“Really honey, it was THIS big!”
Who has not exaggerated the size of the catch? After all, fishing is one of the areas where, for many of us, size does matter. The reason we all have such a poor reputation for honesty is that none of us has eyeballs that are calibrated with anything approaching 100%… er… 10% accuracy … maybe. Granted, a timely, well taken picture of your fish next to something with a known length goes a long way towards reinforcing your claim of a massive catch. But even that falls short when it is not obvious how long the item is that you are matching your fish against.
I solved this problem by putting tape on my rod at known distances from the bottom. I put tape marks at 12, 16 and 20 inches on my four weight rod that I use for trout. Yes, I know that 20 inch mark is pretty aggressive, but, after all, I am a fisherman and that makes me an eternal optimist.
So, I recommend you follow my lead and throw some tape on your rod as far out as you feel the need. You will have an absolute yardstick to measure your catch against without having to add a small, awkward tape measure to all the other stuff you don’t need but still carry in your fly vest.
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Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore