Just saw the note in the Blaster about the results from the Florida big bass study to date. Pulled up the full report and this bullet point in particular caught my attention as it is a common topic in these forums, and something @Paul Roberts and I have discussed at length.

 

Trophy Bass Statistics

 

Catch Rates

 

“About one in eight to one in four trophy bass were caught by anglers in the state each year. This range of catch rates for trophy bass is quite similar to catch rates for smaller or average-size bass in Florida, suggesting that trophy bass are no more elusive to being caught than smaller bass.”

 

Full report can be found here: Florida Trophy Catch

I'm proud of bass anglers catch and release in general, especially on trophy bass.  Their actions have IMO made it a better world to catch big LMB.

1:4 and 1:8 is a huge range, but putting that aside, it's what I've always experienced, and believe. We catch fewer "big" fish, because there are fewer "big" fish, not because they are "smarter".

Interesting information.  On a related tangent, this really emphasizes for me how important it is to fish bodies of water with larger populations of bigger fish if I want to increase the probability of catching a trophy.  Fish where they are.

6 hours ago, Team9nine said:

 

Trophy Bass Statistics

 

Catch Rates

 

“About one in eight to one in four trophy bass were caught by anglers in the state each year. This range of catch rates for trophy bass is quite similar to catch rates for smaller or average-size bass in Florida, suggesting that trophy bass are no more elusive to being caught than smaller bass.”

Are you suggesting that trophy bass are as easy to catch as a small to regular sized bass in Florida? If that is the case you are incorrect. I grew up in Florida and have +24 years experience fishing for bass. I have friends who have fished for +50 years and we all agree a 8 pound or better bass is not something you catch every day like sub 8 pounders that are a dime a dozen. It is common to catch several 4-6 pounders on a fishing trip but to say trophy bass are as common as regular sized bass is incorrect. Yes Florida is the ''Bass Fishing Capital Of The World'' but even then it is not guaranteed that every Florida bass angler has a PB bass of 8 pounds or better. There are even less people with 10 pound PB's and far fewer people with 13 pound or better PB's. Even in this forum there are several skilled Florida bass fishermen who do not have a 10 pound bass PB from Florida so it shows that Florida trophy bass are not as easy to catch as some might think.

6 hours ago, FishingGeekTX said:

I'm proud of bass anglers catch and release in general, especially on trophy bass.  Their actions have IMO made it a better world to catch big LMB.

I release all the trophy bass I catch and most Florida bass fishermen do the same. All you need is a couple pictures of the bass showing the length and girth and a beautiful replica can be made so there is no need to harvest a bass to put it on the wall.

12 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

Are you suggesting that trophy bass are as easy to catch as a small to regular sized bass in Florida?

I think you are conflating easy with likely.

49 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

Are you suggesting that trophy bass are as easy to catch as a small to regular sized bass in Florida? If that is the case you are incorrect. I grew up in Florida and have +24 years experience fishing for bass. I have friends who have fished for +50 years and we all agree a 8 pound or better bass is not something you catch every day like sub 8 pounders that are a dime a dozen. It is common to catch several 4-6 pounders on a fishing trip but to say trophy bass are as common as regular sized bass is incorrect. Yes Florida is the ''Bass Fishing Capital Of The World'' but even then it is not guaranteed that every Florida bass angler has a PB bass of 8 pounds or better. There are even less people with 10 pound PB's and far fewer people with 13 pound or better PB's. Even in this forum there are several skilled Florida bass fishermen who do not have a 10 pound bass PB from Florida so it shows that Florida trophy bass are not as easy to catch as some might think.

I release all the trophy bass I catch and most Florida bass fishermen do the same. All you need is a couple pictures of the bass showing the length and girth and a beautiful replica can be made so there is no need to harvest a bass to put it on the wall.

Don't shoot the messenger  I'm just passing along the article/story from Florida FWC. It's their biologists that say the reported catch rate of big bass in their program isn't that dissimilar from smaller bass overall. I just found the whole thing interesting and wanted to share.

1/4 of 200 and 1/4 of 8 is the same percentage but not the same result. 

This is saying that there are the same number of non trophy and trophy sized fish in the same lake. 

Cool study but if this were true, no one would weigh in 14 inch fish. 

