measured the 33 incher, but just estimated the 13 pounder. Ah, the search for credibility! Do you believe?! Just how big the fish we catch (and brag about) actually are is a complex psycho-social phenomenon. It has almost nothing to do with physicl length, or weight. I can distinctly remember the first salmon I ever caught on a fly in a river, the Toutle, to be exact, pre-Mt. St. Helens days by about 15 years. I was so excited I drove to the nearest phone to call my brother-in-law, the only other person I knew who fly fished. "Come on down. The fishing's real hot. I just caught a six pounder!" When I got home the next day I was sure someone had stolen my fish and substituted a puny replacement. The fish was a chinook jack, and measured 17 inches exactly. But on the river, of course, it weighed exactly six pounds in my mind. Some fishermen, in an attempt to increase credibility, if not accuracy, will preface their statement of length as "a measured 20 incher". One is to presume that they carry a tape measure, or more likely, have inch markings on their rod butt, or have measured the fish against known marks on their rod, or some other such technique. Actually, all of these techinques have the advantage of being POTENTIALLY accurate, and therefore believable. But have you ever watched somone doing such a measurement. First they line the tail up against some starting point. Then, of course, they have to look away from the tail to spot the head position. In that split second the hand holding the fish and/or the hand holding the rod becomes possessed by a ouija board spirit and migrates rapidly enough to dislocate a shoulder. And then they round off to the next larger inch. I'm not impressed. While fishing Nunnally Lake this spring with float tubes I was impressed with all the talk back an forth over the water about "21", "22" , and even "24" inch trout. Obviously these were measured fish, presumably by the painted-on-tape-measures foundon some float tube aprons. I thought that was a neat concept, so the next morning I took an indelible marker and a tape-measure and created one on my own tube. For the next three days I was at first puzzled, then depressed that everyone around me was catching 20 and 21 inchers, and I just couldn't break the 19 1/2 inch barrier. After I got home I re-measured my measure. I found that, depending on the inflation level of the tube, which is affected by air pressure, altitude, and temperature, the 20 inch mark is actually anything from 18 /2 to 21 inches. So much for another good idea. The truth is, there really isn't anything one can say short of having one's fish certified by the Bureau of Weights and Measures that is going to keep me, or most other knowledgeable
								More Text =>
		<= Back
			Table of Contents			Fishtales Start		Order/Contact