Tape Measure Retractor
Just the right amount of tape to measure a 20-pound steelhead. A handy, convenient way to measure many different kinds of fish of all sizes.
Measuring a steelhead/salmon to calculate weight is an inexact science, but you can come pretty close. Here are some of the accepted guidelines:
A 24" fish will weigh approximately 4-pounds (well kind of). Then for each additional inch in length add a pound. Girth of each fish will greatly influence the actual weight, and as you can see from the chart below, the average 24-inch steelhead might weigh more like 5-pounds. But, by the chart below an average 30-inch steelhead weighs pretty close to ten pounds.
|25" = 5-pounds
||30" = 10-pounds
|26" = 6-pounds
||31" = 11-pounds
|27" = 7-pounds
||32" = 12-pounds
|28" = 8-pounds
||33" = 13-pounds
|29" = 9-pounds
||34" = 14-pounds
The inch per pound rule seems to hold fairly true up to the 34" fish weighing 14-pounds, if the fish are pre-spawn. Steelhead lose weight fairly quickly after they enter fresh water. This same fish might weigh as little as 12-pounds after being away from the saltwater feeding grounds for a month. It will weigh even less after spawning. We have seen estimates that the average female steelhead might lose over 40% of her body weight while spawning, which would leave our 14-pound steelhead at a mere 8.4-pounds. In our local rivers the average hatchery steelhead is slimmer than the average wild steelhead of the same length, so probably weighs somewhat less.
The chart below compiled by Tom Keelin is the most modern methodology based on actual research of measuring and weighing steelhead. In total 97 fish ranging from 3 to 33 lbs were measured and weighed to compile this study. If you want to know more about this and other interesting projects, click here: Fly Fishing Research
Below a hatchery steelhead is being measured and harvested. Please don't take fish that you are going to release out of the water, and never drag a wild steelhead up onto the beach. Trout, steelhead and salmon are fragile and can not live out of the water for more than a very few minutes. Take your pictures of wild game fish in a hurry and get them back into the water.
The steelhead below was measured with the rod and later the rod was measured. Our measurement came out to 39.5-inches (probably fairly accurate). But, there was no girth measurement, because we didn't have a tape. The chart above discloses that this fish might have weighed anywhere from 18 to 24-pounds. We judged it at 20-pounds. If I would have had a Tape Measure Retractor, we would have known for sure. This fish was pre-spawn, but fairly colored and was probably a repeat spawner that had not lost all of his coloration from the previous year.