Who is the better fisherman?

[Mattlures]

Who is better?

The guy who catches the most small bass or the guy that catches the most big bass.

Seriously I am curious what you guys think

[Chris]

In a tournament the one who wins. Just a general topic the one who catches the most fish or the most big fish consistently with no luck involved.

[Mattlures]

I dont necessarily mean in tournaments. I am just asking who the better angler is.

[Chris]

The guy that catches the most big bass.  

[Captain Cali]

The guy who catches the most big bass. Big bass are smarter and when they do bite they are harder to land.

[New Bass Man]

I'm not sure that question can be answered definitively.  It's like the less filling--taste great dilema.  I suppose it depends upon what you value more.  More fish or bigger fish.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

This is kind of like that golf saying .... "Drive for show, putt for dough"

I personally think that a person that can go out and put fish in the boat regardless of the conditions day in and day out is pretty impressive.

Although I would rather have a couple big fish than a bunch of little ones in each outing recreationally speaking. Tournament wise I would rather have a five bass limit everytime.

Great question ............... Actually I don't know what I think ... ;D :-?

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

This is a trick question but an easy one just the same.

The ones who is smiling the most.  

[Cephkiller]

I think one's success can only be defined by oneself in any endeavor.

[Bass Hammer]

LBH has it right.

However, I feel it's the bigger bass.

I think on a particular peice of structure the bigger more dominate bass will be on the best part of that structure.

So, if somebody I'm fishing with is consistantly catching bigger fish than me I feel he is reading the structure better than me.

[Matt Fly]

This is some what of a trick Question.   Theres alot more to fishing than landing the fish.   We have all read enough to know chasing true trophy class bass can go days without catching one at times and some days the magic is in the air and numerous trophies are landed.    Being able to read the lake, make changes on the fly, sometimes under pressure to produce a bass consistently takes a skilled angler, just as handling and landing quality trophies.

The question is who is better, and I think the all around angler is the better.  Being capable of studying a lake and game planning a trophy day or tournament day, they both require different mind sets and approaches.    

Mr Murphy goes out on the week and lands one of his 12 lb bass.  Nice, what he has is another memory of a 12 lb bass and not his goal of another true monster bass for his four days of fishing.

TO (Tak) goes out for the week at the Classic and consistently finds fish, changing  baits each day to adjust to the weather and clouds, tweeking his patterns from finese plastics to crankbaits while the clock is ticking.  For four days straight he's having to make adjustments and put weight in his boat.  He won the Classic, does this make him better than Bill Murphy?

Would this settle who is better.  Tak weighed in 40 lbs in 4 days, Mr Murphy had 25 pounds on 4 days.    Different mind sets, different goals, but each had to display some knowledge and skill to accomplish eaches goals.

My vote goes to the guy who displayed the most skill to accomplish his goal!!!

A guy that goes to numerous lakes a year, not some guy whos camped out on the same 3-4 lakes all year.  

If Bill Murphy came to the James River for Four days, and Rick Clunn  was to compete against him on the same days, most weight wins as normal tournament rules apply.   Rick Clunn waxes him.  Reverse the roles and let Rick go the Cal.  Rick still has a chance to put more weight in the boat in 4 days as Bill Murphy.  

I'm gonna go with a tournament angler,  he hardly ever gets home field advantage, always fishing new waters, has to perform under various weather conditions, where the other doesn't have to leave his home on bad weather days.  One gets his own bed every night, one travel.  One sees his family on a normal basis, the other doesn't.      Which guy has to produce under pressure?  Which one doesn't.

[sodaksker]

This is kind of like that golf saying .... "Drive for show, putt for dough"

Now that is a whole nother thread for a different forum

[FlyRod]

Who is better?

The guy who catches the most small bass or the guy that catches the most big bass.

Seriously I am curious what you guys think

Me! 8-)

[Vyron]

Its not about size.

The best is the one who catches BASS when others catch NOTHING

[Siebert Outdoors]

I agree with LBH.

But also I would rather be the guy that catches 30 fish that weighs 2-3 lbs instead of the guy that catches 4 fish that weigh 4 lbs.  Drastic numbers yeah but I think it shows my reasoning more.

[Guest avid]

Who is better?

The guy who catches the most small bass or the guy that catches the most big bass.

Seriously I am curious what you guys think

It's a simple question and deserves a simple answer.   I will say the guy who catches the most big fish.

But now for my real answer.  

The better fisherman is the guy who consistanly achieves his goal.

