback, reported as such by the captor, that had grown to nearly double that when its photo appeared in our local rag.

[Dick Dastardly]

Whoa! cut the guy some slack eh! Yes the fish is a Common "Bronze" Bream but if it was one of those pale ones (I have felt for a long time that bream turning from "silver" coloured skimmers into "bronze" coloured bream is an age thing rather than a size thing) then its easy to see his mistake.Especially if he is used to catching bream of that size that have "bronzed".I wonder how many of us "experienced" anglers could tell the difference easily between a skimmer and a true Silver?.

 

It is however very good advice not to hold fish either at arms length or stood up as losing control could prove disasterous!

 

As for the initial question ,yes undoubtedly some lie as plain and simple as that! However Ive found far more are just honestly mistaken! Ive seen some quite well known anglers "forget" to subtract the weight of the weighing sling! new guy just havnt got the experience to be able to estimate fish acurately.This obviousely makes for some exagerated claims if they dont actualy weigh the fish and harder for them to spot a mistake if they do weigh it. Intentionaly giving a false weight and showing a picture would be very daft as straight away people will see! No most times its a simple mistake caused by lack of experience.

[Andrew Boyd]

Read any fishing paper of mag and you will se pictures of fish that must weigh well under the 'claimed' weight.

 

Up until about a year ago I did not pay much attention, until a friend pointed out a picture of a 9 1/2lb Mullet which, if the angler was lucky, would have gone 6 may be a tad more. Now I look carefully and try not to laugh ( or cry ) at some of the claims. After all, they are only fooling themselves. . . sad.