This one is tough because you're using yourself as a "focus group of one" and saying that you are the typical weekend angler. I would propose that it's not the case at all. The five fish derby angler demo is much smaller than the weekend angler demo and it's not even close. Even smaller is the group of anglers who are five fish guys and active on forum boards. So, when you're seeing conversations and opinions here, they truly don't scale to the "average angler" as the millions of "fun fishing" anglers across the country aren't "looking for kickers" on Saturday or Sunday. End of story.

I guess I see it differently. I can see where some people would enjoy catching a ton of small fish, but for me and most of the people I fish with and know locally will always keep a mental note of what their best 5 were every day. If I know I'm going to go fishing and have a choice of lakes that I can catch 50 fish but nothing but 1-2 lbers or a lake with a shot at catching 5 4-5 lb and up fish I will pick the second choice every time.

I think you just took this opportunity to rub it in one more time that you and your tater eating partner whipped me on Fork lol. I took that to mean the typical weekend "tournament" angler since he was talking about kicker fish and tournaments. This format doesn't relate to that at all. I really like the guys that fish MLF, I think you know I am around quite a few of them. The only good thing I've heard is it somewhat pays the bills. You can get in my boat any day, we can fish for numbers half a day and then go try for a 5 pounder., as long as we can drink beer the whole day.

You mean to tell me you have ties to the pro's and you finished 3rd? You must not listen too well.

Im pretty sure if you read it again, he wasn't talking about the guy going out and throwing a minnow and bobber. The end of the story is that it's like 80 of my old buddies changed their gender identities and are now fishing like women. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

You mean to tell me you have ties to the pro's and you finished 3rd? You must not listen too well.
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At least I wasn't too scared to ask my wife for enough money to get in the optional pot. If you don't win the money you don't get to brag!

Well a lake with that many fish in it has to have some quality fish. They obviously were not shallow in the bushes at this time. Yeah, flipping for bushes is often times a way to get a kicker, but wasn't happening on this lake.



Guess that's where we differ. I judge my day based on number of quality bites. I can go catch 50 12" spots on Alan Henry right now on a topwater. IMO, don't consider that a good day.

I'd rather go drag a 10" worm, jig, or throw a swimbait and hope to catch a fish over 5 lbs. It rarely happens for me and I have a ton of 0,1,2, and 3 fish days, but I feel like catching 12" fish 1 after another is a waste of a day. If kids are with me, then of course it is all about the numbers. But we aren't watching kids fish, we are watching professionals. Guess it is different strokes for different folks. Not in anyway saying I don't like the BPT. Its entertaining and exciting, I just think they can make it even better by mixing it up a bit or at least increasing the minimum size.

I believe the other lakes they just happened to time just right while the big fish were still shallow. It will be interesting to see going forward what the weights look like now that most spawns will be done.

I think it�s understood how hard it is to catch giant bass. I don�t think it�s luck to catch five six pounders. Just to clarify.

I think you�re right that I misunderstood the poster we were responding to.

I am in. Can you get me on a six pounder or above? My PB is five (many times). I just can�t get over the hump.

I�m not saying that size doesn�t matter at all (I like catching 3, 4 and 5 pounders as much as anyone). The majority of the time, I don�t want to drag that 10� worm all day for one bite, especially if I�m going to be out there all day. I want to catch fish. I�m not saying I�m happy catching 11� fish all day, either.

I like seeing guys catch monsters, just to be clear. But how are these guys going to target and catch giant bass, like Legend said, when they don�t even know what lake they�re fishing until they get there the morning of?

There is a happy medium, though. There has to be a way to incentivize catching the numbers that make it an exciting show, and also decent fish. Limiting scorable bass to whatever the minimum length of that lake is would help. But, i don�t have the definitive answer because I don�t watch these shows that closely. It�s usually on in the background while I�m working.

I see both sides, but figuring a pattern on a mystery lake and catching 100 bass is still impressive to me and makes for a better TV show, in my opinion.

The biggest factor in some of the weights being little smaller than most prefer is the body of water.
I was fortunate enough to grow up fishing southern Missouri and Table Rock a lot. There are a bunch of "smaller" fish in there, but there are some good big fish too.
as MLF stops at lakes that are known to grow bigger average fish, the average weights wont be quote as low as this one was.

as Ive stated, Im not a huge fan of the format, but its great for the sport and good things will come from the options that are available to watch and/or fish, like The Opens, FLW and MLF....at the end of the day, its just fishing, something we all love to do.

The only major League sport where you can lose money playing. Haha