A New Yardstick Part I

Many warmwater fly fishermen are focused on fish per hour and don’t even realize it.

The actual measurement of fish per hour is used by those in resource management to evaluate a fishery.  Here in Florida, the best lakes have a 0.5 to 0.8 fish per hour catch rate (annual average).  By that yardstick, most of us are doing great, or so we think.  We tend to only remember our best days and we really don’t want to quantify our fishing days anyhow.

Just for comparison, let’s look at “professional” fisherman.  One of my favorite websites is Jim Porter's Guide to Bass Fishing.  Jim posted an article on fishing for bedding fish by professional bass fishermen and in that article he cited that “pro” anglers have a catch rate only slightly higher than the national average of the non-tournament angler at 0.19 bass per hour.  The data is old, but still useful in our discussion.

 

Why would “pro” bass fishermen have such a low, pathetic catch rate?

 We all know that TV fishing shows are heavily edited and spliced to give the impression of  great fishing days.  Even the 1 hour Bassmaster Elite fishing shows gives the impression of multiple catches by multiple anglers.  Then came Bass Live and we get to see the long the fishless droughts.  We even get to see the pro angler sight fishing a single large fish for hours.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it results in only wasted time.

So the low catch rate among most bass anglers can be attributed, at least partially if not mostly, to targeting larger fish.  They aren’t using lures and techniques that bring many fish to hand and when they are, they will typically change techniques to stop catching smaller fish.   I know when I am catching a lot of one to two pound bass, I looking to change something.

Why do many warm water fly fishers  claim a successful day by catch rate?  I think it is because of two things:  1)  They consider themselves successful and are content ,  2) they don’t know there are larger fish to be caught ,or, 3) they don’t think they can catch the larger with a fly rod.  I do feel this leads ultimately to stagnation and disappointment.

Can the yardstick of  catch rate challenge us and keep our interest over many seasons?   I say “no”.  I am sure you know of someone who has left fly fishing and moved on to other hobbies.  And, at least for the ones that I know of, some of these folks were dedicated to the sport.

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