This past weekend at the Big Bass Splash I witnessed for the first time.. that a fish can grow up to 1/8 inch when relaxed in a holding tank!! I always heard of them shrinking! But not growing!

But the guy in the pics gained some attention when he went to weigh in, according to the weigh master the fish was 23 and half long and the guy said it was 24..

What I learned from this is if it touches 16 or 24 I'm taking a pic and releasing back

Hmm...Interesting

That's a big diff, I am thinking the Game warden was letting this person go, they just did not understand. Who knows I was not there.

Tournament officals has the final say,..you were lucky.

legal fish that he couldn't weigh, makes zero sense to me!

Same issue happened with my buddies kid during the High school tourney. They brought in a over and right off the bat, someone that wont be named that used to work at the host marina, came out and starting freaking out that the fish was stressed out. (the fish was caught 10 minutes prior to bringing it to weigh in) They then put it into the holding tank at the marina. She then says the fish doesn't measure and she called the game warden, when in fact the fish did measure. They looked at the fish and bumped it and it was in fact legal. They then try to weigh it and she threw a fit like a 10 year old, then the tourney director did not allow the fish to be weighed. It is a shame, because those kids lost out on thousands of dollars of scholarship money.

Ill tell you what if it was me or my fish it would of been handled differently, but I just cant believe what has been happening at these tournaments when we are expected to do all we can to remain within the law then get screwed over.

"What would y'all have done in this situation?"

I'd have filed a formal protest with the Tournament Director within 15 minutes, per Sealy's Rules.

1-1/4" is a big difference. Interesting but the td has the final say. Can't see why they wouldn't have measured again and looked into why there was such a big difference in measurements. Wonder what Bob has to say?

Having never fished the Mc D's tournament I cant help but wonder if they have a rule or something that once a fish is bumped and determined legal or illegal it cannot be bumped again. So once an initial decision is made its final?

Their rules say all decisions of the Tournament Director are final. Doesn't say anything about the weighmaster. I'd have filed a complaint on the spot.

Asked it to measure and weigh to document, you can fight it after. If you don't measure and weigh you have nothing to fight, and file a protest.

Put fish back in the livewell and have a discussion as to why.

Something does not sound right here.

sounds like 1.) official measure person needs to learn how to measure a fish if he was showing 23.50" and TPWD was showing 3/4" longer 2.) fish was 24.25" per TPWD, so legal fish....should have been included in the tournament (only after you filed a formal protest to let them review facts)

-fish will shrink and sometimes they relax, but Ive never seen that much difference from a little "livewell time"
-fish will also measure differently on each side depending on girth of the fish

tough deal man...sorry to hear it

This ^^^ but something doesn't sound right about this. I really didn't know a fish could shrink or grow a 1.5" from stress. I have always heard a 1/4" is the usual number you hear about fish and measurements in tournaments. sorry to hear about this tho, I am sure it is disappointing.

Mr Bob Sealy stated that you can only go through the weigh in line once to weigh a fish, but the guy was heard saying it's not in the rules!

I read some of the Facebook comment and people are saying protest the judgment of the rules.. but it clearly states that The Tournament director has the final say so

Gotta be more carful when slot rules apply!

The difference between the weighmaster and GW was 3/4", not 1 1/4". Still a very large discrepancy.