The Five Percent Or The Other Ninety-Five Percent

[roadwarrior]

I have read numerous outdoor writers state that

only 5% of bass fishermen have ever caught a 5 lb

bass. Although the chances of a fry reaching that weight

in a natural environment is less than one in a million,

there are thousands in big lakes, especially Southern

waters.

If your goal is to catch a few bass and the size doesn't

matter to you, just about anything will do. Location

is the key, but once you find them, bass are really

pretty easy to catch.

So, for 95% of the fishermen out there, the gear and tackle

isn't that important. On the other hand, if you want

to consistantly catch bigger bass, the situation is different.

Location still dominates in importance, but presentation,

gear and tackle come into play.

When I answer a question on the forum, I'm addressing those

that want to advance their game, especially the young novice.

I try to share the things that work for me and specifically

recommend the brands I fish. More importantly, I want to share

the "where", "when" and "how".

Which brings us to the question, "Which do you want to be

a part of, the 95 percent or the 5 percent?"

[deep]

I'm shooting for a 10 lb northern strain lmb now.

Catching 5 pounders get old after a while lol. Just kidding.

[SirSnookalot]

RW gives good advice !

[Bassn Blvd]

I'm in the 5% bracket, BUT I can help you get into the 1% bracket if you'd like :respect-059:

[00 mod]

I'm in the 5%, but want to be in the 1% or even higher. Bassn blvd, HOW? LOL

Jeff

[Nitrofreak]

5% bracket for me!!!

Location for me is the first and formost thing, Confidence in being able to locate the fish first then confidence in the decisions you make that follow.

[Gatorbassman]

<-------------Yea, Yea, Yea...... Just read what it says above my avatar.

[Long Mike]

5% for me. One of the few things left on my bucket list is a 10#+ LMB.

[Dave T.]

I'm in that upper 5% too. Several 5lb + large mouths.

Now I'm shooting for that 5lb + small mouth. A bit more difficult task where I fish... but reachable.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

5% percent for me too, but as much as I enjoy catching big fish I would rather catch a small fish than no fish.

[Professional Overrun]

Wow! What a club! I cant say that im there yet guys, only a four pounder for me, but ive only been bass fishing for less than a year :0

[Lucky Craft Man]

Great write up and advice RW. That is why I have more equipment I know what to do with, because I need to maximize my chances.

As a side note: It has to be higher than 5%. My 10 year old nephew caught a 5 lb. LM this past summer by accident and I would venture to guess there are a lot of fisherman who have done the same. Now, it might be 5% who have caught at least 5 bass over 5 pounds (which would eliminate all those who just happened upon one).

[Bluebasser86]

5% for me. My problem is catching them much bigger than 5. I catch plenty of 5's each year, just getting the 6+lbers that's tough.

[slonezp]

5% for me.

Wish I could "dink drop 5 pounders"

[River Rat316]

5% for me also, for both Largies and Smallies, although the "official" weight of the largest smallie was 5.1 so barely, I have caught what i perceived as bigger but no scale to prove.

[roadwarrior]

Great write up and advice RW. That is why I have more equipment I know what to do with, because I need to maximize my chances.

As a side note: It has to be higher than 5%. My 10 year old nephew caught a 5 lb. LM this past summer by accident and I would venture to guess there are a lot of fisherman who have done the same. Now, it might be 5% who have caught at least 5 bass over 5 pounds (which would eliminate all those who just happened upon one).

http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/where/reservoirs/quality/

2,666,546 hours of fishing = 473 5 lb+ bass in this study.

That's 5,637 hours per fish. If you divide that into 8 hour

days, it's 704 days per fish.

Note too, this study was conducted on waters considered

to be the most productive in the country in terms of

numbers of 5 lb bass!

[Lucky Craft Man]

http://www.outdooral...rvoirs/quality/

2,666,546 hours of fishing = 473 5 lb+ bass in this study.

That's 5,637 hours per fish. If you divide that into 8 hour

days, it's 704 days per fish.

Note too, this study was conducted on waters considered

to be the most productive in the country in terms of

numbers of 5 lb bass!

Wow...I find that surprising. Those are some incredibile numbers. I feel lucky to be in the 5% who has caught 5 pound+ bass. The next 5 pounder I catch (assuming I catch another one), I will be sure to really appreiciate it, now knowing the rarity of catching one.

[james 14]

5% here too. My goal is to put one in the boat on every trip...or at least in every tourney. I'm still waiting on that stringer with 5 - 5lbers!

[Jigfishn10]

5% here but that took a long time. For me, I was able to fish a lot more the last 5 years, which certainly helped a lot. It's hard here in the northeast to get those opps if you're not spending time on the water. My five plus fish were on jigs and spinnerbaits, so now my goal is to try and get one on topwater.

[Team9nine]

http://www.outdooral...rvoirs/quality/

2,666,546 hours of fishing = 473 5 lb+ bass in this study.

That's 5,637 hours per fish. If you divide that into 8 hour

days, it's 704 days per fish

Your math is off. The 2.6 million angler hours is the total accumulated hours for all study years combined. The 473 bass over 5lbs. is just for the 2010 reporting year. In 2010, there were 70,003 reported angling hours, which when divided by the 473 reported bass >5lbs works out to 148 hrs per 5lb fish, or one every 18.5 tourney days (8 hr days).

Several states keep track of this type of information. A few years back, I compiled all the available reports from 6 different states, including Alabama, a data set that was twice as large as the Alabama set alone (nearly 5 million angler hours). The average time across all lakes and states that it took to catch a 5 pound bass worked out to be 495.9 hours per fish. If you looked at just the best lake in any given state for a year that had at least 5 reports for itself, and averaged those across the 6 states and many years, you arrived at a best average of 165.5 angler-hours to catch a 5 pound bass. At the time, several of the states had been affected by the largemouth bass virus. Now that that has largely run its course on many waters, its obvious that bass fishing is only getting better and better.

Would be interesting to know exactly what the basis is for the 5/95 stat that has been reported...

-T9

[Bass_Fanatic]

5lb fish are common around here. Pretty much everyone I know has caught a 5+. I have caught serveral hundred over 5lbs...

[zip pow]

5% here to I figured out a long time ago about the more hours the more bigger fish I get upset if I don't catch one over nine every year. I put alot of time in so I want my reward.

[Georgia Jeff]

wow. Only 5% have caught a 5lb bass. That seems really low. However, I do live in the south. Almost everyone I know has caught a 5lb or better fish. I guess I have been taking some things for granted. Now a 10 pounder, that's elusive.

[Fishes in trees]

That 5% seems low to me also, but what do I know about stats? Over the last several years, I've caught a few 5+ lb bass every year. My best year ever I caught 12, my average is closer to 3 or 4 per year.

[weezy109]

I mostly fish tva lakes and the biggest bass i have ever seen come out of one is a 7lb largemouth, caught by yours truly.