SHBA Tournament

[makosnax]

Fished Saturday and Sunday with great weather and great fishing. With numerous limits we switched to catch and release looking for that one big fish. The best we could muster was a 26" 6.6# fish which had us in sixth after day 1. Here's where it gets interesting! I pre weighed my fish so I new it was between 6-7# as most 26" fish are, no problem. The scale was zeroed with the blue tray in place and then fished weighed properly. A minute or two later another fish comes in to be weighed and the scale is zeroed without the blue tray and then the tray AND fish are weighed, 25" 8.2#??? I bring it to the guy working scale's attention that he did not zero it with the tray in place and he stared at me like I had two heads. He then removes the fish from the tray and the scale reads 2.6# for the tray. After properly weighing the fish it was 5.6#. If I didn't witness this and say something it was going to be posted as a 25" 8.2# fish. Then I'm thinking to myself, how many times was this done incorrectly with two different people working the scale? As I'm looking at the posted results I see third place is a 26.5" fish that weighs 9# ???? That sounds about 2.6# more than it should unless the fish was 6" thick.
Some of you may see this post as sour grapes, which it is not. I had a great weekend fishing with friends and supported a great organization at the same time but with all the time, money , and energy devoted to contest that comes down to ounces, is it too much to ask for to get a little consistency at the scale.

[bluesboy29]

That's messed up I would be upset also, they should always have consistency when it comes to that part of a tournament

[SPEARFISH]

Bogus.

At least you had some meat.

[RussH]

Are they not using certified calibrated scales? My workshop has to certify our scale, and all other testing equipment for that matter, at a company in Hackensack every single year or Underwriter's Laboratories will fine us.

[makosnax]

The scale wasn't the problem, it was being zeroed sometimes with the tray and sometimes without, adding the weight of the tray to the fish(2.6#)

[SaltLife1980]

Yeah something is fishy there. Id be pissed too

[captmark]

Thats one of the reasons I do not like to fish Tournaments they change and twist the rules as the day progresses, seen at to many here in Point Pleasant

[stevelikes2fish]

As I'm looking at the posted results I see third place is a 26.5" fish that weighs 9# ???? That sounds about 2.6# more than it should unless the fish was 6" thick..

You would think most would of realized a 26-1/2" fluke is generally in the 6-1/2 pound bracket, plus or minus 1/2 pound or so depending on time of year and food source........