Well my partner Pete and I were in a tournament last weekend... and unfortunately because NY State states that the bass have to be 20" made our day quite frustrating    All the bass we were catching were nice weights, healthy fish but 3/4 - 1/2" short of the length requirement!!  And just when I thought I hooked a nice fat bass, turned out to be a walleye  :

Here are some pictures ...

Nice pics. Nice fish!! I know it can be heartbreaking. One of the tournament waters I fish here in Illinois has a 14" lake limit, and there are lots and lots of 13 3/4" fish it seems!!! Keep on castin!!!

Thank you... Yes it was truly heartbreaking to let some of those fish go ... the wind picked up shortly after the tourney started... so when we got a bite our hearts would race... *sigh*

Well we will get them in our next tourney!!

Ah... You will do fine. Most tournament fish are 12".

8-)

Thanks for the confidence boost    I guess you can't win them all, although it's fun to try!

Wow a 20" length limit is pretty stiff!  Those two bass would be kickers in most everyone elses bag.  Tough Luck but looks like ya'll are on the right path.  I bet that smallmouth was fun though!  

Yeah the 20" length is dreaded... but thankfully it's only until the end of June...

That small mouth was a blast to bring in... huge smile on my face!!  We always have a running bet who's gonna catch the first fish of the day... that lil girl got me a nice dinner that night ( i should say we didn't have bass for dinner, lol we went out!)