Competitions & Games Deal Of the Week

Fishing Scales

There can be no doubt that angling is continually developing into an ever more precise sport. The techniques used, such as hair rigs, are growingly complex, and fishing tackle as a whole is subject to continual advancement and technical improvement.  Alongside this the nature of angling too has become more competitive, not just in match fishing tournaments, but in the strife for record breaking fish. For decades common hanging scales have managed the job of weighing fish and putting smiles on angler’s faces around the world. However fiercely competitive attitudes and the fine lines between a record breaking fish and one that falls short by a couple of ounces has led to anglers needing more accuracy in their weight readings. Consequently people are starting to prefer precise numbers from Digital Fishing Scales.

Carp Fishing Scales

When you consider that people are looking to break records on a world, national, local, and personal level it is obvious why Fishing Scales have become such an essential piece of equipment, particularly in the carp fishing world. A reliable pair of carp fishing scales is a must for any serious carp angler. Carp Scales must be able to cope with the sometimes enormous weight of these fish, as well as providing an accurate reading. This means a good pair of carp fishing scales should be able to hold over 25kgs of weight, and as such needs to be made of sturdy material with strong holding handles, the last thing any angler wants is a dropped carp. Luckily there are many quality Carp Fishing Scales on the market that are sturdy enough to handle the role but there are several other factors when purchasing a pair of carp scales or other digital fishing scales that need to be considered.

 

Choosing Digital Fishing Scales

The nature and perhaps stubbornness of many anglers has led them to put their faith in their favourite and trusted angling brands sticking to Daiwa and Fox digital fishing scales for example. At CFR we are huge fans of both Fox and Daiwa fishing products for good reason,  but when it comes down to scales for fishing are these angling companies really the best at providing the most accurate weight readings?  After all there are many trusted, non-fishing companies, which actually specialise in hanging and digital scales and have done so for decades. Surely these companies can provide just as accurate if not more precise measurements of weight? Yet despite many of these scales being just a fifth of the price of other angling brand options such as the Fox Digital Fishing Scales, they are still not the preference.

The most important aspect of weighing fish is definitely fish safety. Usually if a fish is worth keeping out of the water to weigh, it’s going to be a good hefty specimen, hopefully healthy and in good condition. You certainly want to avoid damaging the fish in anyway, which can easily happen to the fish scales and fins if correct procedures are not used in the weighing process.

However many of these safety procedures rely on using the fish holding vessel properly, whether it’s an adaptable unhooking mat, a sack, or a net, and as such don’t relate directly to the actual fishing scales. These procedures and the treatment of the fish in the net or on the unhooking mat would be prevalent anyway regardless of whether the fish was going to be weighed. So other than specialised weighing sacks designed for a specific set of scales (which is not really necessary), there are not many aspects that can be improved to increase fish safety, particularly on a pair of everyday scales that an angler would have and use by themselves.  There are of course some basic but important aspects that a good pair of fishing scales should have:

• As previously mentioned a solid design with sturdy handles is essential for being able to cope with the weight a pair of carp fishing scales might have to hold.  Furthering this, big fish/carp scales need to have an extra secure hook to hold the net, landing mat or sack securely so if the fish jumps or moves the sack will not slip off the hook.
• Accuracy is another key aspect. With such minute size differences and such heavy weights that carp fishing scales have to read, it is important that they are able to provide accurate readings, and that error margins, particularly on digital fishing scales are minimal.
• As with much fishing equipment the more compact and portable the fishing scales are the better. They also want to be easy to use, the extra complications that have been designed into digital scales such as recording weights, are often unnecessary.
• Digital Fishing Scales need to be energy saving. The scales are perhaps not the most visited piece of equipment in the tackle box, the battery life might not always be checked in advance of a fishing trip, and the last thing an angler wants is to catch a monster fish and go to weigh it, only to find out the scales are out of battery. An automatic turn off timer on digital scales is a good feature to avoid unnecessary use of power.
• A backlight for the readings screen on digital fishing scales is also a good feature to help with weighing fish in the dark and in visibly difficult conditions.

All of these features are covered by a large number of non-fishing branded scales, and what’s more is they are often only a fraction of the cost. At CFR we are looking to build a collection of these scales to save you money. Don’t get us wrong, our team love Fox, Daiwa and other fishing brands products; their reels, rods and other tackle is second to none, but when it comes down to Fishing Scales, is it really worth paying that extra money for  a possibly inferior product just to get the brand name?  We say spend the extra money on bait and equipment to catch the fish, not just to see a label when you weigh them.