BigBendFishing.Net

OK fellow fisherpersons...I'm still confused:

I came into landing at Anky about 5pm on Sunday and "the man"
sprung from the bushes as he usually does. After a very brief
exchange of pleasantries he inquired about my catch. I slid the
ice chest to him and he opened it and said something to effect
of nice fish but probably illegal. Now that's my idea of how
to begin a conversation with "the man."

I immediately began to inquire about the tail pinching/twisting/mashing/
pulling controversy and he quickly informed me he had already begun
to measure that way. Of course I asked him to show me as I had measured my two trout at 19.5 and 20.5 even after being on ice.
He asked where my ruler was located and I showed him on the side of
boat. He said it was impossible to measure accurately and he would
bring me something suitable. After a trip to his "hidden" truck he returned with a 36" or so ruler with lots of advertisements on it. He laid
it on my gunnel and began to measure the shortest fish from the tail
on 0 and measuring to the head. He began by twisting the tail to where
one tip of the tail was against the 0 line...problem was as he pushed the
fishes head down the tail slipped forward. He proceeded to do this several times and each time I told him the fish's tail was sliding forward.
He finally said he would accept my measurement of 19.5. We went thru
the same thing with the larger fish and couldn't agree as each time
the fish slid forward on the paper ruler...so we agree on 20.5.
I asked him if he thought his technique was legal and repeatable and
he just said he would never pinch a fish's tail to make it illegal.
As they say, "at the end of the day" I remain confused!

Both fish were caught in moving water at creekmouths on Catch Jr's.
Water is quite dark and even though several short reds were returned to
grow both the trout appeared to be quite healthy although a little on the
skinny side. Lots of boats out from Anky on Saturday and Sunday.
Beautiful days on the water although little chilly and breezy at times.

Best report of all: NO LEAKS DETECTED in repaired hull and new
electric Riptide 80# is "the bomb."

Enjoyed meeting TROUTFISHER!

Eerman wrote:

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 - 11:27 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the horse's mouth:

Good Morning Mr. Johnson,

Thank you for your inquiry to the Division of Marine Fisheries Management. FWC law enforcement officers are using an educational approach until July 1, 2006. You can measure your fish with the tail squeezed or relaxed (unsqueezed), but be prepared to show the officer how you measured your fish and you must be able to reproduce the measurement you used to make your fish legal. However, starting July 1, 2006 you must squeeze the tail on all fish measured as total length in order to be consistent with the definitions.

Thank you,
S. Gail Gainey
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Division of Marine Fisheries Management
(850) 488-6058
_________________
Think outside of the tackle box.

RHTFISH....I would suggest you forward your post to Mr Gainey and ask for some direction for our forum. I certainly understand your confusion.

I think I will carry a copy of what Mr. Gainey had to say with me untill July 1 rolls around

Well now you have thouroughly cofused me...but great news on the hull not leaking.

Hell it's pretty easy and simple, I"m from jawja let me me explain...Pay attention now.....

1 - If the fish is to short you stomp it, til it's legal, simple

2 - If the fish is to big, you take out your fillet knife and trim the tail accordingly.

There you go...I'm glad to be of service to all you

Nice catch RHTFISH, you better watch the Troutfisher guy Good people....

Nice catch, guess their needs to be a standard measuring stick.

You have to at least have a measuring board for the fish head to rest against , meaning all stickers & tapes on people's boats are just for something close, anything else , well just might be off...wouldn't you say !

Chalk wrote:
2 - If the fish is to big, you take out your fillet knife and trim the tail accordingly.

Nope...the tail bleeds and gives it away.

Nice catch, Rhtfish.

I can see this is going to get interesting. This particular FWC officer used a paper measuring tape. No two FWC officers use the same measuring device. No two FWC officers measure the fish the same way.

I'm going to suggest everyone on this forum post all of their experiences with FWC regarding measuring fish. I'll forward the posts to Mr. Gainey, and suggest FWC adopt a standard measuring device, issue one to all FWC officers, and conduct training, at least on the soon to be method of fish measurement, so all FWC officers have at least seen how fish are supposed to be measured.

Congrats on sealing the leak !!
Sorry about the encounter with Mr. Attitude. He's probably going through a divorce and he's coming up short

catchin1 wrote:Nope...the tail bleeds and gives it away.

Moderation, you have to have some....You can't cut the tail all the way off

Tincan: FLW? FWC!
MJ: he probably came up short/The reason for the divorce.

Jumptrout51 wrote:Tincan: FLW? FWC!

Fixed.

Good to meet you as well Mr. Ross. We didn't have any fish for "The Man" to measure. All shorts.

the tail off and say that a shark did it. Would the "shark's" help make it legal?

Nuts