16 minutes ago, 813basstard said:

1/4 of 200 and 1/4 of 8 is the same percentage

What?!

25%

Look at the statistics from the BPT event on Kissimmee earlier in the year, I think that tells the real story.

32 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

What?!

1/4 is 1/4

8 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

1:4 and 1:8 is a huge range, but putting that aside, it's what I've always experienced, and believe. We catch fewer "big" fish, because there are fewer "big" fish, not because they are "smarter".

I agree. Doesn't that also mean that 3:4 and 7:8 are smaller fish, thus making trophy bass more elusive. Pretty weird study.

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

1/4 is 1/4

See from the TN public school system, this makes sense. FL schools are actually decent, hence the confusion.

1/4 of $1 is a quarter

1/4 of $100 is $25

so 1/4 is not 1/4

8 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

1:4 and 1:8 is a huge range, but putting that aside, it's what I've always experienced, and believe. We catch fewer "big" fish, because there are fewer "big" fish, not because they are "smarter".

I think so too.

22 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

See from the TN public school system, this makes sense. FL schools are actually decent, hence the confusion.

1/4 of $1 is a quarter

1/4 of $100 is $25

so 1/4 is not 1/4

Still one fourth of the whole in each case. 1/4 of 1 million is 250,000. Still 1/4 (quarter). That’s why they call it a quarter million dollars 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Still one fourth of the whole in each case. 1/4 of 1 million is 250,000. Still 1/4

Yes, obviously, and 1/4 of any quantity is 25% of that quantity (by definition), which is where we started. Where are we going with this? 

1 minute ago, BassWhole! said:

Yes, obviously, and 1/4 of any quantity is 25% of that quantity (by definition), which is where we started. Where are we going with this? 

I don’t know man, you’re the one that called out my state’s public education haha. All @813basstard was saying was 25% is the same percentage in each case and I echoed that 

I thought it was originally 1:4 and 1:8 as the comparison. That's a big difference.

 

From the article: About one in eight to one in four trophy bass were caught by anglers in the state each year.

Some of the interesting stats were the vast majority of bass tagged bass caught were by recreational anglers on artifical lures. This stat doesn't surprise me based on the popularity of C & R and fishing using lures in general. The small 26% caught on live bait I believe reflects guides targeting big bass for clients did surprise me, I thought 8#+ % would be higher.

I have been catching big bass a very long time and know a lot of good skilled bass anglers who have never caught a DD and the few that have caught multiple big bass.

The majority of bass angers do not target big bass and prefer catching numbers of bass each outing. This simple truth is anyone can catch a big bass but few can catch them consistantly. It's about knowing big bass behavior and locations it isn't about being smarter.

What % of the total bass population is over 8 lbs? Any study claiming it's 25% is crazy, if it's accurate that is where everyone should be fishing.

Tom 

9 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 you’re the one that called out my state’s public education haha.

I take it back, 36 out of 50 is ok I guess. Going forward we will not be keeping score, everyone gets a trophy, and we might even go for ice cream!...  

Hey, serious question though, If I wanted to buy a vacation place somewhere in Eastern TN near good fishing, where should I look?

6 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

I take it back, 36 out of 50 is ok I guess. Going forward we will not be keeping score, everyone gets a trophy, and we might even go for ice cream!...  

Hey, serious question though, If I wanted to buy a vacation place somewhere in Eastern TN near good fishing, where should I look?

1/4 of the way between Memphis and Johnson city...... there are vacation homes all over all the lakes in east TN, chickamauga has the biggest bass 

7 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Don't shoot the messenger  I'm just passing along the article/story from Florida FWC. It's their biologists that say the reported catch rate of big bass in their program isn't that dissimilar from smaller bass overall. I just found the whole thing interesting and wanted to share.

Yeah, don't hate on the messenger! I think some are missing the point of this "Tag Study." What I think it does show is that FWC has a very good participation rate with their Tagging Program when compared to other states. Texas is running a close second, and Oklahoma (where I live) well, Oklahoma has a way to go when it comes to reporting tagged catches. Thanks for sharing this @Team9nine, it lit a spark in me this morning and now I'm reading other tag studies and some old Electrofishing manuals.

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

1/4 of the way between Memphis and Johnson city......

LOL. Touche.

11 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

3:4 and 7:8

Are we talking bass or time signatures likely used in Rush songs?