Weigh Sling

How do you weigh your trophy trout?  In the past, anglers would attach the scale to the lip or gill plate (myself included), hoist the scale along with the fish into the air and collect the weight as the fish thrashed around trying to free himself.  Multiple studies have concluded that this technique is extremely dangerous for large trout. Trout are accustomed to having their body weight supported by the neutral weight of their water environment.  A vertical hold on a large trout will put pressure on all of it’s internal organs and can cause permanent damage to the fish that the angler may never suspect.

The next trend was to weigh the fish in the net and then subtract the weight of the net.  This works great when the size of the fish is matched with the right net size.  I have weighed the majority of my trophy size fish with this technique over the last few years. When fishing for trophy trout I use an extremely large salmon net. Some of the trout I have caught are in the range of 30 to 40 inches.  The problem I was experiencing with this method was trying to get an accurate weight for my oversized net. The handle seemed to always find something to rest on such as my arm, gunnel of the boat, or just spin around until it hit my hip. The other problem I encountered was the shape of the fish which would resemble the letter “U” as the net was pulled tight.  I never liked seeing a trout’s body contorted with its nose and tail touching.

The Weigh Sling is an innovated new product made by Eqo for weighing big trout. The Weigh Sling is designed to hold, hug and cradle large trout while obtaining the weight of the fish.  What I like about the Weigh Sling is the ability to control really large trout by keeping the fish submerged in the water as you put down the rod and get your scale ready to weigh your trophy.  The trout’s belly and sides are supported by the sling as it’s weight is being taken. The Weigh Sling weighs 3 pounds so the math is easy.

Although the Weigh Sling is made with collapsible rod rails, it can be folded into a compact unit that is easily transported and stowed but is a bit awkward to pack around when fishing up and down rivers. I find the Weigh Sling perfect to use while fishing from a boat or in a fixed position along the shore. So there you have it, another way to safely weigh your trophy trout.