The problem with taking the smaller fish is that essentially none are left to get over 20". Commonly there are very few fish over 16" in lakes with a 5 fish/no size limit. You can see it at Bullshead. Any fish approaching 20" is bonked on the head and removed. No matter what the legal size limit is, a huge majority of the fish that reach that size are removed. The number of fish that escape the freezer to remain as "quality" trout is very low.
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