the way they weighed the fish at fork bouncing around in the waves the way the wind was blowing the first few days they might as well been guessing the weights.

A buddy and I had 2 identical Rapala Scales. We were having a friendly competition between 4 of us on Amistad one year. We both weighed an extension chord on a wheel that I had in the back of my pickup to compare scales.

When each weighed the chord with our respective scales and my scale was about a 1/4 lb lighter than his.

Then we swapped scales, and again I was now getting 1/4 lb lower readings than he did with his scale.

I can't explain it.

I was getting the same exact weight with 2 different scales, he was getting the same exact weight with 2 different scales, but we would never get the same weight as each other. Made no sense then, makes no sense now. But it would surely make me leery of fishing for serious money with different people weighing different fish on different scales.

There may be examples of it being done with different scales, but it doesn't mean its right.

Anybody honestly believe if all of Palaniuk's and Swindle's fish were measured on the same scale they would have been tied to the ounce after 4 days? I doubt it very seriously.

The above scenario could be explained by variability on how the scale is held by the operator.

If a hand scale is held slightly tilted off the vertical axis (let's say toward the scale operator's eyes), there will be more tension on the chain that connects to the clip/hook giving an incorrect, slightly higher reading.

Sounds like your buddy may have been slightly tilting the scale readout toward his eyes giving him a quarter ounce heavier readout on both scales.

Crazy area 51 sh**!

I’m talking about a table scale in my post above. They should be the same.

Once we get this hashed out - can we work on solving world peace?

I truly believe that the way you hang the fish from the scale can slightly affect the weight it shows. Clamping the fish in the middle of the mouth compared to the corner of the mouth can cause a variance on the scales in my opinion from what I have personally seen.