Brought an over the slot fish to weigh in today and she measured 21 1/8 on my Check it stick, I measured her 3 times. Anyways the TD measuring the fish had the same stick and she was short. Keep in mind, he didn't pinch the tail or fan it either direction just laid the tail flat on the board and it was short. I kept my cool after I asked him to pinch the tail, but he didn't, and I released the apparent "slot" fish. He is the TD and has final say and someone told me he'd been measuring fish like that all day, but at least measure the fish correctly. What would you have done?

Same thing you did.

It's a charity tournament, everything is just kind of up in the air. Sounds like you handled it well.

Sounds like he was measuring wrong but if he measured every fish in the same manner then he was being about as fair as he could. It would not have been right to start pinching the fish tails in the middle of the weigh-in. You did good but it might be brought up to the tournament director in a polite and positive manner after the tourney.

Offer to send the TD a link to the TPWD website showing measuring tips for soft and hard-fin fish so that he understands how the state measures a fish's length.

Obviously it's not just about that one fish. If the TD measures one way (incorrect), and all the anglers measure a different (but correct) way, then the entire field of competitors may be releasing or keeping the "wrong" fish (from the TD's perspective). Yet, an angler is compelled to measure according to TPWD to avoid a citation, so the whole deal gets quite fouled up. There may be any number of illegal fish allowed, and any number of legal fish that get rejected as weighable. That can result in a botched outcome for multiple anglers.

Not true. In a slot lake, you're competing against the slot as much as you're competing against the other competitors. By not measuring a fish correctly, he cost you $$.

Being it was a benefit tourney, it sounds like you did the right thing. The guy was probably volunteering his time. Had it been a "real" tournament, I would've confronted him and proved to him the correct way to measure a fish. The TP&W website or even other anglers would be a good resource to convince him he's wrong.

I'd do the same thing I did when I was faced with a similar situation before.
That is to get into a argument with him right then and there.
I did not prevail last time and may not have this time, but I at least tried.
No sympathy here for stupid TD's.

Even though he measured everyone the same, it still aint right or fair to anyone.
Also like last time, I would not accept the money that I had won according to the TD because I did not truly win it and I would have felt like a cheat if I had of taken it.

Been there, done that, and have no regrets.

I had something like this happen at one of the hourly tournaments at fork they kept trying to tell me the fish wasn't a over yet when the game warden measured if he said it was over the slot so I pretty much packed up never fished one after that. I have had it happen in jack pot tournaments as well the understanding of it can touch 14 but not exceed is a big black eye. If Texas parks and wildlife say it then why doesn't every tournament be based off of it.

I have a check it stick. I measured one yesterday that was 21 1/2". He measured it and it was 21 1/8..... To 21 3/8.....

Didn't argue. I was laughing too hard.

Yep....they should close the mouth and fan the tail.

Id get with him afterwards and show him online from the state's website of how to properly measure. Now you know on any unfamiliar tournament, what to ask before the tournament starts

TPWD Measuring rules state:

1. Place the fish on its side with the jaw closed.

2. Squeeze the tail fin together to obtain the maximum overall length.

The TD was wrong. If I had been in your shoes, I would have pulled up the illustration on the TPWD website and politely challenged him after I showed him the diagram.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/fishing/measurement-tips

I didn't watch him close enough. If I'd known that I could have weighed an "under" every hour.

Did it say in the rules how they would measure the fish? Some tournaments I have fished in swipe the tail but do no pinch it together for greatest overall length. So squeezing the tail would be a legal catch by the State but not by the tournament. They should have stated how they were going to measure the fish in the rules or say TPWD rules would be used.

Same thing happened to me earlier this year. Cost me $3750 too. It's all up to the tournament director.

he did say, at take off, that all coast guard and Texas parks and Wildlfe rules would be adhered to. Yet, it appears that an angler caught a winning fish, witnessed, in a no boats allowed area and the fish were measured incorrectly. Also said that a maximum of three anglers per boat....some had four and five. Not sure all were "anglers". Haha.

Not complaining....just my observations. I still had fun and wasn't close to winning. But I did place and the guy that got second kinda, IMO, should have had first.