Let's Talk Pike Weight...

[Albertafisher]

Okay guys,
I've been having trouble with identification of pike weights. Today I pulled a big pike out of the ice, I thought it was 20lbs, but when we weighed it, it turned out to be 15lbs 12oz. Another time -- this summer -- my friend caught a 8lb pike that we assumed to be 12lbs, but we weighed it and it was 4lbs lighter than we thought. Do other people have this problem? I've seen people on the forum (not singling anyone out) say they caught a pike of a certain weight, which they didn't weigh, and claiming it to be bigger than it is. According to my pictures and research, the corresponding photos on the forum of pike weights don't add up to the actual dimensions of the pike I've caught... I know that some pike are thicker and others are hammerhandles, but that makes it even harder to judge weight.

I'm posting some pictures of accurately weighed pike from the last year. To give you a perspective I'm 6'2" and I'm in the 2nd, 3rd, and last photos. What do you guys think?

8lbs 4oz


15lbs 12oz


8lbs 6oz


6lbs 14oz


3lbs 4oz

[WayneChristie]

I used to overestimate mine as well, until I got a digital scale. now I can guesstimate pretty close. If you think pike are hard to guess, try sturgeon!

[BGSH]

great pics, is it just me or did you have a sever allergy reaction on your face

[FishingFrenzy]

Originally Posted by BGSH

great pics, is it just me or did you have a sever allergy reaction on your face

He didn't want to be racist so he included some black on the white guys...just to be racially accepting.

[BGSH]

Originally Posted by FishingFrenzy

He didn't want to be racist so he included some black on the white guys...just to be racially accepting.

LOL

[fish gunner]

I have seen a difference in pike. that I. call big head : old not very well fed. looks like a snake and small head: really well fed .fat gator of a thing .can be very deciving two pike same length, and one is 10 lbs heavyr im generally close but once and a while out to lunch after u get them to a scale

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by Albertafisher

8lbs 6oz

Initially, this guy looked allot heavier than 8 lbs 6 oz to me until I noticed the fella's arms straight out holding it closer to the camera. A little photography magic?

[Redfrog]

It may be easier if you cleaned the black paint of the face of your scale. I'm surprised you can see anything.

While I have you here can you tell me why you have the faces blacked out?

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

While I have you here can you tell me why you have the faces blacked out?

That information is classified and only available to people on a need to know basis.

[matathonman]

here were my guess's before i realized the weights were there.
#1 7 1/2
#2 17
#3 9
#4 5 1/2
#5 3
Guess I wasn't to far off. generally I have a tendancy to under weigh them by eye. something wrong with your camera...big black dots! Lol

[BeeGuy]

an easy way is to take a quick length girth measurement and use a weight calculator

[burbotman14]

You can tell a lot about a pike from its length and girth. A healthy 20 pound pike would be 40-41 inches long. I bet if you put your 15 pounder on the tape it would be around 38 inches. The girth has a big affect on the weight as well. A vary in girth can increase or decrease a northerns weight greatly from a average sized fish of the same length. The best thing would be to get a quick measurement and see whether the fish looks skinny, normal, or thicker than usual and then you will have a good idea of the weight. Also this will avoid the process of vertically weighing larger pike, and therefore leaving the fish in the best condition possible when released. And as previously stated,you can use a weight calculator at home, and see how it compares to your prediction on the ice. After a few years of practicing this you should be able to to predict a pikes weight accurately.

[scel]

Originally Posted by burbotman14

You can tell a lot about a pike from its length and girth. A healthy 20 pound pike would be 40-41 inches long. I bet if you put your 15 pounder on the tape it would be around 38 inches. The girth has a big affect on the weight as well. A vary in girth can increase or decrease a northerns weight greatly from a average sized fish of the same length. The best thing would be to get a quick measurement and see whether the fish looks skinny, normal, or thicker than usual and then you will have a good idea of the weight. Also this will avoid the process of vertically weighing larger pike, and therefore leaving the fish in the best condition possible when released. And as previously stated,you can use a weight calculator at home, and see how it compares to your prediction on the ice. After a few years of practicing this you should be able to to predict a pikes weight accurately.

Those are astute observations. I agree: girth will affect the weight of a fish more significantly than the length.

For trout and whitefish, the way the fish fights is almost equal for all fish between 12-15 inches, but for every inch 16 and greater, there is a exponential increase in the fish's power. For brown trout, a 22" fish fights more than 10% stronger than a 20" fish. (the exception is a rainbow trout. A 20" bow-river rainbow trout fights like a demon on crack, and while bigger fish fight harder, 20" seems like a biological sweet spot).

