Hourly averages bass

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I’ve seen 1.5/hr referenced by DEC here across species. 

I thought they tracked harvested fish?

[MIbassyaker]

If anything, the average fish/hour across all species would be dragged upward by panfish which is both more popular than any other kind of fishing, and can yield ridiculous numbers.

 

I reckon if bass anglers kept close track of their number caught per actual hour fished, most would find their real average --which includes all their 0-fish days and hours too-- to be somewhat less than they thought it was.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

8 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I thought they tracked harvested fish?

Could be, I never paid that much attention just remember seeing that number. I don’t know how they’d get accurate info anyway with so many variables. 

[J Francho]

I don't know what to think of the numbers.  The people that take part in the surveys are usually pretty avid anglers in their area.  I did it for years with Lake Ontario smallmouth.  I don't think those surveys are included in their big overall angler hours data.

[JustJames]

At my local 4-500 acres lake, just a bass per trip, I’d call is success as bank fisher man. At some small community pond maybe 4-5 per trip. 

[Captain Phil]

Depends on when and where you are fishing and what you are fishing for.  I know canals where you can wear yourself out catching 10" bass.  When the water is low in the Everglades, 100 bass a day is totally possible.  When the water is high, you can go days without a strike.  I would rather catch one bass over four pounds than a live well full of 12 inch dinks.  If I catch one good fish a day, I go home happy.

[SC53]

I revised title to bass only. 
 

[J Francho]

One eight hour trip where I catch one fish over 6 is better than a hour or so of dinks.  I can't honestly put an average number, and don't need to stack my aggregated results with another angler.  I'd prefer to put my money in the pot and see who wins that day on the same water.  It's easier to get my head around that concept than something as nebulous as angling hours per fish.

[SC53]

JF, I agree on the big fish but that hour of dinks does reinforce the fact that you are in the right area and doing something right. 

[WRB]

If you enjoy keeping track and counting the bass you catch each trip go for it.

Fishery managers constantly keep track of their lakes by talking to anglers and wardens checking bag limits, plus Electro shock surveys etc. 

As a note the Florida LMB program in San Diego was closely monitored in the 60’s and 70’s by Larry Bothroff the fishery biologist for the program. Spent a lot of time chatting with Larry about the program. The final result was catch rates dropped over 50% with FLMB and the program was considered a failure to improve quality of catch rates per man hour. The overall goal was to improve catch rates and average bass weight.

The fact a few FLMB grew to be exceptional size wasn’t the program goal for the average angler.

Tom 

 

[J Francho]

19 minutes ago, SC53 said:

JF, I agree on the big fish but that hour of dinks does reinforce the fact that you are in the right area and doing something right. 

Or the wrong area, doing something wrong.  Small bass are usually more aggressive than larger specimens.  Dinks are nice if I'm testing a new tackle or technique, but otherwise not what I'm after.

[Captain Phil]

Years ago, the Miami Herald Newspaper held an annual fishing contest.  They had a number of categories including largest overall, pound test groupings to numbers of fish.  One of the categories was number of LM bass caught.  One angler always won.  He claimed an astounding number of bass each year, well into the thousands.  As you would expect, there were numerous complaints.  I actually wrote a letter to the newspaper stating that his claim was impossible.   The uproar was so great that the newspaper sent an observer to see what he was doing.  They went out into the Everglades with a pocket hand counter.  The angler fished with a 4 inch Rapala on an ultralight spinning outfit.  They counted every bass caught on the counter.  Most of the bass were under 12".  Some of them were a few inches long.  The tally was easily over 100 fish per day for weeks at a time.   Eventually, they dropped the numbers category altogether.  

[Team9nine]

22 hours ago, SC53 said:

What do you feel constitutes an average, good or great day bass fishing broken down into an hourly average? Whether it’s 4,6,8 hours fished. 
For me, 1-2 per hour for average, 3 per for good and anything over that would be great for me. 

 

8 hours ago, SC53 said:

Yes it definitely depends on the lake and time of year you’re fishing. But based on the responses so far, the averages seem to be what I experience and expected from others. 

 

2 hours ago, SC53 said:

I revised title to bass only. 
 

