Fish weights and records - Rob Hughes

With the New Year now well underway, many of us will be setting ourselves targets. ‘Go more often’, ‘win more matches’ or ‘catch a new PB’ will be popular goals, while the more ambitious among us may harbour even loftier aspirations such as ‘win a Drennan Cup weekly award’, ‘qualify for a big-money match’ or even ‘try to catch a British record’! 

On that note it was interesting to see the recent news from the BRFC regarding the records claims from the end of 2020. Five were submitted, three were accepted, and two rejected. Well done to the new record-holders. In freshwater, the crucian carp record of 4lb 10oz was equalled by Craig Smithson and accepted by the committee. The potential record perch of 6lb 4oz was, however, temporarily rejected on a weight issue. A ‘more precise scales test’ was requested by the committee, as they couldn’t agree on an accurate weight.

I rarely weigh fish these days unless they are especially meaningful or particularly big. I’ve no interest if a carp I might catch is 24lb 6oz or 28lb 2oz. I have, however, got a small set of digital pocket scales for my perch and dace fishing, but they don’t weigh ounces properly – they weigh them decimally, so half-a-pound is recorded as 0.5 on the display. Crazy! You’d think that the manufacturers would get that bit right.

One thing’s for sure, before I head out for my next session targeting dace, I’ll have to invest in a slightly more dependable set of scales. Unlike with 20lb-odd carp, I will have every interest in whether that big dace I dream of catching weighs 15oz or 1lb!

The bigger the fish, the less ounces matter – and vice-versa, of course!