Estimating Perch Weight by Length

[oneftonshore]

've been having a pretty hard time of it piking recently so you'll have to excuse my excitement.

 

After a very long hard and blank 6 hours chucking everything but the kitchen sink at the river last night I decided to have a go at one last spot by weir near a bridge.

Bouncing a 3inch Storm roach along the bottom very slowly resulted in a few nips on the lure but no hookups. I added a 2/0 stinger and hooked into what felt like a log, I nearly lost my breakfast when a few minutes later I saw it was a perch. After an interesting moment on my stomach in a patch of nettles leaning into the the river and nearly falling in I somehow managed to land it.

 

I didn't have scales, camera, landing net or tape measure so I made a mark on my rod of its length - just under 17 inches long and very tubby, almost 2/3rds deep as it was long.

 

Anyone have any ideas how much this could have weighed? I have never caught one anything close to this size would be interested to know if there is some sort of approximation of weight possible?

 

I will be taking scales in future!

[Andy_1984]

probably rough guess would be between 2 and 3lb

 

perch are very hard to estimate the weight in them, take this for instance

 

heres a 2lb 9oz perch i caught

 

heres another at 2lb 11oz

 

without seeing the weight of those fish what would you think would weigh more, you can also see there is only 2oz between them and they certianly dont look like its only 2oz. looks alot more than that

[DavyR]

I will be taking scales in future!

 

And a landing net?

[Anderoo]

Congratulations! After looking at some old photos, I'd guess it was a decent 3lber. It's impossible to be any more accurate, but if I was scaleless and caught a perch that size, I'd settle on 3lb. However, it could have weighed more...

[Guest Shots for fun]

Inches .....lb ozs

9 ..... 0 12

10 .....0 13 ¼

11 .....0 14 ¾

12 .....1 0

13 .....1 4 ½

14 .....1 9 ¾

15 .....1 14 ½

16 .....2 5 ½

17 .....2 13 ¼

18 .....3 5 ½

19 .....3 15 ¼

20 .....4 9 ½

21 .....5 5 ¼

 

This is quite a good chart to calculate Perch weight from.Sorry its so close together, starts with 9inches for 12 ozs etc.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Shots for fun

[lutra]

About 2.5lb for me, give or take a bit.

[Vagabond]

Inches... lb ozs

 

18 ..........3 5 ½

19 ..........3 15 ¼

This is quite a good chart to calculate Perch weight from.Sorry its so close together, starts with 9inches for 12 ozs etc.

 

A few dots (as shown) will spread the values

 

(and yes I'm sure there are cleverer ways to do it - as someone will point out)

 

My most recent large perch were respectively, 18" and 19" in length The first was a shade over 3 lb, and the second only two ounces heavier.

 

The point I'm making is that girth comes into it, especially with bigger fish. Perch change shape as they get bigger - they develop massive "shoulders" as we have discussed on here before. (Could some helpful soul find the link please)

[Steve Burke]

The point I'm making is that girth comes into it, especially with bigger fish. Perch change shape as they get bigger - they develop massive "shoulders" as we have discussed on here before. (Could some helpful soul find the link please)

Despite doing a search I can't find the thread, although I do recall it.

 

Of course it's always difficult to estimate the weight of a fish from its length. Even a quarter of an in inch can make a big difference.

 

So many other factors also come into play. For instance how was the length measured? Was it to the fork of the tail or the tip? Was the tape laid along the ground or along the lateral line of the fish? If the latter, then the girth of the fish would have partly been taken into account as well.

 

The girth of the fish obviously makes a big difference. This will vary form water to water, and between individual fish. It'll also depend on whether the fish contains spawn or not.

 

In particular with perch it'll also vary tremendously with how much it has in it's stomach. A 3lb perch can certainly eat a single prey fish of 6oz.

 

Bearing in mind that this fish was described as very tubby, I'd suggest a rough estimate of knocking 3lbs. However it if were me I wouldn't claim it as a 3lber. But I would want to fish the venue again asap!

 

Either way though it's a cracking fish. Many congratulations!