Fly Fishing - What's Better? NOT Catching Big Fish or Catching Small Fish?

AvidDavid

Well, I haven't posted for a while. Some of you remember my long rambling posts of yore. I thought that I would keep this one simpler. When faced with the option of fishing for big fish and losing... or fishing for a small, sure-thing, what makes you feel better? Sure, catching your lifetime best is phenomenally exhilarating; but, this isn't about that.

Sometimes the point is to go exclusively for huge fish (like Dave Tepper and Will Benson on the Bayou or lilke the "Steelheads" on the Great Lakes Tribs or the Fishing Tourney for Albies at Block Island) and the adventure and being outdoors can be the consolation that is worth the effort ... but if you're like me, there's a high probability of getting skunked. And, believe me, I've been skunked a lot over the years.

Other times (like westy43), I just need the fix of some stockie on the other end tellin' me that I did something right. All too often, I'm like a little kid. A LITTLE action beats NONE!

What do you think?

jeremy · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: great post

hey .. great post! .. here is the way i see it and it's just my opinion.

1. fishing for me IS all about catching fish. period. end of story. i am a "fisherman" .. not ashamed of it, and infact proud of it. the goal for me, is CATCH FISH. ya, i like the scenery and all that stuff .. but, that is secondary to the primary goal of catching fish.

2. now, each and every fishing trip, i start fresh .. the slate is clean .. and what i did before doesn't matter .. all that matters is THIS TRIP. the trip can be 1/2 day, full day, 5 days, 2 weeks .. doesn't matter.

3. immediaately when the trip begins, the goal is "catch something, anything .. just get some "fish on deck" ... get the anxiousness out and get the confidence up just by catching the targeted species .. regardless of how big or easy ...

4. then, go for quality ...now, quality might mean "big" or "rare" or "wild" or "native" or "dry fly" or "spey" or "from foot" or whatever the dynamic might be .... often, times though .... one can not deny the significance of "big" ..

bottom line: i only have 1 life. when looking out over my life and nowing that i only have, let's say 40 something years left (if i am lucky) ... then, i have a finite amount of time available to me to catch certain fish and certain types of personal accomplishments .. here is what i mean .. it is a goal of mine to catch a 50" striped bass ... now, that won't be likely if i spend all of my time in places where i can catch 50 schoolies an outing ... it will require foregoing that and choosing a path that will more likely produce 1 big fish of 50" .... but, that does not mean, i don't fish for the "smaller ones" ... on a striper trip .. i will probably start by catching a few smaller fish .. having fun and then stepping up the game ... same with a trip to florida let's say ... when i get down there, i am super excited just to catch 1 snook under the lights or a jack or lady fish .. but then, i will spend my time pursuing something "bigger" or "better" like bonefish, permit or tarpon ... and if my luck with the "bigger" and "better" stuff is not going to welll ... i might drop back my expectations and revert to some "easy" or "smaller" stuff ... point being ... i know that the answer for me is .... like everything else ... it's BALANCE ... and the way that i view my fly fishing time, makes sense to me .... 1/2 my time spent enjoying my surrounding and catching pretty much anything that will take my fly .. and the other 1/2 of my time goinf for something "bigger, harder, more meaningful, from foot, on dry, etc...."

works for me .... but, i gotta be honest and can't deny that ... "catching the big one" ... matters to me .... and, i think "catching the big one" is and has historically been as much a part of FISHING as another element of FISHING .... dating all the way back to moby dick and looking on every fly shop's picture wall and every magazine cover and every television show and every mounted fish and every fish picture ... the "big one's" always seem to take presedence and steel the show .... i can't deny that about fishing and can't deny that about myself ... to say "it's not about catching fish" or "i don't care if it's a big one or not" .. makes no sense to me as a fisherman .... to say that, would just not be true for me and go totally against my grain and why i have loved fishing since i was as young as i can remember .... catching fish has always mattered, big fish and "quality" fish have always been the goal .. and .. i don't forsee those 2 things changing for me anytime soon .... if they did, i don't think i would be fishing all that much .. i would probably just take up photography, canoeing, hiking, snorkling, bird watching .. or other outdoors stuff like that where "fishing" wasn't part of the equation ........

KodiakCommando · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject:

I'm all about catching fish too, i'm not out there for scenery alone!

However the dissapointment of not catching a fish can very in terms of intensness. If i Go fish for a fish like Dollies in August and don't catch anything i'll be very dissapointed cuz i've never got skunked! But if I am fishing for Dinasaur steelhead in the Frazer or Skeena system I wouldn't be that dissapointed because getting skunked is common and your usually working for 1 fish.

urinalcake · Newbie Joined: Mar 08, 2008 Posts: 11

With a fine stream no more than two miles away, I'm happy to

just be on the stream. If I catch anything I'm happy, if I catch

nothing I can still feel the feel.

Last wednesday I caught my first steelhead of this year from that stream,

not a biggy, 22", but it was on my new 5wt bamboo rod, I'm still feelin it.