Just wondering how many people have either had a fish grow an 1/8" or so while retained or retained one in hopes that it would relax and make the length limit...

I hear of people all of the time on slot lakes like Fork that retain a 15 7/8" fish and it grows on them supposively after relaxing from being in the box. I wonder how many retain a 23 7/8" fish hoping for the same? What are the rules on that from a TD standpoint?

I have personally never witnessed it and there have been times that I didn't even recheck my fish before weigh in and I had some close ones. Anywho...just wondering.

I have personally been in the boat where at fish was caught at Fork and was just under the 24". After it relaxed it was slightly over.

If you keep a fish under 24" on Fork in your live well you're breaking the law even if you hope it will relax if it didn't measure when you put it in the live well you knowing kept a slot fish..

Had one on Fork. Was fishing the Berkley with Clint Wright. I caught the fish, he measured it 4 times because it was still dark and it was about 1/8" under....we catch another good under, go weigh in and when they put my fish on the board it was about an 1/8' over 16". He was shocked and boy was I. The game warden that day told me about the fish possibly tensing up since Clint was confident it was under 16" and that was the 1st and only time i've ever heard of it. I still think it was just a bad measuring job by my boy Clint, but the GW did mention your topic so maybe your question has some validity.

I caught a 3 pounder but by the time i got to the dock that evening it grew to 9 pounds.

Maybe I should start pouring some Please Release me in their mouths and hold them in the water for a couple of minutes and then re-measure. I would be pissed if that happened and I got dq'd. Not sure how I would handle being ticketed for it.

+1 by law you can not do it with the 23 7/8

Me!!!! Happened twice on Fork with 3lb unders that say in live well all day ad enforce weigh in they are now barely touching 16inch

I have had this happen a lot on slot lakes. I actually recommend to our participants to keep a backup fish in their live wells & recheck before weigh in. Fish do relax & grow in the live well so this is for fish that measured legal & grew to be illegal. As for fish that are illegal becoming legal this is breaking the law. The law reads �it is illegal to retain a fish in the slot�

This works for us because we have a three fish limit.

but if the tournament rules state you can only have 3 in the well, not so lucky then.

A couple of weeks ago on Fork I stuck a 15-15/16 early. I pinched her tail and fanned her on both sides and she was shy of the line. Continued to catch solid 2 lbers all day. About thirty minutes before weigh in something told me to measure her again. Now she's touching sixteen. If I cram her nose to the board she clears. If I simply touch her nose it's sixteen. Don't know how the tournament director will measure so I chunk a 2.75 back and scramble to stick another under. Manage to catch a dink (half lber). I am now sick because we caught thirty fish during the tournament and twenty of them were two pounds or better. End up with 9.5 lbs and get 4th. To top it all off the TD measures one in front of me and crams the fish against the board so no doubt we would have walked away with first but I wont risk DQ or a ticket.

Check those squeakers often because they will relax and grow on you.

Any bass tournament I've ever fished it says in the rules to abide by all state and local fish and game regulations. If you keep a fish that is illegal when you put it in the well...you are breaking the law and you should be DQ'd. Could you pass a polygraph if they asked you if you had abided by all rules and regulations? That is my take on it.

Well, I've got this special board made that is a little short. A 23 3/4" fish will measure 24" on this board. So when I lay it down on there it shows to be 24". In my mind it's 24" so I'm legal.

Obviously there is merit to the theory and the stories I have heard are true. What that tells me is that those fish that measured under 16" and then suddenly measured over after they were relaxed were in fact slot fish before being hooked and handled. Doesn't that mean the very 23 7/8" fish that end up touching 24" or over after relaxed were in fact overs and legal to begin with? In my opinion there is too much gray area with the measuring of a slot fish.

Last month I fished back to back tournaments on Fork over the period of one weekend. Each day I had caught a fish that was on both ends of the spectrum and I released them both in fear of it growing or not growing. I had one that was 15-15/16" and one that was 23-7/8". Both would have made a significant difference in the total money won and placement. I was more scared of being that guy getting dq'd and dropping out of the $$ than anything else. Then I get to the weigh in and have others tell me that they would have put em in the box no doubt.

We do not have this rule. Do not know why anyone would.