dude be careful. Is that fish being filleted 21 inches?
If I had to guess, that fish was caught on the 30th which would be the last day of “5 & Done” with no slot limits … but I said the same thing when I saw the pics …
Last I checked, life jackets not required to be worn on a boat of my size, second, every fish caught was Oct 1 and Oct 2nd. This fish being fileted was 22.5" caught Oct 1 just like the other keeper from Oct 1st. We caught 2 undersized and 2 that were 22.5". In the last picture those fish were 22" and 26" (that’s the pic with me and my son who was in a jacket). Those were caught yesterday evening and my son in a jacket being on my dads small boat. The fish in front of my son was his fish and weighed 6lbs. Pics don’t do justice. All these were measured when caught and weight on 26" fish was taken on boga at the dock an hour after catch. Promise you guys I’m not dumb enough to keep an undersized fish. Measurements taken on the metal rulers with bent end, nose butted up to the curvature.
Double check the accuracy of your metal ruler with a tape measure. I’ve got one made by Shakespeare that is about 1/8" off on all the lines. Meaning it reads 1/8" short. I re-marked mine with a scribe so it stands out some. It could make a difference if you’re checked by DNR.
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
Happy, I’ve done that already as well. It also helped me realize on my offshore cooler where I had made a ruler on the top of it with Sharpie that somehow I marked it 1" short. Every marked measurement was actually 1" less. That was kinda concerning and glad I found out. Putting kids on fish is always a pleasure. I always give them the rod first til no kid wants to reel the next one in. I finally got my son hooked.
I made my own on a cooler with no ruler. I started at 10" (old saltwater regs) but realized years later it was really only 9". Good news is I always follow the 1" rule on the fish offshore. So I probably kept a handful of barely legal fish.
If it’s not between 22-23 inches it doesn’t go in the cooler. That way I don’t have to quit what I’m doing and measure someone else’s fish. Eliminates questions on my boat.
But I don’t typically have that problem:sunglasses:
“Living’s mostly wasting time and I’ll waste my share of mine”
Fishing board police strike agin. What a surprise, they don’t know what they are talking about. Great report, keep them coming. Get out every chance you can with your kids. Mine are teenagers and things change fast. FYI- I had a SC DNR officer write a ticket for a short fish. Measured the fish in front of him with the free SC DNR ruler sticker they give out he said “that doesn’t count because the ruler is off.” It was off a half inch. He used a tape measure.
I meant no offense by most post I assure you, and congratulations on a successful day out with the kids. Just don’t want to see a fellow fisherman get busted by short fish pic. I have a friend, on LM, that posted a short fish that he threw back. DNR now checks him every time they see his boat. Just a thought. Sorry to offend.
