But I have been, well, not on purpose. So we talk of good fish in fly fishing, Upper Delaware, 20 inches is the mark of a good fish. In the salt "Its. keeper, 28 inches" is the mark of a good fish. We routinely "guesstimate" what a good fish is, which means its usually a little shorter, unless you pull out the tape measure or measure App. So this year, a little different than last, I decided to tape up my fly rod. Good idea, quick measure, quick pic, quick release. 18 inches at yellow and 28 inches at red and then bigger some different colors. The only problem is.....like a dope.....this year I "threw in" a 24 inch mark, in red. WTF?
When I caught the fish on the top I "reported it" as just below keeper size. But when I saw it I thought 'God that looks tiny for a keeper?". A few days later I decided I needed to check myself. Out came the tape and yep.....I'm a dope. So all my "just about keepers" or "just shy of 30 inches", were really just shy of 24 inches and just shy of 28 inches or keeper size.
Does size matter? Yes. Why, because its nice to known there just might be some nice fish mixed in with the mass of 20-26 inch fish. And the only way to know is to measure, if you lay out your measuring system correctly. From now on 18 inches is dinner if its a full, and blue or above is a "good" striped bass.