[drhook]

Last weekend we iced two pike both around 32 inches. One weighed 9lbs the other 11lbs. Sent the 9 pounder back down the hole and decided to filet the fat girl hoping for some nice thick fillets. The fat girl was only fat because she had a 2 lb whitefish in her.

Not sure if I can post a link to another site here but Google "fish weight calculator" and Outdoors Online has a great calculator.

[Dust1n]

awesome photos AlbertaFisher

[-JR-]

Alot photo as above are taken to make the fish look larger.
We all know the type, close ups , arms held out etc.
For example the other day I seen one (fishingkeek ) - very nice fish !
Looks like the fish is over 15 lbs but his hands that are holdling the fish looks like they come from a guy 8 ft tall and around 400 pds. .
I find fish you can judge easy are 3 -5 -10 and 15 and over.

[Chris84]

Guessing pikes weight when you have just caught them can be tricky. When I guess at a weight, I try forget about the length and the girth and just focus on how heavy they feel. If I'm really concerned about the weight, I forget about what I think it is and just pull out the ol' scale and weigh them. If it's just a guestimate, I just lift them and try to get a feel for how they weigh against something you know the weight of. My 10 month old kid is around 20 lbs, so he makes a pretty good basis of comparison (at least for now).

As far as pictures on the forum, I don't want to call anyone out on the weight of their fish because first of all obviously they proud enough of the catch to post a picture of it, second of all it really doesn't affect me and third it's too hard to tell a weight from a picture. Guessing a weight from a picture is tricky at best.....it's not a dimension. You might be able to accurately guess a length by comparing something in the picture, but the girth is tricky.

Quite honestly, if someone is proud enough to post a picture on the forum with a weight, I don't want to rain on their parade if I think it's BS. Who am I to call them out?

Those are my opinions, just a different perspective I guess.

Chris

[OttCan]

Originally Posted by scel

. (A 20" bow-river rainbow trout fights like a demon on crack).

what's to say the fish isn't on crack from the bow river.....

[Speckle55]

When in open water you have to judge by the length and in North America it is very uniform so a 38 inch is with in a pound or so and so on . there is the fish cal online
also if you are ice fishing and you get to see them then again length but also look at the head and back this will give you a idea the weight. my 32#5oz pike is 47 inches with a 26 1/2 inch girth but the measurement across the back is 5 inches and the head is 4 inches if looking from the top. now as allways when is in the water you are guesstomating and it is no difference when guessing a buck at 200 yards in you bino's so my rule of thumb is to try to be alittle under and then you are not a fibber .. this year we got whites and pike the pike we thought was in the 7 lb range it was 9.2 the Lake White was we thought 2 1/2 it was 2# 12..

Ex North American ice fishing World Record 1985 to 2006.jpg

Food for Thought
David

[Lefty-Canuck]

I caught this one on the fly opening day.....was 44 inches (to the fork in the tail not the tip). Didn't get the weight (no scale) or the girth (wanted to release it quickly) But I would put it between 20-25lbs mark....I was just lucky some guy was there on shore with an iPhone....or I wouldn't have had a pic either.



LC

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

I caught this one on the fly opening day.....was 44 inches (to the fork in the tail not the tip). Didn't get the weight (no scale) or the girth (wanted to release it quickly) But I would put it between 20-25lbs mark....I was just lucky some guy was there on shore with an iPhone....or I wouldn't have had a pic either.



LC

GATOR nice fish on a fly rod what wt rod if you dont mind me asking. and hay we are all fishermen here. I for one add pinch of salt to every post giving an actual weight of fish piscatorl fibbers inc.

[Albertafisher]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Initially, this guy looked allot heavier than 8 lbs 6 oz to me until I noticed the fella's arms straight out holding it closer to the camera. A little photography magic?

Originally Posted by -JR-

Alot photo as above are taken to make the fish look larger.
We all know the type, close ups , arms held out etc.
For example the other day I seen one (fishingkeek ) - very nice fish !
Looks like the fish is over 15 lbs but his hands that are holdling the fish looks like they come from a guy 8 ft tall and around 400 pds. .
I find fish you can judge easy are 3 -5 -10 and 15 and over.

