Perhaps because there was no notation "Continued on other side" at the bottom of the second tablet Moses carried down the mountain that no one noticed the 11th Commandment "Fisherman, Thou Shalt Not Exaggerate."
Going by the rate the first 10 are broken I am not sure it would have mattered a whole heck of a lot but it might at least have given fly fishers reason to pause.
We have all seen it, a fish that is held with both hands closely together with the head and tail showing at either end of the grip , shown to us then released and although all we asked was 'what did it take',... we are told, "Nice 17 incher" when as we could well see it was much closer to a foot . In most cases three inches can be subtracted which sometimes still allows an inch or two for stretch.
Number of fish is probably second on the list prone to this 'stretchitism>"
It has gotten so my own reply to questions on size are best answered "Got a nice fish", or...only caught a couple of small ones. I keep my net handle and rods marked for the rare twenty incher, very rare, as that is the only milestone I care personally about. If it looks close I will hold it againt the measured section. Eighteen and three quarters is probably close enough to call nineteen but nineteen and three quarters is not twenty, not when it is for me anyway,that magical
apex of a fishing trip. It used to bother me, these obvious fibs, but now I just smile at the speaker and let it go at that.
What's your take on exaggerations?

[This message has been edited by mantis (edited 23 October 2005).]