Two pounder truth

[Guest avid]

This is pretty informative about 2 lbers. They are alot bigger and harder to catch than most bassers are willing to admit. I had to laugh because I confess to being guilty of this exaggeration. It seems that for alot of us any bass over 12 inches is a 2 lber. Oh if only were true ;D enjoy

http://www.another site/opinion_article.asp?id=53

[Guest avid]

OOPs.   the link is blocked.  Let me get back to you on this

[GobbleDog]

After fishing in local tourneys for so long, I'm decent at guestimating bass's weight. But when I go saltwater fishing with my friends and they ask me how much the saltwater fish we caught weighs, I'm always at a loss.  

[Guest avid]

Here is the article cut and pasted it's by Lyle Johnson a Louisiana outdoor writer

I've been around bass fishing and fisherman for a long time and know a lot of those who love the sport both men and women. As a bass angler, outdoor writer and TV co-host, I get to hear a lot of the dock talk. How many bass people are catching, where they're biting, what baits are being used to catch them and how big they are make up most of the conversations.

A lot of fishermen are tight-lipped about their locations, and what baits are catching them. But the numbers they're catching and how big they are usually flow like an artesian waterwell. "Man, we caught our limit and all of them were over 2 pounds one went over 4," or "We caught so many big fish, we were culling 2-pounders."

Maybe in a disappointed tone you can hear, "We caught plenty of fish but none were over 2 pounds," or "No big fish at all our largest was a little over 2."

Being what I'd call a pretty fair bass fisherman I fish for fun and for competition the 2-pounder I kept hearing about caught my attention. In my younger days it was easy to overestimate the weight of a fish, but after a few years of tournament fishing, estimating weights became a little easier.

The thought of 2-pound bass in the livewell always got my blood flowing. Although catching a 4- or 5-pounder might be a great goal, I always thought a 2-pound average was a very respectable catch.

The 2-pounder seemed to be the mark. I thought to myself, "Man I must be missing it." A 2-pound bass was a nice fish to me, but sort of routine or a little on the short end for some others. Surely all these bass fishermen couldn't be exaggerating the truth. So about 10 years ago I took it upon myself to do some scientific research and test out just how big a 2-pound bass really was.

I had an idea that if people could catch five 2-pound bass every time they went fishing, they'd do well.

What better than the recorded weights of tournament anglers, amateur and professional, to compile my data? The results weren't a big surprise in some ways, but they amazed me in others.

The facts concluded that if you could catch five 2-pounders every time you went fishing, you could quit the grind of your day job and earn a good living bass fishing. Some years, you'd win a lot of money.

So this fall I was on another site and a survey on the homepage caught my attention. The question posed was, "What size of bass do you typically catch when you go fishing?" The categories to choose from were: 1) up to 2 pounds, 2) 2 to 3-plus pounds, 3) 4 to 6-plus pounds, 4) only 7-plus pounders, bud! 5) I only fish for bluegills. This was too good to be true.

When thinking about my vote, the first one that came to mind was 2 to 3-plus pounds, but in all honesty, that's what I want to catch. The question was, "What size of bass do you typically catch when you go fishing?" Typically I catch up to 2-pounders if I average all my catches, so that's how I voted.

When I got to the results page, 41% of the people voted like me, but 49% said they usually caught 2 to 3-plus pounders. Over 2,500 votes were cast from bass fishermen, so this is a pretty scientific poll. If the guys in that category are honest, boy are they missing their calling.

So just where would a 2-pound average put you? Do the math. When reading tournament results, see where five 2-pound bass puts you in the final results.

After some tedious research on another site and some great help from ESPN Outdoors publicist Kim Jessup, here are some results that just might get your attention.

The Bassmaster Elite 50s are a good example. The series lasted 2 years, with four tournaments each year. Five 2-pounders would have netted you a 1st at Wissota, two 2nds, then one each of the following: 8th, 13th, 16th, 27th and 30th. Not bad for fishing against KVD, Mark Davis, Greg Hackney and the likes.

What about the Bassmaster Classic, the ultimate crown for a professional angler? You would have beaten the best gathering of pros in 2005 by a whopping 17-01. Your finish in 2004 would have been 13th, then 8th in 2003, 9th in 2002, 4th in 2001, and 1st in 2000. You would have also won in 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988 and scored plenty of Top 10s along the way.

