An Observation

[Stan Wright]

An Observation

I've noticed a lot more people we fish with.... especially kids.... are fishing like they were competing in the Bass Masters Classic.

Let me explain. When a fish strikes, they set the hook (cross the fishes eyes) and then skip the fish accross the top of the water and swing it up into the boat. If the fish is a little larger and tries to jump.... the angler thrusts the rod tip into the water and sweeps hard to keep the fish from jumping, all the while screaming. No you don't! The "fight" with these fish might last every bit of 3 or 4 seconds.

Maybe it's just me.... but this isn't my idea of fun fishing. I thrill if a fish is large enough to pull drag and make the reel sing. The best part of hooking a fish is to see it come out of the water, head shaking, gill rattling, tail walking accross the surface. Wow. Then after a few minutes of back and fourth tug of war.... reaching down and gently cradling the fish in your hand or grabbing the lip.... now that's what memories are made of for me.

We've scaled down our tackle to match the size of the fish. (our average fish is 2 pounds, with a 3 to 5 pounder not that uncommon) Using 4# and 6# test spinning tackle adds a little challenge and skill into the mix. When you finally get a 2 pound peacock or largemouth to the net, you feel good. And it took a lot longer than 3 or 4 seconds to do it.
(the last 8 pound peacock bass on 4# test took 35 minutes to land. That fish weighed twice the breaking strength of the line, something few anglers have done.)
And since we're using lighter line and smaller lures, we tend to catch more fish.

The average tournament fish weighs less than 2 pounds. Most tournament anglers don't even catch a full limit of fish. Look at how thrilled Mike is on that City Limits fishing show to catch a limit of 5, 12 inch fish.

Now if your fishing in a big money tournament, that's one thing. For the other thousands of anglers out there,... relax, have fun.... slow down and smell the roses.
Just a thought,
Aloha,
Stan

[roadwarriorsvt]

I gotta say I was a little guilty of some of those things myself. Last year when we were catching dozens of fish at a time, I would try to get the fish onto the boat, unhook, re-bait, and cast out as fast as I could. I was all about catching as many as I could. I noticed my father-in-law just cruising when he caught a fish, just letting the fish wear out before trying to get it on the boat. Of course recently, when I would only catch one fish the whole day, I'd try and make it last as long as possible!

[Ken]

I agree Stan. I love the fight too...unless I hook into a 25lb king salmon on 6lb leader and it takes 25min to land the fish...after a while, you just want it to end

I have to say though, it's the take/hit that I remember most for many of my catches...unless the fish did something extraordinary during that fight that makes it more memorable...say...having a 5-foot sturgeon jump clear out of the water...that's pretty memorable

However, there are many days when I can only scratch out one or two fish...and I would want to land them quickly so I don't lose them Gotta make those fish count on the tough days

I've now bought a 3/4-wt rod to fish the small stream trout. Landing 8" brook trout on a 6-wt is just so lame.

[skunked]

Agreed with what was said 100%. The only time I can see when it is good to winch 'em in is when it is your job and money is on the line. I remember going to Nuuanu Reservoir and seeing some crazies show up with huge ulua poles with 80 pound line. Even at the lake, sometimes I will find discarded hooks and line so heavy that I think the anglers were expecting to catch a new lake record 44 pound catfish! I bet if they hooked a 3 pounder, they wouldn't even know it was on! The best memory I have in fishing was catching a 2.5 lb. smallmouth bass on 2 lb test line up at the North Fork creek when I was a teenager. This would have been nothing special if I were using heavier gear, but on 2 lb. line, a 500 size Shimano reel, and a 5 ft rod rated down to 1/32 oz, it was a blast!! Even nowadays at the lake, I rarely use anything over 8 lb. test, even on my baitcasting reels. Heaviest line I've ever used was 17 lb. fluorocarbon at Lake Fork. This was out of necessity due to the timber in the water and the fear of losing my guides lures!
Lighter tackle is just more fun. The only thing that's irritating me lately is using lures like Road Runners that are so small that they are being hooked deep and being cut off from the tuc's teeth. I've lost several lures (and fish) in the past few trips. I refuse to resort to a leader because I think I will get less strikes.

[BASSTRACKER]

i agree with stan, hell i love the fish jumpin, bass...... tucs...... whatever isnt that the fun??the hunt and the excitement of the catch. be pretty damn boring if every time you went out you caught 300 fish as fast as you could yank em in the boat. or likewise if you hauled water every day! i fish much heavier line than most here i guess, i spool 6lb on spinning, with some with 10. and 10- 15lb on my baitcasting, and a few 20lb braids every once in awhile.but i fish quite diffrently too alot of abrasions i have to cut and retie alot. i still lose fish all the time. im just happy if i can see what i got on the other end before it gets away,and a pic if its worthy is always nice too!this past weekend i went out got a couple of bites and bumps but no fish, alot and i mean ALOT of line from other people! i filled a small foodland bag with dredged up line!!! some had bobbers and others sinkers on them and many had multiple lines from multiple people all in one big ball! the cost of too light a line??