The Importance of Estimating a Sport Fish’s Size and Weight

As we move into a new season, I truly hope everyone catches bigger fish in 2023. And with tongue in cheek, I also hope that some of you received a scale for Christmas.

I have never seen so many fish posted online that people say weighed so much but that looked so small, even with their arms extended way out so that the fish looked bigger. Some of the true experts are calling them out on it too. There are people claiming to have caught a 100-pound wahoo, a swordfish laying on deck and calling it over 500, and way too many 70-pound mahi out there. In reality, those are all rare trophy catches, no matter where you are. I understand when it’s a charter crew trying to get a mount out of it, but when you post that kind of thing on social media, you lose credibility with your peers. You’ve got two LPs, eight expensive rods and reels, and a boat with multiple outboards or a multimillion-dollar sport-fisher in the background of your photo, and you don’t have a scale?

Courtesy of Marlin Magazine