Stretch your stories too often and people start dividing everything you say by two.

Exaggeration works fine the first few times and then quietly becomes a tax. Once people notice that the fish gets bigger with each telling, they start adjusting everything you say downward, including the parts that were completely true. You end up having to oversell just to be believed at your actual size.

Tell the next story at its real dimensions and see whether it still works. Usually it does, and the details you were tempted to inflate matter less than you think. Being the person whose numbers can be trusted is worth more than one better punchline.