A Stud or Numbers?

[fishinfewl]

#1 Quanity over quality.  Catching a trophy is great but catching more is much more fun.

[Fish Chris]

To me, fun is > Your heart beating out of your chest ! Your hair tingling ! Your mouth getting dry ! ......you could have a finger crushed in a vice, and not even feel it... until later ;-)

That's FUN !

Peace,

Fish

[Hammer 4]

Just thought about what Chris said..I guess if your lucky to be able to fish alot, and catch a fair amount of fish most of the time, in the 1-4 lb range, then I could see why someone would pick catching a Big bass over catching several smaller ones.

Unfortunatly, I don't get to fish all the time at a good lake, that's why I chose quanity....

[SirSnookalot]

Out of about 50+ hours a week of fishing I spend about 15 of them bass fishing, so I do not consider myself a bass man.

#2 is my regular style of fishing.  To me the weight is irrelevant( I don't weigh them anyway ), I want the best fight from whatever species I'm fishing for on the lightest tackle possible.

[Bass_Akwards]

Great stuff guys!  Love it.  I posted this because my friends are always telling me I am after big fish to much.  

They're happy catching 50 1-2 pound bass all day with their downsized lures while I might not catch a thing for hours with my 3/4 oz jig n pig, big spinnerbait, or swimbaits.  I couldn't care less about catching numbers.   Just gimme a hogzilla every few hundred casts and I'm happy!

[Fishing Rhino]

OK, I'm going to weigh in on this after pondering it for a while.  In the end, it all boils down to personal choice.  There is no right or wrong answer, except for each of us personally.  Do you prefer your steak rare or well done?

An analogy to golf, because the question can be looked at from this perspective.

If you play golf, would you rather shoot a very good score, or, would you rather shoot a 125 with a hole in one during that round?

From that perspective, it's a no brainer for me.  I'll take the good round over the high score which includes an ace.

Never had a hole in one, but I've made an eagle where I holed my second shot from 165 yards on a par four.

The bad side, it was to an elevated green.  I knew it was a good shot, but could not see it land on the green or roll into the cup.

When I got to the green and didn't see the ball, I was certain it had ended up past the green.  No way I'd have that much good luck.  

I spent five or ten minutes looking for it in the tall grass before deciding to look in the cup.  

Both scenarios constitute a good day's fishing.

[fishfordollars]

#1, for the simple reason it shows that I have figured out a pattern and have developed a stragety that keeps me on the fish.

[NasTMcfingas]

I'm still trying to make the 5#ers club so #2, but wait how many of those fish are 4#ers? :

[J-B]

For me I 'd rather catch one bigun than a bunch of little ones.

But I 'm not always fishing all by and for myself, got the nephew and son and I have to think that it 's not always about what I want or wish for, kids gotta catch fish or they get bored, gotta choose numbers

X2

I could not agree more. Now I would be more than happy to have the big fish only day but I tend to enjoy watching my kids bring em in. Watching the expresions on my kids faces when they hook one and pull it in is better than anything else in my book. I will gladly take the memories of the many smiles on their faces over the one smile on my face when I catch the big fish (but I still would like to catch her anyways).

[basswitch]

I'm all about the numbers, and anything over 2lbs would be new to me so I could happily do that all day. And as someone else mentioned, I usually have a kid with me and I'd love to see them catch fish all day long.

[Muad Dib]

wow what a question. just read everyones post and my thought is that im not sure. i do like catching bass in the 1-4 lb range cause thats what ive been catching the past month. first day out fishing i caught a 6lber with a fish in its stomach so i brought it down to 5-13 after lots thinking. being that my pb is 7.2  the thought of catching a 9.5 would be sweet. buttttttttttttttttt im going for a 10lber. if you changed it to ten pounds then im in. but other wise ill stick to 1-4's for now. and im sure ill change my minds in a few minutes. haha good post.

:Dt rage.

[bigfish88]

#1 Going 7 hours without catching anything would be boring.

not when you have supreme confidence that the approach you are using has every ability to call that specific fish. Every cast is as hopeful as the 1st

I'll be spending my second year concentrating on #2.

well said..

[J Francho]

Both, but under different circumstances.

1. Tournament Fishing

2. Rec. fishing/trophy hunting

[Muad Dib]

well said franco. i def agree with that!.

[Blake R.]

#2.

[K.Russ]

#1 until that elusive 10 lb.+ then #2.

[dmac14]

#1- Usually I am with someone, and to make it so they enjoy it more I want numbers.

I agree with Francho, for tournaments #1 would also be the best answer because for 4# fish if you catch 5 you got a nice limit.

[JuniorFisherJJ08]

it depends. but probably number 1 because if im fishing a tourney the total weight pays more than the big bass. nut if i could get 4 more 1lbers with that 9.8 id go with number 2

[Bass_Akwards]

For those of you saying numbers are more important, what about the challenge of it all?  

Is there an actual challenge to catching large numbers of average or below sized LMB when you know for a fact you're "on fish?"

Don't get me wrong, If I catch 44 fish in 3 hours I'm not going to be sitting there all mad that I haven't caught a trophy bass yet that day, BUT, after I know I'm "on fish" and have caught lets say 5 fish in 7 casts, the challenge kinda dwindles to nothing.

Conversely, I was just watching a show where a guy did a study of pro fishermen and the monster fish they caught over a 16000 "man fishing day" period.

That's 16000 cumulative days of the best fishermen in the world, on the best lakes, with some of the best conditions, with the best equipment and they only managed to catch 7 LMB's over 13 pounds.  Basically that comes out to you, me, or most others in the world (besides "fishchris)" catching one of these toads once in every FIVE LIFETIMES!  

As we all know, tourney anglers aren't necessarily after these monsters every minute of a tourney, but don't miss the point. Big bass are rare and smart and very hard to hook up with, not to mention pull into your boat or to shore without your line snapping, or having the thing rap you around a tree 10 feet under the waters surface.

For me it's all about targeting and catching LMB that are at least close to half a state record if not a state record itself.