 

None of the above changes my answer - doesn't matter where or when in my book. That's not to say a slow day can't still be considered a good or great day of fishing depending upon factors like size, expectations, company, etc.; just that if the catch rate numbers reach the higher side of my guage, it's been a good/great day of fishing regardless of those factors.

 

[J Francho]

I use a slightly different gauge.

[Team9nine]

Just now, J Francho said:

I use a slightly different gauge.

 

Yours is backwards...no wonder why you don't pay any attention to it 

[J Francho]

Not backwards, it's metric.

[mcipinkie]

Back about 10 years ago when I was much more active tournament fishing and dealing with sponsors, I kept a record of tournaments, fish caught, fish we could have caught and results.  Blows you mind as to how few fish you have to catch to be successful, if you catch the right ones.  Blows my mind as to how poorly we fished, but that's another story.

 

From 2009 through 2011, my partner and I fished 182 tournaments.  Some of these were short little night tournaments on our local lakes, why so many.

 

Totaled 976 hours.

Fish caught - 358 (0.37/hour)

Fish if limit - 659 (0.68/hour)

Results - Lost $725.

 

In 2010, we averaged 0.40/hour and still won $900 over the season.

 

Not sure what this means.  I kept and passed on to my sponsors what I wanted them to see (mainly exposure).  But is was fun to do.  I had to back off after the heart attacks and lost my regular partner and let my sponsor work slip away.

 

About the only thing I think this tells us is "catch the right fish".

[soflabasser]

I have had more days I caught a 8 pound or bigger bass than days I have caught 100 or more bass. I also had more days where my top 5 bass where over 25 pounds combined weight so I much rather have another 100 or more bass day. I will be grateful for whatever I catch regardless how big the fish is since having a good time in the Outdoors is #1 for me when it comes to bass fishing.

[fishingram24]

Probably 3 per hour is an average day which in 8 hours equals 24 fish. Have on many occasions had those 8-10 per hour days but a lot of small fish in the catch as the river system I fish the most is loaded with bass but just not many big fish.  Still days like that are what keeps me going when you have one of those days when you catch 1 or 2 all day.  

[Catt]

Honestly something I care nothing about ?

 

I track every trip documenting a lot of information but I don't see any value added by recording catch per hour.

[schplurg]

Fish per hour...haha that's a good one! 

 

I can claim with great confidence that my average for the entire 2020 bass season (from the bank) was far less than 1 per hour. I went a few months with zero and I fished a bunch! I caught 10 once in 2 or 3 hours...my record for a single day.

[gim]

On 1/29/2021 at 9:30 AM, J Francho said:

I did it for years with Lake Ontario smallmouth.  I don't think those surveys are included in their big overall angler hours data.

I was a surveyor for the Minnesota DNR one season in the mid 2000’s. I basically interviewed anglers and counted boats and recorded conditions for days on end. All this information was given to biologists and specialists in the field office and they used it to estimate pressure and hooking mortality on Mille Lacs Lake walleyes, primarily because each season had a specific quota that they had to keep track of.

[ajschn06]

On 1/29/2021 at 9:15 AM, TnRiver46 said:

The ever-biting bluegill has passed many afternoons for me that would have been skunks 

I’d rather get skunked

On 1/29/2021 at 9:15 AM, TnRiver46 said:

The ever-biting bluegill has passed many afternoons for me that would have been skunks 

I’d rather get skunked

[Dens228]

I'd love to catch 3 per hour, sometimes there's days where I wish I'd catch 1 per hour.

 

I did have a day once where I was in a remote quarry in my kayak and caught 29 bass between 12-18 inches in less than three hours..........I figured no way was I leaving until I hit 30.  It took me two more hours to catch #30 and he was all of 8 inches long.........lol

[J Francho]

On 1/30/2021 at 7:50 PM, gimruis said:

I was a surveyor for the Minnesota DNR one season in the mid 2000’s. I basically interviewed anglers and counted boats and recorded conditions for days on end. All this information was given to biologists and specialists in the field office and they used it to estimate pressure and hooking mortality on Mille Lacs Lake walleyes, primarily because each season had a specific quota that they had to keep track of.

That sounds interesting.  The program I was in was just keeping a log of your own catch.