I just finished watching an episode of Fishing University and I saw Mike McClelland do something worth asking about.

 

He caught a fish and put it up against a mark on his rod just above the reel.  It looked like he was using it as a quick way to check if it was a keeper fish.  I'm sure if it was close he would measure with a ruler.

 

Does anyone else do something like this?  

 

Put markings on the rod to roughly measure to see if the fish is a keeper?

 

What about putting markings on the rod for gauging water clarity?

I think it's just as easy to measure it on a board.  During a tourney I always have my Golden Rule handy so it's not that much of a time saver.

 

As far as clarity, I just gauge that with my eyes or I use a white bait, let it out close the boat and see how long it takes to dissappear.

I did the same thing back in my trout keeping days as a young guy. Its effective but id rather not slime my rods up

I have done it in the past on my rods I take to the river with me when I'm wading for smallmouth. Just a reference for the bigger ones. We usually made a mark around 18 inches.

Yeah, i dont know about putting any marks on my Loomis. haha

Never have but you could always just put a small piece of electrical tape on there too that would last for a while without marking up your precious Loomis....lol

 

Yeah, i dont know about putting any marks on my Loomis. haha

Never have but you could always just put a small piece of electrical tape on there too that would last for a while without marking up your precious Loomis....lol

Yeah, you have a point there. Plus, I won my Loomis so I wouldnt feel quite as bad for putting a little mark on it. haha  When I got it in the mail and saw the sticker price on it, I was taken by suprise to say the least. $475.00 is a bit much for an angler like myself to put down on a rod. lol

I've done it on a musky rod. I typically fish for them from shore and for a quick reference, I've marked (with a piece of blue duck tape) 3 lengths on the rod. 

Then again - you could always just read the manufacturer's specs on your rod and see what the handle length is.  That would give you a pretty good idea without having to do any of this.  Another method is taking your rods and measuring them to see where the keeper line is before you head out.  I'm assuming we are referring to a tournament right?  Well most tourneys that I have seen or participated in have a 12-14" minimum length.  Almost every rod I own that I would use for the target species measure at least 14" from rod butt to the end of the reel seat near where the rod blank enters the handle.  If that doesn't work, there should be a rod spec line that you could reference on the blank itself like the "1" in the 1/8-3/4oz. lure rating or the "H" in the rod model series listed ie: AVC68MHF.

I used to put a small wrap of tape the 1/4 inch fine line tape on my rods when I was into wade fishing for snook,trout and redfish.

I have done it in the past on my rods I take to the river with me when I'm wading for smallmouth. Just a reference for the bigger ones. We usually made a mark around 18 inches.

 

 

I do the same thing for smallies just make the mark around 22 inches.

I do it for trout.  The minimum rainbow here is 21", so you see that on a lot of rods of the meat fisherman.

I used to put a 20" mark on freshwater and 28" & 32" (slot for snook), but I don't do it anymore.  Fishing purely for recreation and releasing them, the measurement and weight are just numbers that aren't that important to me.  If I hook a big one, someones is usually around with a tape measure to satisfy the curiosity, I wouldn't bother measuring a fish around 30", unless I was giving it away.