My northern pike weight? Scale read lower than we expected?

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Two possibilities: First, the scale might not be accurate. (If you read the scale as "around 15-16 lb" then it may not be that accurate.) Check it against other scales, and if a 15 pound weight on the first scale registers as 18 pounds on the others, then you probably did get an 18 pound fish.

Second, "Everything you researched" might be a bunch of exaggerations. A lot of fishermen think nothing of adding a pound (or three or more) onto the weight of fish they caught. This is the origin of the term "fish stories". I've seen dozens of nice fish "shrink" from their estimated weight as soon as they're hung on scales.

The one thing that's sure is you caught a 41 inch pike.

ADD: The fish weight formula (length times girth squared, divided by 800, which works well for some fish) gives 12.7 pounds. If you use Dan's formula for pike (dividing by 900) you get 11.3 pounds.

So I checked online and there are several different formulas. One given for pike is length cubed divided by 3500, which would give 19.7 pounds -- but this doesn't take girth into consideration at all, though it might be right for an average pike. Another one is length squared times girth divided by 1200, which gives 22 pounds.

So anyway, I don't really trust any of these formulas.

Dan B

Numerous years ago, my grandfather caught a northern pike that measured exactly 36 inches and when it was weighed on a certified scale for a fishing contest, came in at exactly 10 pounds even. It was a spawned out female. He came in second, just missing the grand prize of a new boat with motor and a trip for two to Canada. I don't think adding five inches to your fish would add that many more pounds to it and it is my "guesstimate" that your scale was probably a lot closer than you wish it was. However, there is a "weigh" to know for certain and with a relatively accurate certainty. The MOST widely accepted method of determining the weight of a fish without a scale used by numerous fish & game agencies across the continent is a simple mathematical formula. For fish shaped like bass, take the length of the fish and multiply it times the girth squared. Then divide the total by 800. It is truly amazing just how close and accurate this method is. For longer fish like your northern pike such as muskies, barracuda, pickerel, trout, etc. use the same formula except divide the total by 900 instead. One of the first times I published this method on the Internet, a taxidermist from Alberta, Canada seriously doubted that it could be that accurate. He had several fiberglass castings made from fish for which he already knew the exact weights. When he tested the method on those fish, every one of them came out within an ounce or two of being what they had weighed in real life and a couple of them even came out exactly on the mark. That made a believer out of him for certain. Give it a try and see what you think. It works!