BassParade: Science

Science: One Fishing Friend too Many

Me and my two favorite bass fishing buddies

One of the more common tools available and used by state fishery personnel to help evaluate our local waters is the creel survey. If you’ve ever been stopped at the ramp after a day on the water and asked about your fishing trip, or perhaps had any fish you’ve caught in the livewell checked for numbers and size, you’ve probably been involved in this data capturing event.

Traditionally it’s been assumed that most catch rates reflect a 1:1 ratio relative to angler party size. A recent study* involving Mississippi anglers over a 15 year period has started to shed some light on the actual statistics among anglers and angling groups, and even has some interesting findings relative to bass anglers habits. See if the data doesn’t reflect what you experience on the water.

Two’s a Party – Three’s a Crowd

There might be a reason that bass boats only have two seats in them, one for the driver and one for his buddy. According to the data, on average about 60% of bass anglers fish with a buddy, two to a boat. About another 35% fish alone, meaning that less than 5% of all bass angling trips have 3 or more in the boat at one time. Is it just the nature of bass anglers, the limited floor space and seating of bass boats, or the fact that nobody likes to have a set of trebles from a Rat-L-Trap slapped upside their head, resulting in a trip to the emergency room? I’ve fished 3 to a boat a time or two, and it can be done fine as long as most everyone is careful. In fact, most guide trips are probably set up this way, but your style can get a little cramped.

Turns out that if you’re spending the day out on the lake with a buddy, you fish longer, also. The average trip with two bass anglers in the boat was about 5.5 hours, about a half hour longer than the guy that bass fishes by himself. Add a 3rd guy into the mix, and the trip gets shortened by an hour, down to about 4.5 hours long. Add any more, and the trip gets shortened even more, losing another hour if there are 4 in the boat. This might be due to that ER visit that is surely required with that many guys in a boat slinging treble hooks everywhere.

Finally, there are the catch rates. Turns out that for absolute numbers of bass caught, two guys catch more than 1 guy fishing alone, but 3 guys catch more than either a lone angler or a pair of anglers. The caveat here though is that based on fish per hour per angler, that rate drops off quite a bit as the numbers go up. So one basser fishing by himself will have the best catch rate (bass per hour per angler), and that rate then steadily drops as more friends share the boat and split up the fish catching duties. Moral here being if you’re ever in one of those big bass only contests and they allow 3 to a boat, you better find a couple friends because you’ll catch more bass than the 1 or 2 angler boats, thereby upping your odds of bringing in that winning lunker. But if you just want to catch a bunch of bass, give your buddies the old shine move and hit the lake by yourself so you won’t have to split up that school of fish with another angler.

* MIRANDA, L. E., 2005. Catch Rates Relative to Angler Party Size with Implications for Monitoring Angler Success. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 134:1005–1010.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Alex Voog

    April 11, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    You are thinking too hard. Shut up and cast. “*~*”

  2. Alex Voog

    April 11, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    🙂

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Gitcha Bassin' Fix

The best, worst and funniest in bassin'! Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin™. Make sure you sign up for the BassBlaster email!

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