Does anyone know of an accurate scale that can be purchased to wigh your catch on? I recently found out that my Berkely Digital Scale reads 1.7lbs below the weight a certified scale shows. Is a spring scale or a digital scale better for fish in the five to say forty pound range? Thanks.

I think those Berkley scales could be heartbreakers! I weighed my largest ever bass this year on mine, she went 9.6, I just missed! Then a freind from work weighed a bass last week that was like 8.5 on the Berkley, it went 10.3 on the lake scale, which is very accurate. Oh man- Next big one I'll try to weigh on a better scale, I had no live well so she went right back in. She will remain a 9.6, as that is what she weighed on my scale.

10.3 - 8.5 = 1.8, which is close to the 1.7 underweighing error reported in the original post. Maybe the solution, until we can find a better portable scale, is to add about 1.75 pounds to the Berkeley reading. However, the underweighing error may not be constant throughout the range, so a 40lb. wsb may be underweighed by more than about 1.7 or 1.8 lbs by the Berkeley scale.

Are you using the 50lb or 20lb Berkley scale? And at what weight does it read that far off?

I'm on my second 20lb Berkley scale and both were within an ounce. A few weeks ago me and a friend weighed the same 10 pound bass on his and my Berkley 20lb scale and one weighed 10.0, the other fluttered between 9.9 and 10.0. I'd say that's pretty good!

If you have any doubts about your scales accuracy, get a 1 gallon plastic jug of water and use it to compare.

Nico

Oops, missed the part where you mentioned 40 lbs.

Never mind then :)

Nico

I have also experienced a slight problem with the Berkley 50lb scale weighing less than certified scales. Over the past weekend, a buddy (who is a butcher by trade) and I were catching as many carp as we could out of a quarry we intend stocking with Florida strain Bass later in the year (we are from South Africa). The largest carp we landed weighed 8.0/ 8.01lb on the Berkley, but later went 8.8lb on certified scales at the butcher shop!