Story by Shannon Drawe, for Lone Star Outdoor News
For record chasers, especially those chasing specific water body records in Texas, a “certified scale” can be a hard thing to find when you finally land that fish you’ve been after.
However, a certified scale for weighing your fish may be in the tackle you already have. It’s just a matter of certifying the scale to standards set by the State of Texas.
Enter Alternate Systems, of Dallas. The company certifies fishing scales for anglers and provides the ISO certification and documentation that transforms your fish scale into a certified scale to use for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s record and recognition programs.
“We don’t do a lot of certifications of fish scales, but we do probably one a month right now,” owner Peter Wright said. “We’ve had all kinds of fish weighing scales come in.”
Most of the equipment Alternate Systems sees are digital scales.
“Digital scales are more accurate than mechanical scales, but they’re also more vulnerable because of their vulnerability to water,” Wright said. “They go in once, and they’re done.”
The company has three levels of certification for scales, and for those anglers seeking a higher degree of accuracy, they choose a higher standard of calibration. Alternate Systems does not alter or manipulate the scale to increase the accuracy.
Basically, calibration means they measure the weight the scale shows to the scientific weights they use and document the accuracy at different pound increments. The higher the level of certification, the more weight data points are taken along the range of the scale. At the highest level, the deviations are documented at each weight point measured along the scale as well as a description of the degree of uncertainty and reason for that uncertainty in the measurement.
The Dallas company came to the rescue for young fisherman Nathan Tang when his father, Engels, got a call from their guide on Lewisville Lake, Wes Campbell. Campbell had been checking the junior angler records for Lewisville after a trip in May 2020.
He said he had been checking the lake records for junior angler hybrid bass, and Nathan’s 10.6-pound fish smashed the old record of 8.09-pounds by two pounds,” Engels said.
They had weighed and measured the fish at the time, and with the encouragement of Campbell, they completed all the paperwork and, after a search, found Alternate Systems to certify the scale. Once the scale was certified as accurate, they submitted the record to the TPWD Angler Recognition Program.
“Nathan was extremely excited about the potential record, but because of the pandemic, it took nearly 11 months to see the record updated on the site,” Engels said, and Nathan received his certificate from TPWD right after that.
According to TPWD’s Natalie Goldstrohm, “Personal scales can be certified scales,” adding, “certified scales. electronic or spring type, have to be certified by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), or a licensed scales calibration company. Certified hand-scales may be used for verifying the weight of your catch if the weighing is observed by an independent witness.”
TPWD does not require a photograph of the scale with the application for a record, but the ShareLunker program does require a photo of the fish on the scale.
Goldstrohm said a personal certified scale can reduce the holding time of a fish that will be measured and released, a positive factor when dealing with fish mortality.
“However, holding time is just one of many factors that could be considered when trying to reduce fishing mortality,” she said.