There are days when I just want to get into fish.  I'm not looking for size, I'm looking for numbers.  If I catch a bunch then I was a good fisherman that day.

Then there  are other days when I want to catch bigger fish.  If I catch a few sizable fish then I was a good fisherman on that day.

Matt, this was a good post.  But you have to be careful about making us think too much  ;D ;D ;D

[alhuff]

As far as I'm concered its the person who is fishing and catching the fish he/she is fishing for.

If you are fishing for large bass and catch large bass then you are doing good, and if you are fishing just to catch bass and you catch bass, no matter the size, then you are doing good.

Just being outdoors fishing is great and catching fish is a bonus.

Alfred

[roadwarrior]

I don't know about "better", but I know a little bit about fun. For me it's not about "fishing" it's about "catching". Yep, I like getting out and I'm on a first name basis with my friend The Bait Monkey, but beyond all that, what thrills me is fighting a HUGE fish. Some of the fish the pros are catching, especially the "keepers" at the Classic, don't do a thing for me. If I'm fishing artificials I try to use lures that scare those little fish away. I don't fish 5" Senkos anymore because I used to catch too many little fish.

I like drinking beer, jumping in the river in the summer when it's hot and listening to country music with my buds. Oh! I like catching 20 lb stripers and 5 lb smallmouth, too. But I don't care anything about small fish. I don't wear a watch when I fish and I eat lunch when I'm hungry. I never worry about making it back in for weigh-in and I can fish past dark, we don't clean fish either!

I'm not saying my friends and I are better fishermen. No, we aren't challenged much either. We fish baits that fish like to eat. We fish where big fish live and we usually catch about a hundred pounds of some kind of fish every day. Yep, that's apiece! I only fish for two kinds of fish: Big ole gooduns' and good ole biguns'.

So, I don't know whether the guy that consistantly catches "limit" on all kinds of different water is a better fisherman than the guy who successfully targets monster bass. I don't know if I could catch any fish on your water fishing the way you want me to, but if you fish my water the way I want you to, you're going to catch lot's of fish and some of them will be HUGE!

[Lightninrod]

Never fished a tourny and though I still enjoy a dink on the end of the line vs. no Bass, there is no doubt in my mind that catching big(hopefully a double-digit soon) Bass far surpasses any number of small Bass for me.

Dan

[.ghoti.]

The best fisherman today is the guy out on the water fishing, not sitting around here, like I am, fooling around on the net.

[RoLo]

Who is the better fisherman?

That is definitely a moot question.

I'd say that the Stringer Weight is probably the most telling gage,

because it incorporates both Quantity and Quality.

[GobbleDog]

Big weight is always more impressive than catching a bunch of dinks.

2 months ago, I was in a club tourney on Lake Harris and weighed in 16 lbs. (took 2nd place). When people at my work asked how I did in the tourney and I tell them that I weighed in 16 lbs, they all think I must have been out there catching bass left and right.

But in actuallity, during the entire eight hour tourney I only caught 2 bass and my fishing partner only caught 3 bass. They all happened to be monsters, but the fishing was actually pretty slow.

[Matt Fly]

The best fishermen is the versitile fishermen.   He can read new waters and make it produce.     Most trophy fishermen are territorial, fish the same region, same waters their wholelife.   I call that homefield advantage, prove that same skill in 10 states instead of 1.    Big fish are nice and welcome here anytime.  But exclusively fishing for them full time doesn't not constitute who the best bass fishermen is.  just one phase of fishing.

Why do you think Tournaments started?  To prove who the best fishermen are.   Choose your weapon and fish.   How many tournaments are won with 2 fish weighing in at 20lbs.   How many days would a swim bait chunker make the cut on tour?  I don't see too many big bass experts making a living on tour.   How many trophy hunters qualified for the Classic last year, the year before that, and ........  We already have a system in place to decide this question, its called tournaments.  

The answer was Rick Clunn, the 4 time Classic winner and I don't classify him as a trophy hunter, but he does display the same mental attitude required to persue them.

[5bass]

I will say tournament angler.You have a limited amount of time to bring back a limit of bass and catching that limit,at times,is alot harder than it sounds.That is why you see most limits weigh under 20 pounds.(unless the tournament is in Fla or Cali)

The non-tournament angler can fish where he wants(small ponds,private lakes),when he wants(before daylight,after dark) and what he wants(live bait in alot of cases).The tournament angler is definitely challenged more to catch fish.

[Cujo]

Big Bass!