In need of a ruling

[Florida Boy]

Ok I'm in need of a ruling, and I figured what better place to turn than the pro's here at BBG :).

Ok so what counts as caught? I've heard many rules about this over the years such as, it's counts when you get a clear enough view to identify the fish, it counts if you've had it on your line for x amount of time, it counts if you touch the leader, it doesn't count till it touches the bank or it's in your hand, etc. etc. I want to know what y'all count as caught. And yes I am looking for some sort of justification for the fish I hooked but didn't quite get all the way in today lol

[cal okeefe]

im totally different. i believe that if you dont unhook it and have it in your hand then it is considered a lost fish..

theres been many of times ive had huge fish (different species) get off at the shore or boat or break the line 3 feet away and we allways say damn lost a big one..

just the way my family does it

[John Sheehan]

I think if I see a huge fish in the water but it  wont hit  then I caught it .If I 've never been to a Lake that has huge fish ,then I caught them .When people ask where's the photo? I tell them the cameras broke.

 

Kidding ,I feel the same way as Cal. 

[John Sheehan]

If I dream about catching a fish  then I indeed am a great angler!!! A legend in my own mind so to speak!

[Leo Nguyen]

Officially caught in hand/net, with or without the line in fish's mouth. Picture tells a thousand words.

I have plenty of the close catches of large fishes, but can only tell about it..now, armed with a full 16GB vid cam mounted on the revised poontoon frame and tube, with 2 camera back up sources for photo ops, no way I'm going home empty handed on proof any more..

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Think of catching fish like making love to a woman. If all you get to do with her is dance around the floor, well, that 'aint 'caught,' now is it?

It's the same with fish. 'Hooked' can count as many things - but caught is caught.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

We're very competitive in the Abney household.......We do take landing nets with us and our rules are simple....you must net the fish and handle it for it to be caught.......

[Vic Tankersley]

I would consider it caught when you are gutting or filleting it for supper..any other time it might get loose

[John Sheehan]

ha ha

 

 

[Bruce Condello]

Awesome.

[dick tabbert]

Bruce I'm no expert on the subject but I will give you my 2cents worth. In my opinion and I wish I didn't know all the particulars but no mater this is what I think. I think its not caught till you can physically hold the fish. How can we say we caught something that got off the line with no way to really actually measure, weigh or photo the fish. I personally have never took credit for something that was not caught in the manner were discussing. But I will tell you how many I caught and how many that had gotten off after all if you was going to eat the fish how can you say you caught what you can't eat. I know this is not the same scenario it is for the records I think that's the issue here. So how can we actually say we caught the fish  that we couldn't weigh, or measure or even get a picture of for you records. That my opinion and I think that's the fair way to say I caught the fish.

[JBplusThuy]

Your mileage may vary, but my definition is that I didn't catch it unless I had the option of either releasing it or putting it in my fish basket.  The one exception/gray area is if I get it on the bank and after that it gets out of my hands and flops back into the water. Whether that's because I removed the hook and dropped the fish or because it fell off the hook after being pulled from the water (both have happened to me a number of times), I count that as sort of "half-caught." If somebody asks me how many I caught - and this was my answer the last time I went fishing - it'll be "I caught 9, but 2 of them flopped back into the water and escaped, so I only have 7 in my basket." That's the case where I could have released it or put it in my basket, but the fish leveraged my clumsiness to make that decision for itself :-)

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Interesting subject,I had an occasion last summer that I hooked a very large redear, it weighed 6lbs and 7 oz  and I had it right beside the boat when it shook and spit the hook out. I didn't get to take a photo of it during the excitement and I know you are going to ask how did you get such an accurate measurement of 6 lbs. 7 oz. , well the fish had scales.    LOFR