So now, just how big is a 2-pound bass? Bigger than most of us think. Is it just possible that we now have proof positive of the age-old adage that fishermen don't tell the truth? I'm not telling.

Lyle Johnson, from Louisiana, is an outdoors columnist and TV co-host.

[roadwarrior]

Very interesting and there is no doubt in my mind that it's true, but...

Another good reason for being a recreational fisherman. We can (usually) catch more and bigger bass because we have more options:

1. It is a huge advantage fishing the same water most of the time.

   This isn't meant as an argumentative point, I realize that one of the best parts of competative fishing is fishing at new lakes.

2. We can fish late afternoons and at night whenever we want.

3. Live bait. Well, I could have made that #1 and just stopped here.

4. We can hire guides to put us on fish. Rick Clunn has stated that finding fish is what seperates the men from the boys. We can take the shortcut.

5. Recreational fishermen can fish for trophy bass only if they choose. Larry Nixon spent two years proving you cannot do that at the professional level.

Recreational fishermen have an edge. We can do things, legally, that tournament fishermen just can't do. Using the right bait at the right place and fishing longer improves the average size for our five "best" fish a day. If we could use those numbers against the pros, I guess we win a lot of money and most tournaments. Imagine that.

[Matt Fly]

Nice reading.  10 lbs in 95% of the tournaments we have wouldn't get you a nickle.  Try 15-20lbs to be in the running most of the time in Tx.  Slot lakes don't count in those results.    My goal has always been at least 4-2.5lbers for ten and a kicker of at least 5 for 15lbs.  These lakes support that kind of weight every weekend.   Most of these lakes in North/Northeast Tx will have a tourney or two every weekend.  

I am always happy to limit out.

[roadwarrior]

Another good point Matt_Fly.

"Average" depends a lot on where you fish. I bet Raul doesn't catch 2 lb average fish in Mexico either.

[DDbasser]

I read that article a while back, and can't say that I agree with it!

When I was researching the different Trails and Clubs here In NE Oklahoma,

I first checked the tournament results from each lake.

A limit of 2 pounders in most of our tournaments would place you about midway in the standings.

It takes on average 15 lbs to place in the money on most of the bigger tourny's here and 17+ to win.

[Raul]

To be honest, the average fish I catch on any given day in most lakes is 1+ pound, a good day includes a couple of 2-3 pounders and on an excellent day a bunch of 1 + pound fish and an ocassional fish around 4 pounds, yeah big mommas are big but only ocassionally you connect with them, the day I catch a 7+ fish I 'm in cloud nine, which means that it 's probably the only fish I 'm going to catch in the entire day just because I was looking for it.

As I said before, it 's a matter of population, there are a lot more 1 pound fish than 5 pounders and the chances decrease as you try to move up in the scale. In the lake I fish the most something around 5 pounds is rare, something around 10 pounds....... man you have to fish all year long and even then it may take years before you find it. Just to give you an example, I 've caught 3 fish over 9 pounds in that lake, one back in 1985, another one in 1996 and the last one last year in 2004, 3 fish over 9 pounds in a time span of 20 years and I swear that I beat the heck out of the lake almost every weekend ( with the exception of last year ). We do have big bass lakes but you can count those with the fingers of your hand, from all the lakes that I have available for me within a 2 hour drive ( 10 ) only one is known to produce big fish "regularily", and even if you are at it the chances of catching a big momma are slim, most of the fish you will catch are fish between 1-2 pounds.

[roadwarrior]

Hmmm....

That surprises me. Maybe I should stay planted here in Tennessee.

[Raul]

We can always go to pay a visit to the ponds RW  . That 's where the big fish are.  

[roadwarrior]

Ooooh Grasshopper,

You are a sly one. The operative word was "lakes". Okay, now I see.

[Hookhead]

Early to bed

Early to rise

Fish all day

Make up lies

[Siebert Outdoors]

around here a 2lber is about 16" on average.  1.5 is about 15" approx.  Most of the tourneys here 10lbs will usually get you in the top 10 but thats about it.  Springtime 10lbs might get you in the top 20.

