Quality vs. Quantity: Is one better than the other?
Now, you are not going to get an argument out of this ole country boy that one of my favorite meals is fresh fried crappie, fried taters, cole slaw, hush puppies, a slice of onion and a glass of sweet tea. Regardless of the size of the fillets being cooked, that kind of meal will satisfy even the pickiest of people. Matter of fact, If you have neighbors you've never met before but would like to, chances are if you invite them over to your next fish fry, they will become life long friends as long as they get invited to the next one, LOL.
Most crappie anglers have shared many trips with friends and family where limits of crappie where caught and those same fillets became table fare at the next fish fry. Considered by most anglers the best "eating size" crappie generally ranges from the 10-13 inch category and this same range is arguably the size that is thrown into more livewells and coolers across the country than any other. Admittedly, I have kept many limits of fish from this size range and I used to fish daylight to dark or until I had a limit of fish in the livewell. I use to think that a fishing trip was unsuccessful if i didn't catch a limit. Maybe it was because when I was younger, we fished for food as wild game and fish were a staple in my childhood years and fishing wasn't recreational, it was a more a means of survival.
As I have gotten older, the meaning of a successful trip has changed definition and catching quality crappie instead of quantities of crappie is my new measuring stick. This new measuring stick was probably first implanted into my brain after joining the tournament trail a few years back. A pleasure fisherman all my life, I used lifelong crappie catching tactics in my first tournament on Lake Tunica, Ms. Needless to say the 100 or so fish me and my partner caught that day didn't result very well in the culling of our 7 weighed in fish. I think we finished dead last or close to it, actually I think the one team whose motor wouldn't start and didn't fish finished below us, lol.
Through the years, I changed tactics and basically had to learn how to fish all over again to stay competitive in tournaments. In the beginning, I thought that I could win tournaments by catching the most fish and just culling down to 7 good fish, boy was I wrong. I quickly learned it's not about the 100 bites in one day, its all about the 7-10 great bites that result in the larger fish. After learning this, the competitions became a little easier and me and my partners began to cash a few checks and gather several of them "dust collectors" as my wife calls them or trophies.
The methods and equipment of catching quality instead of quantity are extremely different and sometimes very confusing and when an angler doesn't distinguish between the two, it can lead to a bad day on the water. I have childhood buddies that still pleasure fish from a 12 foot flat bottom boat and occasionally they ask me to fish with them. I spend most of the night before culling my tackle down to a single Ozark rod and one tray of smaller Midsouth tackle as I know their boats and methods of fishing only allows this small arsenal. Usually by mid-morning, my buddy has several in the box and I am questioning why he still "skulls" his boat and doesn't upgrade to a trolling motor. Yes, he is old school and fishes for table fare only and considers a limit of crappie a great day on the water and if he catches more than me, its an even better day to him. By the way, he is an absolute expert at "boating" people in the back of the boat, lol.
Returning the favor, I recently took him in my boat to one of my favorite spots where I had been catching several good fish. We headed out passing several nice tops on the bank and he was chomping at the bit to fish them. What he didn't know is that we were heading to the deep underwater structures in the lake where I knew the bigger fish were staged at. See, he is a "sight" fisherman, meaning he uses no electronics to find fish. He will work a visible top very thorough covering every square inch of the top with his jig.
The first underwater structure we came to resulting in the question "what are you fishing by, theres nothing out here". After several minutes, I landed the first 2 lber of the day and also landed the comment "you got lucky" from the long time friend. The next half hour was as slow as pouring frozen molasses. Another 30 minutes go by before I felt the small peck of another slab and I set the hook into another slab weighing in at almost 2 and 1/2 pounds. The bite continued to be slow as we moved around to about 10 different spots throughout the day, and we ended up with 16 fish all weighing in at the 2 lb mark.
While loading the boat, a local fellow come up and asked how we did. I commented that we had 16 good fish and the day was a good day to be on the water. He shared with us that he must have caught nearly triple his limit and had culled down to a nice limit to take home. Now, this didn't sit too well with my buddy as the local fellow explained he caught them all on the visible tops that he wanted to fish earlier that morning. After reviewing his catch which was a good looking limit, all of his fish were in the 10-12 inch range. The way I see it, two of us left the lake that day very satisfied and had both had a successful trip. One with a limit of good eaters and one with nothing but larger fish, which is what I have come to fish for more these days.
I mentioned earlier that the methods and equipment were somewhat different between catching quality and quantities of fish. This holds true most of the time but as i think about it, it's more on the angler's choice of tactics. I am not saying you can't catch slabs out of the visible structure on the banks at certain times of the year, I am saying to consistently stay on them, you need to target those fish and move with them, if that's the type of fish you want to catch consistently. If you are more interested in catching table fare and numbers, then there is certainly tactics, methods, equipment and areas of most lake to do just that.
If you are interested in catching some of the larger fish at your favorite fishing hole, I have listed below a pointers to help you out.
1.) Electronics: Never leave home without them. These devices will show you the structure everyone else is not fishing and more often than not, they will be holding your larger fish.
2.) Baits: Be selective and know what size bait the fish are wanting, especially in the slower months of winter. Don't be scared to fish with a 1/32 oz bait for a 2 lb slab.
3.) Crowds: Avoid fishing in the crowds on your favorite lake. They are there for a reason and usually the reason is the smaller schooling fish are feeding in that area.
4.) Be patient: Obviously there are not as many big fish in a lake as there are smaller ones. Sometimes you have to wait out the big bite, especially if you know the larger fish are in the area you are fishing.
5.) Have a good net ready: These fish are not your average fish and cannot be "hoisted" over the side of the boat. there's nothing more disappointing than hooking a large slab to only get him to the boat and have him shake free.
So, back to the original question, is quality better than quantity? I'll let you be the judge of that, but for this angler it will be hard to ever go back to measuring a trip by numbers. The thump of a large slab has created a passion for me and there's no turning back. By no means am I telling anyone I have an issue with anglers catching and filleting limits of fish as this only helps my quest for the larger fish.
As a note: the #1 measure of success on a trip should be one that is measured with good times with friends and family. Even a bad day of fishing should be fun for everyone in the boat and its all about what you make of it. Especially with kids, I don't suggest you try the quality fish methods. Grab a box of crickets and hit the bream beds or fish during the crappie spawn when the youngsters are with you ensuring they have a good time and catch some fish. Size of the catch isn't important to them and during these trips its not important to me either.
