Florida Fishing

[lizardsrule]

Well here is a sample of what can happen in Florida fishing I also ran into a 12' Gator today with my boat Now I know your gonna say how the heck did he know it was a 12' gator Well as I was returning to the launch, I watched a guy who owns a house on the river, use a poll to push a huge gator out into the water. My first thought was it was a fake gator, like a scarecrow gator. As I got closer the more it looked real. I asked if it was dead, and he replied, yes it washed up to his dock 2 days ago So he asked me to push it over to the weeds with my boat, and I did, being extremely freaked out the whole time It's mouth was open, and I know it was 12', becasue I put it up next to my boat. It was scary looking, and rotting at the same time. The snook measured 31.5" when I caught it. However I threw it in the cooler, since it was within the legal slot size, which is 28"-32". When I got home I remeasured it for a pic, and on the same board it measured 30.5" Now I've fished bass tourney's where the bass have shrunk during the day after catching them early, but a whole inch? Which brings me to the question of if I keep a 28.25" snook, throw it in the cooler, and it shrinks, then the game warden decides to check me, what the heck do I do if it has shrunk below the slot size? In this case, it was in the slot either way, but the next one might be just a little over the slot. Anyone ever had this situation come up before?

Lizards