The Bubba Fish Scale

[djkimmel]

Finally got fed up with the batteries constantly being dead on my latest fish scale the few times I want to use it. It takes 3 AAA batteries and eats them up. Seems to be dead before the end of a day after I've recharged them the night before even when I hardly use them.

I've gone through a bunch of them, for years now I admit to not spending a lot for various well-known brands though years ago I forked out for a Cul-m-rite that worked great as long as it didn't get wet... get it wet and it would go on the fritz. I finally killed it on a particularly rough day when we were culling a lot.

Why share all this? Because I finally quit messing around with these reasonably priced scales... Frustrating that they rarely work when I need them, and how quickly they die. I've been watching what the pro anglers seem to be using these days with all the weigh and release, and the need for real accuracy, and found out about the Bubba brand.

At first, I couldn't convince myself to justify $150 to $200 just to weigh the occasional fish I bother weighing. Recently though, Bubba came out with a non-'Pro' model, AND I saw it on sale at BPS for $80. That's not much more than other scales I've been looking at (and fearing lots of the negative reviews).

I bought one for me for Christmas!  Merry Christmas! I figured as many pros I've seen using them they must be good. Of course, there's too much ice around here to go fishing, but not enough to go fishing. So I can't use it a lot yet, but I'm really impressed with the heft and the feel of it. Also love that all of the weighing components are metal - no breaking plastic. It even comes with an additional heavy duty metal hook!

Weighing things around the house (up to 60 pounds) it seems to be pretty consistent. It can cull - track up to 8 fish. It also has the rally mode lots of guys like so they can weigh all their fish and get a total weight. I doubt I have the patience to do that much, but for a big fish I want to get a good weight on that people will believe, I think this is the deal for me.

I left 3 AA batteries in it for about a week using it off and on and it only went down around 25%! Big improvement there! It kept the memory the whole time too. I'm actually excited about using it this year. Whenever that finally happens. I did break down and spend another $20 buying the slide in rechargeable lithium battery Bubba is well known for. I've heard I should get days of use out of that even if I weigh a lot.

Thought I'd share this if you're looking, or you've been breaking clips from those other brands (something I've heard is common), and you don't want to spend $200, but maybe you'll spend $100 (about what the non-pro model is going for). So, I have one myself I spent money on, but I will note that I have affiliate links you can use (if you're so kind) for BPS, Cabelas, Walmart, Amazon and ebay if you want to take a look. I might be biased though I could set up affiliate links for a whole bunch of scales, but this new Bubba Fishing Scale is the only one I'd recommend at the moment.

Most of you don't need or want a $150 - $200+ cull scale. If you do, there are a number of good ones out there based on watching the pros. But if you're looking, and want to buy one that appears it will last a while (waterproof and very sturdy) and get the job done, maybe check out the Bubba. If you do, please use my links if you're going to look anyway.

Check out links at www.greatlakesbass.com/shop/ and I have links right now on several of the company pages too in that section. Here's what the new non-pro Bubba looks like below. It's very similar to the Pro model, but does not have the bluetooth sharing app feature. Many of us don't need that. If you get one, let us know. If you have one, post your opinion too. I readily admit I don't have the time with it yet, but it feels like the real deal.

[djkimmel]

Here's a bigger image of the new non-smart version of the Bubba Fish Scale so you can see the screen and buttons a little better. The rings and connectors are solid metal and the clip is metallic as well, not simple plastic. Click on it and you can see it a little better.

[djkimmel]

It appears that the rechargeable battery pack comes with the ~$200 Pro model, but usually does not come with the new regular model, but it's probably worth the $20. I'd put a link up for the one I ordered from Amazon, but it's not available at the moment. If you do buy it, make sure you buy the one for the scales and not the many different batteries they have for their electric knives. They sell lots of those.

[Bigbass201]

It looks like a good Christmas present to me.  I usually go to a grocery store and buy various weights of fruits and compare them with the scale when I get home.  The ones in the grocery store are supposed to be calibrated. 

[djkimmel]

I've weighed a sack of sugar before. I tried weighing the same thing multiple times, and sometimes later in the day. Seems pretty consistent. It definitely feels like it will last a lot longer than previous devices I've gone through.

There's another major scale out there a lot of the pros use, but they are all ~$140-50 and up, mostly closer to $200. That would be okay if I was still fishing tournaments, but not just 'serious' fun fishing.

I was thinking of all the reviews I saw from people talking about plastic clips breaking. Thought it would be helpful to point out a unit that doesn't use that kind of clip. The Bubba might be aluminum maybe. Not sure, but it's not thin plastic.