Just to clarify, It was not I who the captain directed this comment at - - and the person wanting to release his fish was a newbie and not caught his limit of 10 yet.

I released several of the smaller ones that were over 12", I just didn't give the skipper a chance to see it. If he would have directed that comment at me, he would have gotten an earful.

On the positive side, the crew were very attentive to the fact that every fish that went in the bag was 12" or larger and required measurements when the fish were questionable.

Unfortunately, the take what you can get now and inflate the fish count still exists on some boats.