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I have thrown back a plenty of those, I mark my golden ruler 1/4" above the length for the lake, I am fishing. The MS wardens make there quotas with short fish. They wait for you to load up and then check you. No excuse then. P.S- they are doing their jobs, no complaints with them!!
Unless you leaving right then it's back in the water for that one. It takes a while for them to shrink.
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We measure with mouth closed and tail pinched . If I was leaving soon I might keep one barely over.Staying Over three hrs.longer , at least a quarter over . :twocents
yep! and they put it on the measuring devise with as much pressure as "they " see fit. Had a man on Smithville lake (Tenn/tombigbee waterway ask me at the ramp if I would take his two to go with my five . I never keep anything under 10 inches. When I measured them both were short. He was a little miffed that I refused to take them . Told him that I don't like surprises and coons have to eat also .Quote:
Originally Posted by trypman1
Get a good bump board
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Ah sweet....just in time for the "is this one a shooter?" discussion. haha
My bad. I too thought I was looking at a barely 9 inch fish. This spring I was on Jonathon Creek and had a guy motor over close to me. He must have had 12 to 15 empty beer cans piled up around his seat. He got to talking about fish length and told a story about the game warden that "broke da dang lower jaw on his crappie an den smashhhhed it n da dang mesurin tray so hard it was 2 inches shorter den when he kautt it". "Gave him a dern tiki too"Quote:
Originally Posted by t00lmanii
I to have a checker with a permanent red marker on the back side at 10 .25 and make sure all fish tails go past it when I am keeping fish from spots that don't have many big fish
easy to see and no questions ….that said
do not put a 10.25 from warm water on ice for a while ….it will for sure be short after a little while in the ice ...fyi
I've kept and thrown back fish that measure like that.
When the GW visit you are you comfortable with having a questionable fish?
Is keeping one even barely over worth hundreds of dollars and the embarrassment of being ticketed?
Are there bigger fish to be caught?
Will you go without a meal if you threw it back?
I say you answer these questions and it'll answer your question....
Unless i'm workn on my 7 feesh during a tourney I won't keep anything under 11 inches but that's just my personal preference.....
The few times i'm had a GW on my boat they've never had to pull out the measuring stick and that's just how like it....
If all's you're catchn are those lil'uns you might want to make some changes, different jigs, another pile, deeper or shallower waters..... just sayn....