Oh yes, I know what you folks are saying. But personally I like to take a photo of the fish up close (even excluding the fisherman) so I can admire the beauty. Personally taking photos of the fish is not just to brag about the beauty, but also to look back and admire the fish and a close view. I know this all sounds like I'm trying to cover my back, but seriously, I like good quality photos of fish. Its almost an art form.

Originally Posted by Fish Hunter7

awesome photos AlbertaFisher

Thanks man, I appreciate that!

[binnzer32]

Not to crush your dreams, but its a snake. I have seen some 44 inchers that are 18-20 lbs that looks like one of them. I caught a 45 inch with a 26 girth thats a fish that is 25lbs. Was a guide for pike, just saying. They say a 40 inch laker with 20 inch girth is 20lbs, so if you get a pike thats 40 inches doesnt mean its 20lbs needs one hell of a girth for that to happen

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by fish gunner

GATOR nice fish on a fly rod what wt rod if you dont mind me asking. and hay we are all fishermen here. I for one add pinch of salt to every post giving an actual weight of fish piscatorl fibbers inc.

Was on an 8wt St. Croix using a fly I tie on my own....not sure but Icky Fly Works might be selling them to common folk soon

LC

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by binnzer32

Not to crush your dreams, but its a snake. I have seen some 44 inchers that are 18-20 lbs that looks like one of them. I caught a 45 inch with a 26 girth thats a fish that is 25lbs. Was a guide for pike, just saying. They say a 40 inch laker with 20 inch girth is 20lbs, so if you get a pike thats 40 inches doesnt mean its 20lbs needs one hell of a girth for that to happen

If this is in regards to my pic I agree it was not super big around but it was thick....not crushing any dreams. I am a C&R fisherman so length means more to me than weight as it is.

I caught a 35.5 inch walleye with an 16 inch girth out of Pigeon Lake years ago when you could fish the river....no camera and no scale but it was a HOG....that is one fish I wish I had a weight on, and I think she had already spawned.

LC

[Albertafisher]

Originally Posted by binnzer32

Not to crush your dreams, but its a snake. I have seen some 44 inchers that are 18-20 lbs that looks like one of them. I caught a 45 inch with a 26 girth thats a fish that is 25lbs. Was a guide for pike, just saying. They say a 40 inch laker with 20 inch girth is 20lbs, so if you get a pike thats 40 inches doesnt mean its 20lbs needs one hell of a girth for that to happen

I'm sorry, what are you referring to?

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Albertafisher

Okay guys,
I've been having trouble with identification of pike weights. Today I pulled a big pike out of the ice, I thought it was 20lbs, but when we weighed it, it turned out to be 15lbs 12oz. Another time -- this summer -- my friend caught a 8lb pike that we assumed to be 12lbs, but we weighed it and it was 4lbs lighter than we thought. Do other people have this problem? I've seen people on the forum (not singling anyone out) say they caught a pike of a certain weight, which they didn't weigh, and claiming it to be bigger than it is. According to my pictures and research, the corresponding photos on the forum of pike weights don't add up to the actual dimensions of the pike I've caught... I know that some pike are thicker and others are hammerhandles, but that makes it even harder to judge weight.

I'm posting some pictures of accurately weighed pike from the last year. To give you a perspective I'm 6'2" and I'm in the 2nd, 3rd, and last photos. What do you guys think?

8lbs 4oz


15lbs 12oz


8lbs 6oz


6lbs 14oz


3lbs 4oz

All of those look pretty accurate to me. I use a digital scale everytime I have a "scale worthy" fish and I've gotten pretty good at guessing the weights even before they hit the scale - just like guessing lakes and areas (I'm guessing most of your pics are from "the sandbar" on Baptiste).

Here's a 22.6 as a reference.

[Albertafisher]

Originally Posted by Rob

All of those look pretty accurate to me. I use a digital scale everytime I have a "scale worthy" fish and I've gotten pretty good at guessing the weights even before they hit the scale - just like guessing lakes and areas (I'm guessing most of your pics are from "the sandbar" on Baptiste).

Here's a 22.6 as a reference.

Close that was actually at the "3rd finger" of the lake.
By the way, that is a crazy pike! Congratz! I guess its a matter of time before I get good as guessing weights.

[mooseknuckle]

That 8-6 I would have guessed closer to 11-12 it's funny sometimes.

[fishinggeek]

Anything over 40inch for me is usually the only ones ill take pics off. Wont bother weighing them until you hit the 45inch mark. just dont like weighing them and stressing them out until its a potential trophy. just my 2 cents.