The length limits are set in stone for the Pro-Am... they just need to be sure that the folks doing the pre-check know the rules also. We had to fight to be allowed to enter a king that was only 18 1/4", as the pre-check people kept trying to say it had to be 18 1/2". Finally, they pulled out the rules and saw that they were wrong and our fish was legal.
You may have tried to check your fish after we went through the line?? At that point they may have been a little gun-shy and were allowing non-legal lengths of other species??
The rules clearly state as follows:
"Minimum size for steelhead is 21 ½ inches.
Minimum size for Atlantic salmon is 25 ½ inches.
Minimum size for all other trout and salmon is 18 inches."
Where-as the state length limit is 21 for steelies and 25 for Atlantics, the Pro-Am has set legal limits to a minimum of 21 1/2 and 25 1/2" for the tourney. This is to help prevent people from keeping a fish that may shrink to a non-legal size for state standards. If you brought one in under state reg sizes, you not only would be DQd from the tourney, you'd be fined by the state.
The 18" minimum for all other trout and salmon is set 3" higher than state limits, so no fear of bringing in one that shrinks below state regs.
For the PRO DIVISION only... the 18 1/2" number is in place to allow captains to "cull" fish between 18 and 18 1/2" of that species category... you apparently can do the same with Steelies between 21 1/2" and 22" or Atlantics between 25 1/2" and 26". The rules state this:
"The tournament allows for captain’s discretion within a ½ inch buffer for releasing fish."
AGAIN... the 1/2" rule is only listed under the PRO rules, it does not appear to work the same with AMs. The way it reads, the AM captains do not have the right to this 1/2" buffer, which to me, does not make sense. Fish shrink and this buffer will only help people from bringing in fish that are not tournament legal.
We've had fish shrink by 3/8" in the past, so sometimes its tough to keep one within a 1/2" of minimum size. We really debated throwing back the one we had that was 18 1/2" by our tape... at check-in it had shrunk to a shy 18 1/4". That was only a couple hours after catching it!
Trust me, we went through this with a fine tooth comb when our box was put in question at the Oak. We were clearly following the rules... and a quick look at the written regs by the pre-check folks squared that away.
Craig
Team Savant Spoon