Are bigger fish really better?

[Chaz Hickcox]

The biggest challenge, and the biggest feeling of self achievment in fishing, is catching the monsters. Period.

I disagree. I feel like I've accomplished something more when I catch a 18" wild Brown Trout, in its natural habitat, than when I catch some genetically mutated 5 lb. Rainbow trout in a stocked pond. And trust me, the wild Brown Trout is much more challenging.

I do agree that in bass fishing bigger is always better, but that isn't the case with every species.

You do realize that brown trout come from europe and are not indiginous right?  So that natural habitat thing does not fly buddy.  All that bein said, who fishes for trout anyways?  Unless your from the deep south huntin down the green trout (AKA LM BASS for those of you who don't know cajun).

[Jake.]

You do realize that brown trout come from europe and are not indiginous right? So that natural habitat thing does not fly buddy.

I know that. But considering the fact that it has been in the US for over 150 years, the Brown Trout that are fished for now are in their "natural" habitat.

All that bein said, who fishes for trout anyways?

Trout fishing has a big following in lots of areas. It might not be popular in Virginia Beach, (no trout there) but head over to the Appalachians or any other mountain range and you will realize how popular it is.

[NorCalFishinguru]

Lets try this. Would you rather spend a day catching 20 explosive frogfish if you know they will only be to 5 pounds or toss a swimbait all day and know you will catch a couple of 6 pounders but nothing else?

[firefightn15]

Lets try this. Would you rather spend a day catching 20 explosive frogfish if you know they will only be to 5 pounds or toss a swimbait all day and know you will catch a couple of 6 pounders but nothing else?

I'll take door number one, but if it didn't go my way, I would still have had a good day on the water; and I guess my point would be that everyone is out there for different reasons.  Tournament fishing, recreation, stress relief, "being one with nature".  It's a good question, but to me everyone who answers is right based on what each person wants to get out of it. 8-)

[Bass_Akwards]

The biggest challenge, and the biggest feeling of self achievment in fishing, is catching the monsters. Period.

I disagree. I feel like I've accomplished something more when I catch a 18" wild Brown Trout, in its natural habitat, than when I catch some genetically mutated 5 lb. Rainbow trout in a stocked pond. And trust me, the wild Brown Trout is much more challenging.

I do agree that in bass fishing bigger is always better, but that isn't the case with every species.

Genetically mutated in a stocked pond?  Okay, well I guess I wasn't thinking about bizzare scenarios like that. 

The point I'm trying to make is that everything is relative.  I  feel like you and others who say numbers are more important are kidding yourselves. 

You can prove me wrong very easily.  Just tell me that when you're fishing for wild brown trout you'd rather catch 12 wild brown trout in the 12-16 inch range, than you would ONE 40 inch wild brown trout at some point during the day, and thats that.

Same with the steroid genetically mutated pond.  If you happen to one day get the itch to go to said pond, and you can tell me you'd rather catch 13 genetically mutated 17 inch fish   or ONE 49 inch genetically mutated fish, then once again, that's that and i'll believe you prefer numbers over weight.

I just can't see how that's possible to want to catch numbers over a potential state record sized monster. 

Either way, to each his/her own and I hold nothing against you numbers guys.  If there are truely any numbers guys out there.

[Jake.]

The biggest challenge, and the biggest feeling of self achievment in fishing, is catching the monsters. Period.

I disagree. I feel like I've accomplished something more when I catch a 18" wild Brown Trout, in its natural habitat, than when I catch some genetically mutated 5 lb. Rainbow trout in a stocked pond. And trust me, the wild Brown Trout is much more challenging.

I do agree that in bass fishing bigger is always better, but that isn't the case with every species.

Genetically mutated in a stocked pond? Okay, well I guess I wasn't thinking about bizzare scenarios like that.

The point I'm trying to make is that everything is relative. I feel like you and others who say numbers are more important are kidding yourselves.

You can prove me wrong very easily. Just tell me that when you're fishing for wild brown trout you'd rather catch 12 wild brown trout in the 12-16 inch range, than you would ONE 40 inch wild brown trout at some point during the day, and thats that.

