# Speck weight per length?



## warcat (May 22, 2004)

In what weight range should a 29" trout be? Well, I caught one and here's the story/question... I was in a small local tournament this past Friday, and decided to weigh it in there before going to an official STAR weighin spot. At this tourney, it weighed 6.29 lbs, which was good enough to win there. But, it didn't make 8 lbs, so I didn't think of taking it to STAR.
However, this morning I checked the results of another tourney I was in last year, and saw that my 25" trout last year weighed 6.12 lbs. Now I'm wondering if the scale at this year's tourney was off, and I screwed myself out of at least placing in the STAR? So, does 6.29 sound feasible for 29"?


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## Category6 (Nov 21, 2007)

Can be HIGHLY variable with trout. The length / weights you are asking about are feasible.


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## Sponge (Jun 22, 2004)

*29" weight*

Believe it or not a 29" can weigh anywhere from 6 to almost 9 lbs. Maybe your trout already spawned her eggs? We had a guy bring in a trout down in Baffin for our Los Amigos tourney that was 32 1/4" and weighed only 7.2lbs. She was skinny and had already spawned her eggs. And to top it off she was brought in still alive! There are a few variables that play into how much they will weigh. This time of year most of the large trout have already spawned or about to spawn their eggs. Down in Baffin it seems that mostly all have already done so. I really think that this early heat wave warmed the water up quickly which caused the trout to spawn sooner. It wouldn't suprise me if no trout 9lbs or better are brought in for the STAR in the lower division this year.


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## gater (May 25, 2004)

*Speck weight*

With an average fish, not skinny or super fat a good rule of thumb is a pound an inch over twenty inches. So a 23 inch fish should weigh around 3 lbs and a 28 inch fish should weigh around 8 lbs. As mentioned above, weights can vary especially in the winter when the fish are fat but that normally gets you in the ballpark.

One thing you might do is get you a good quality digital scale and check it against a certified scale. I have used the Xtools for the past few years and they seem to be pretty darn accurate.

Gater


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## Capt.Troy (Aug 29, 2006)

My son caught a 26" trout on friday that weighed 7 lbs. It was the fattest 26" trout I have ever seen.


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## speckledred (Jun 1, 2004)

Standing next to my son he caught a 29 1/2 " trout in the SLP
area wading and we knew it was over
8lb for the Star but by the time we hit Beach Bait the fish
was at 7.14 lb for weigh in. This fish had already spawned.


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## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

_With an average fish, not skinny or super fat a good rule of thumb is a pound an inch over twenty inches. So a 23 inch fish should weigh around 3 lbs and a 28 inch fish should weigh around 8 lbs. As mentioned above, weights can vary especially in the winter when the fish are fat but that normally gets you in the ballpark. _

true statement in my experience

I have caught 29" trout in December that weighed over 10# and 30" trout in July that did not weigh 8#. As a general rule you can guesstimate based on the rule above - I watched a buddy catch a 36" trout once - longest trout I have ever seen, but it was in August and it only weighed 7.5# - it was long and skinny. That was back in the days before digital cameras and we just measured it, weighed it and let her go to get fat.

IMO - The scenario you state is very feasible.


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## Lat22 (Apr 7, 2005)

> It wouldn't suprise me if no trout 9lbs or better are brought in for the STAR in the lower division this year.


A friend of mine caught his 9lb 1oz STAR leader two weekends ago in Baffin. She was 31 3/4 inches. I hope he wins. The only thing better than having a boat is having a best friend who has a boat!


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## JimD (May 25, 2004)

http://www.rodnreel.com/fishcharts/FishCharts.asp

Here is a graph for different fish on length vs wt but you still never know. My best fish this year was 30.5 by tape and 9.25 on boga. Now what did she weigh the day before? She had just spawned the night before and had nothing in her- no eggs or food.

Sad to think what the boga would have read a day or two before. 
Still gave her a kiss for making my day just before I put her back into the water.


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## TRW (Nov 30, 2006)

JimD said:


> http://www.rodnreel.com/fishcharts/FishCharts.asp
> 
> Here is a graph for different fish on length vs wt but you still never know. My best fish this year was 30.5 by tape and 9.25 on boga. Now what did she weigh the day before? She had just spawned the night before and had nothing in her- no eggs or food.
> 
> ...


Just wondering how you can tell she spawned the night before? We caught some in Galveston last week that still had eggs in them.


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## JimD (May 25, 2004)

Mid coast trout- she was not fat and full of eggs or slim and trim like trout are well after they had spawned. 

When you grabbed her aroung the middle it was just skin with nothing to feel -empty stomach and nothing in the egg sack either. Skin just hung limp so you felt like you were grabbing the back bone and a bunch of loose skin.


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## Rhettfish (Nov 5, 2007)

As everyone has said, the weight can vary greatly. I had a 28" last sunday that weighed a shade over 6lbs. But in February I had multiple 28-28.5" fish that weighed between 8-8.5lbs. This time of year a 28" 7lber is heavy. I can totally believe a 29" fish weighing less than 7lbs. right now.


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## juanpescado (Dec 22, 2006)

Caught a 27" in March a couple years ago that was 8 1/4 lbs, could've swore it was 29", measured her and started laughing, man what a fat trout...


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## David Ivanhoe (Jul 3, 2006)

bought a handy pocket calculator per length and approx weight.
back in 1996 on line. 

it was for reds, snook, and trout

it says 29 inch trout = 7.9 lbs on average

same length red = 8.9 lbs, snook 8.8 lbs.

can't seem to find it now on line now

name on it is "Catch and Release calculator
sub title "southeast & Gulf Coast"

copyright 1996 Aaron Adams
hope this helps

shoot me a pm for others lengths, etc

best regards
Dave


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Almost all of the trout I catch on Sabine Lake in the Winter that make 23.5" are over 5 lbs. They look like nerf footballs.


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## topwatrout (Aug 25, 2009)

It's wierd that you mentioned that blk jck, today we had a 23" weigh over 4 lbs. I agree with all these statements above, tons of factors affecting the weight to length ratio


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## Category6 (Nov 21, 2007)

I ran some checks on the (LxGxG)/800 weight estimation formula for trout. My quick search only found 4 records of trout lengths and weights that included girth, but I plugged in the data and solved each one for the constant (standard is 800 but varies a little for each species). I got 830, 818, 890, and 850, which averages to 847 as the constant. About 100 more reliable data sets and I would have confidence in the results, but by this sample the formula for speckled trout =

(Length in inches X Girth in inches X Girth in inches) / 847 = weight in pounds


Girth measured at largest point with tape pulled fairly tight, length is flat tail not squeezed out for max length. This type estimation holds pretty true regardless if spawned, not spawned, just ate, etc if you take the girth properly.


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## Fishaholic (Jan 9, 2005)

This discussion really doesn't need to go into detail. A trout is no different than a person in some aspects. One six foot man can weigh 150 another can weigh 250. It has a lot to do with genetics just like anything else. They don't breed a 6 year old 120 class buck and expect it to produce trophy offspring. The weight of trout vary greatly depending on the time of year and the location. Some places such as Sabine lake for example produces some very fat healthy fish, so it wouldn't be weird to catch a 28 inch fish weighing close to nine pounds. Also fish caught in the summer will never weigh anywhere close to the same as a fish caught in the spring or winter. So your fish could have very easily weighed a little over 6 pounds in my opinion.


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