Originally Posted by Billfish715

I agree. That's about what I thought the length would be. The girth factor certainly has to be considered, but at 17+ pounds, we are in unchartered waters for any legitimate comparison. I will say this about the girth of some of the sub-legal fluke that we were releasing this year, "They were thick". Even the 16" fluke were fat enough to have made a substantial meal for someone. Two or three of them would have been a generous fresh dinner for a family of four.

If a fisherman was waiting to catch two keepers of 18" for his family, they would be heading to a a burger joint for one of their "dinners" instead of a freshly caught meal from the sea. Which would you prefer? As a family provider, I would rather bring home fillets from three, fat 16" fluke for my family to eat than to head to a fast food place in order to treat them.