Tale of the Tape ...

Usually we tell a veteran Loveland Fishing Club angler they kept their thumb on the scale measuring a fish (Not mentioning anyone by name here; just saying. In this case I think relative newcomer Ken Tarvin is being way too honest in his measurement of the big old Colorado Master Angler-class largemouth he caught last week. 

"Big ol' Bass today," he reported after visiting a local pond. "Biggest I've ever caught. Measurement comes in at 18.75 which should qualify me for a Colorado Master Angler Award."

It should also put Ken in the running for Loveland Fishing Club Angler of the year, the annual competition to see who can land the biggest fish based on Colorado Parks and Wildlife criteria for Master Angler. But your Editor keeps looking over a blowup of the tape measurement Ken did on the beast, and here's HIS semi-professional conclusion: 

    From the front, the yellow tape measure extends past the lip. If you look closely at where the tip of the fish's lower jaw rests, it aligns almost exactly with the 1-inch mark on the tape.
From the tail: following the tape to the tip of the tail fin, the measurement reaches just past the 20-inch mark (sitting right around 20.25 inches). My math is out of practice by half a century. But as I recall the rules of subtraction, we in fact have a tape measure that shows 20.25 inches minus 1 inch. And that equals a fish of 19.25" Not a lot of difference between that and 18.75", but that can be winner or loser of the club championship. (As I keep telling you, size matters) 

Anyway, let's let Ken and Club Angler of the Year Chair Bob McHale argue it out, and get back to Ken's report: "Was a tough one! I initially thought I snagged a branch and then it started dragging line. And then I had to drag it out of two separate brush piles and then haul it over a log at the shore. Somehow my 6-lb leader held.

Swam away strong. Little bastard splashed me with its tail!"