[srv1990]

The way I'm reading the article is seems like Mr. Johnson is saying "a limit of two-pounders per day", or every time out.  If so, for a three day tourney, that would be 30 lbs., a four day tourney...  I've never fished a tournament, so this isn't from experience, just my interpretation.  TC

[rocknfish9001]

The highest winning weight i ever saw here was 19.50 lbs. Pretty crazy. Almost a 4 lb. average. The best I have ever done was a 3.5 lb. average, and I couldnt stop grinning all day. Actually, i weighed all the fish i caught that day, and averaged it, although most of them were about 3-4 lbs. I didnt catch anything bigger than 4. My winning tournament strategy would be get a bunch of dinks real quick, than progress to bigger fish after you have a limit. Most 1st place in tourneys around here is about 12-15 lbs.

[GobbleDog]

Here in Florida bags weights can get pretty big, but it obviously depends on the lake. My biggest stringer was 19 lbs in a night tourney on West Lake Toho. Against 30+ boats, we only took 3rd place. The first place weight was over 22 lbs or so. That was a tough club - full of ringers.

I've also been in a weekly tournament (with less than 10 boats) where nobody got many bites and some guy won with just one dink bass.

[bronzeback_NW]

Out here on the Columbia and surrouding areas we fish 4-5 club tournaments a year.Only two are ussally on the Local river(columbia)and the others are on lkes or bodys of water we don't fish much.If we were to avg a 2.5 fish with a five fish limit for each tourny you would be right up in the top 5 or higher.Spring and late fall we will bring in 20lb bags of smallies and the OK.But in the dog days when were trying to fish in 102 degrees it gey real tough and maybe 10-12 bag might be the big sack.We don't have an =medium out here.

[Rattlinrogue]

The thing I've noticed where I fish is any bass caught from 8-12 inches is automatically a "1 pound bass".A true one pound bass is a pretty good fish.

[Madhouse27]

Let's say on the average day of fishing you catch 15 small bass in the 10-13 inch range and then a handful of good ones. Assuming that these smaller fish weigh approx 3/4 of a pound each, you would then have to catch another 9 or 10 four pound fish just to attain a 2 pound average for the day. I might try keeping a better log to try and figure out what my actual average fish size is. I think over a day of fishing we tend to remember the better fish and not the many dinks that quickly went back in. What I would probably find more interesting is a survey that compiled the number of fish per day that bass anglers caught. I would probably guess an average of around 12 fish per day averaged out over time.

[Z71]

This topic is interesting, because I usually guess on the weight and turn them loose. I think I will buy myself a nice set of digital scales and throw a pen and notebook in the boat and start actually weighing all the fish I catch. This should interesting as I consider myself to be an average fisherman.

The old spring loaded scales I have are only good if you're weighin a sack of rocks. I think thats why I never weigh anything, the accuracy is too poor with the spring scales, so I dont' use them, even if the fish is a good one.  I will post my results some time this spring here on the site after I've made several trips.

[preach4bass]

I fish tournaments that average about 30 people and if I catch a limit (any size limit) I start thinking about getting a little money.  Most of the time someone will bust a 13-17 lb. bag, but if you can catch 8-10 lbs. you're probably going to get a little cash.  That's in eastern NC.

[flechero]

Let's say on the average day of fishing you catch 15 small bass in the 10-13 inch range and then a handful of good ones. Assuming that these smaller fish weigh approx 3/4 of a pound each, you would then have to catch another 9 or 10 four pound fish just to attain a 2 pound average for the day. I might try keeping a better log to try and figure out what my actual average fish size is. I think over a day of fishing we tend to remember the better fish and not the many dinks that quickly went back in. What I would probably find more interesting is a survey that compiled the number of fish per day that bass anglers caught. I would probably guess an average of around 12 fish per day averaged out over time.

Yep, sounds like the people in the poll needed to think about the difference between median and mean...  

[dabluz]

I couldn't help noticing that the average size you guys catch is quite small.  Do some people keep the best fish for some reason or another?  Someone is surely killing off the nice ones.  Do people release the bass that are over 5 or 6 lbs or do they keep them to show off?

[RoLo]

Silly I guess, but I've measured and weighed a high percentage of the bass landed on my boat.

Without question, there's a much greater number of 1 lb bass versus 2 lb bass.

With respect to individual fish though (not average weight), I'm a little surprised that 2 pounds

was recognized as the sticking point in the article. In my experience at least, "3 POUNDS"

is a more conspicuous weight ceiling for largemouth bass, one I can certainly relate to.

I find it utterly amazing, but it doesn't matter whether I'm fishing up north in Lake Huron, Ontario

or down south in Lake Walk-In-Water, 3 pounds has been the first weight plateau (about 17.5" long).

I hate when that happens >