We fished next to a guy one time who caught a fish maybe 25 inches long. (limit 28 inches). He holds up the fish and asks "Keeper"? I say no too short. He syarts with , "I don't know , I think its OK , looks good , etc". I say no way , too short. He then says he's going to take it back to his truck in the parking lot to measure it!
He never came back.
I see this situation all the time , especially by the newer less experienced. I think they fish so long without anything that when they get one , they immediately start rationalizing a way to keep it , no matter what size.
Now a guy who is high grading , who leaves the shorts dead on the shore should get his hands cut off. To me , that guy catches enough , knows the rules , knows enough to do the high grade routine. He is conciously making the decision that he will kill excess fish , not to finally get one at all or to get something for maybe his poor hungry family , but to just eek out a couple more pounds. That guy needs an a$$ kicking to wake him up.
Disgusting to say the least.