Same with the steroid genetically mutated pond. If you happen to one day get the itch to go to said pond, and you can tell me you'd rather catch 13 genetically mutated 17 inch fish or ONE 49 inch genetically mutated fish, then once again, that's that and i'll believe you prefer numbers over weight.

I just can't see how that's possible to want to catch numbers over a potential state record sized monster.

Either way, to each his/her own and I hold nothing against you numbers guys. If there are truely any numbers guys out there.

I never said I prefer to catch numbers. I would prefer to catch a smaller amount of big fish than a larger amount of small fish, unless I'm fishing in a situation where the big fish are common and easy to catch, such as in a stocked trout pond. In that case, I would fish for the "big" (when compared to the other fish in its habitat) 18" wild fish, instead of a 5 lb. stocked, corn-fed fish that is easy to catch.

And most trout that are stocked are genetically altered to grow bigger and be sterile.

[Northern Strain]

I dont really think it matters... I just love catching fish, big or small, I am not going to complain about catching 5# fish (Thats rare in the middle of Indianapolis), i wont complain about any fish I catch. I just love fishing, i love catching big smallies, and i enjoy catching a few bluegill some other day. If you don't want to catch those farm grown trout then go some where else, but dont b@!$& about it. It is more rewarding to catch one 5# smallie than it is to catch 10 little ones!

[Paul Roberts]

The biggest challenge, and the biggest feeling of self achievment in fishing, is catching the monsters. Period.

I disagree. I feel like I've accomplished something more when I catch a 18" wild Brown Trout, in its natural habitat, than when I catch some genetically mutated 5 lb. Rainbow trout in a stocked pond. And trust me, the wild Brown Trout is much more challenging.

I do agree that in bass fishing bigger is always better, but that isn't the case with every species.

Genetically mutated in a stocked pond? Okay, well I guess I wasn't thinking about bizzare scenarios like that.

The point I'm trying to make is that everything is relative. I feel like you and others who say numbers are more important are kidding yourselves.

You can prove me wrong very easily. Just tell me that when you're fishing for wild brown trout you'd rather catch 12 wild brown trout in the 12-16 inch range, than you would ONE 40 inch wild brown trout at some point during the day, and thats that.

Same with the steroid genetically mutated pond. If you happen to one day get the itch to go to said pond, and you can tell me you'd rather catch 13 genetically mutated 17 inch fish or ONE 49 inch genetically mutated fish, then once again, that's that and i'll believe you prefer numbers over weight.

I just can't see how that's possible to want to catch numbers over a potential state record sized monster.

Either way, to each his/her own and I hold nothing against you numbers guys. If there are truely any numbers guys out there.

First, read the entire post. It wasn't talking about bass, but all too common artificial fish farms being passed off as quality fishing. As if pounds cure all ills, and bring satisfaction. Satisfaction varies with species, location, timing, and especially, with angler experience. I think the point of the post, as I read it (and from shared experience), as it pertains to all fishing, is that numbers of any kind don't necessarily make quality fishing.

I think where this thread came from is a person who's recognizing that there's more to fishing than numbers of any sort, much less a screaming drag. This is someone who isn't going to be proud of a hand fed fish from a stocked pond where the 6 year old (or 60 yr old novice) standing next to him "accomplished" the same thing. He's more apt to talk excitedly about a 14inch wild brook trout from a little headwater crick he found, caught, and subdued. Hey, maybe he really gets onto those biggest (or even the not-so-biggest) brookies in that particular system, and learns to catch them with some regularity. He's earned that place, and is rightfully proud if it. You can imagine what a insult it would be for another angler to attempt to talk mere "pounds" in front of him -to tell him about the 4lb (hand-fed stocked) trout they caught in a pond, or the 6lb wild brookie caught (bought) in Labrador -where a travel agent and fishing guide did the vast majority of the work. If that angler can look the first in the eye and fail to recognize the latter's accomplishments, then he's not earned respect as an angler in my book. The numbers mean squat there.

