With the fall run ramping up I just wanted to share a quick tip I learned on this board a couple of years ago. In order to minimize the time a borderline keeper Bass has to stay out of the water, measure 28" or 29" to be safe up from the bottom of your surf rod and wrap a band of masking tape there. This will give you immediate feed back on the length of the Bass and if she is a legal size to keep.
Same can be done with Porgies, Fluke, Blackfish...etc rods as well.