In my own experiences, the most satisfying fish I've found in given systems were not always the biggest. Some were more challenging than others. along this line I know a guy who has taken many large bull elk with traditional archery gear, yet his biggest challenge has been in the taking of a calf. No antlers! Imagine that! what are you gonna BRAG with?? LOL

I used to fish for lake run trout on small 'cricks' with light fly-tackle, purposely targeting fish in the 14 to 18 inch range. There could be much larger trout there too. But being tethered to a 12lb trout on a 4wt wand was not all that much fun. Now, give that 12lber some running room and me a 7wt or better rod and I'm a happy guy. On the little cricks though, I wouldn't even cast to such a fish.

In general we're in agreement. But I just wanted to expand on what I think the original poster brought, and something that resonates with me very much. Must be something to do with those spotted fish.

As to 40inch trout and 13lb bass, I'm hearing a lot of exaggeration there. But I get your point. With bass I'll usually cast to the 20"er before the 15"er.

[Eternal Angler]

Big bass are always fun, especially if they are smallmouth.  I really did much trout fishing so I don't really know what you're talking about.  But, I'm sure fish that are stocked probably fight different than those that are naturally grown.

[Paul Roberts]

Bass fishing's different in that we don't have to produce completely artificial fish farms for them. But I do remember having access to highly managed ponds that had never been open to angling. And the bass would strike anything. You feel sorta silly after awhile. BUT...I never did have the chance to educate those fish over time lol.

I had a spot on a trout river in NY my friends and I dubbed the "fish in a barrel hole". If we had to resort to fishing it we all felt a bit sheepish. It was a very last resort and mostly we didn't fish it.

[Chaz Hickcox]

You do realize that brown trout come from europe and are not indiginous right? So that natural habitat thing does not fly buddy.

I know that. But considering the fact that it has been in the US for over 150 years, the Brown Trout that are fished for now are in their "natural" habitat.

All that bein said, who fishes for trout anyways?

Trout fishing has a big following in lots of areas. It might not be popular in Virginia Beach, (no trout there) but head over to the Appalachians or any other mountain range and you will realize how popular it is.

Hey man, the trout comment was a joke there buddy. I have plenty of friends from Montana, Wyoming and Colorado who swear by their monster rainbows. And look at my icon under my screen name, do you think I am actually from VA?  Let's just say the hills I'm from make the appalachians look like a group of mounds.

[Chaz Hickcox]

Bass fishing's different in that we don't have to produce completely artificial fish farms for them. But I do remember having access to highly managed ponds that had never been open to angling. And the bass would strike anything. You feel sorta silly after awhile. BUT...I never did have the chance to educate those fish over time lol.

I had a spot on a trout river in NY my friends and I dubbed the "fish in a barrel hole". If we had to resort to fishing it we all felt a bit sheepish. It was a very last resort and mostly we didn't fish it.

I have to agree with you on that, when I was a kid we used to fish the farm ponds on my cousins' land in Eastern Kansas.  It was awesome for awhile catching 4-5 Four pounders in an hour, but after about a month of that, we were done fishing.  That was a great summer, 16 yrs ago now.  How time flies.

[scootz]

IDK if I am fishing for trout I would much rather catch a couple small wild rainbows, or browns, than 1 or 2 giant stocked fish. If I am fishing for bass I would rather catch 1 big fish than 10 small ones. There is a difference in the fish though. If I am fishing for trout I am in a very small stream where you have to crawl on your hands and knees to get to the next spot up the creek. I find it much more rewarding to catch a few small wild trout that that one monster. That being said I will not turn down the stocked monster rainbow. lol

[oteymc]

As far as bass fishing, I had to confront the bigger vs more issue recently. I hired a guide to go fishing in FL, because I had never fished the area before, and I figured I could learn some things to take back to IA with me. We had a choice of two places to fish. The first place he said would give us a really good opportunity to see a lot of action 50+ fish in a 6 hr period is not unheard of. The other place not as much action, but every bite would have an equal chance of being a 10+ lber as a 1 lber.

I chose #2. I wanted to have a chance to catch something that I wouldn't be able to here (State record is 10lbs). Now I think I would have been disappointed had I not caught a big one because we only caught like 6 or 7 fish all day.

I did learn a lot, by the way.

Although, in IA, I would just like to go throw a lure in water that I didn't have to drill through!