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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Fishing Forum :: Fair, good, great, thresholds/semantics

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Message Text

Savage Voyageur

07/07/2019 10:45AM

Good thread

walllee

06/22/2019 09:21AM

If targeting Walleyes, a fair day fishing 12 hours a day would be catching a couple fish per hour. Good day would be 4 fish per hour over the 12 hour span. A great day would be those 50 to 75 fish days. As far as size a “nice” Walleye would be anything over 17 inches, a “good” fish would be 18 to 27 inch, and a “monster” is 30 plus inches. If I am targeting Lakers, a fair day will bring 3 Lakers to the boat, a good day would be 6 fish, and a great day would be anything over 8 or 10. As far as size, a “nice “ Laker would be 24 inch, a “good” one would be 26 inch, and a monster would be 30 inch or more. I don’t target pike, but a nice one is 25 inch, a monster is 20 pounds. I also never target smallmouth, but the only size acceptable is 20 inches or more. Only caught a couple that size.

x2jmorris

06/22/2019 09:51AM

Fair: Catch a few fish here and there

Good: If everyone catches a fish

Great: Everyone catches multiple fish everyday

missmolly

06/24/2019 04:06PM

foxfireniner: "There are only 3 important fish:

First Fish,
BIggest Fish,
Most Fish.

If only one fish fills all 3 categories, fishing is bad.
If there is an argument about biggest fish, fishing is OK.
If there is an argument about biggest fish and it gets resolved by a bigger one, fishing is good.
If you can keep count of most fish, fishing is ok.
If you lose track of most, fishing is good.
If you lose track of most and the argument over biggest gets resolved by a bigger fish, then fishing is great.

the 4 fish sizes:
1) too small to fillet
2) pan sized
3) cut the fillet into chunks size
4) throw it back, I like knowing he is out there size
"

Fun post!

Basspro69

06/30/2019 11:40AM

Forgot to mention if you caught Brook Trout then it was a great trip :-)

jillpine

06/20/2019 05:38PM

old_salt: "Since fishermen are liars, what difference does it make?"
Omg. Permission to hang that in my office.

Nelsonti

06/24/2019 09:01PM

A lot of it depends on the crew you are fishing with too. If I'm fishing with my dad, who is a stupid-great angler that always catches a ton of fish my expectations for "great" are a lot different than when I am fishing with my wife whose fishing patience is considerably lower.

I agree with Lundojam's metrics though. I'd say the same for sizes.

lundojam

06/20/2019 12:23PM

Lots of times folks say fishing was "good" or ""amazing" or that walleyes were "nice" or bass were "big." What's it all mean? Panfish are the hardest to pin down; one person's "nice" crappie is another's throwback.
To me good fishing is when you lose count. Great fishing is continuously catching fish. Ok fishing is enough for dinner, and poor fishing is not enough for dinner. Terrible fishing is no bites.
A nice walleye is 18" and a big walleye is 25 or 26 inches. A monster is 30.
A good eater walleye is 15", with plenty of 14's (and the occasional 13) hitting the oil.
A Nice bass to me is 16". Above that is real nice, 19 big and 20 a toad.
a 14" crappie is big, above 11 is nice, ten's an eater.
Little northerns are snakes and big ones are nice. Big starts at like 5 pounds.

How about you all?

We need to standardize this stuff! :)

bobbernumber3

07/07/2019 09:37AM

Why do bass fishermen report weight... non-BWCA bass fishermen? Most BWCA bass fishermen report inches and walleyes, northern, and lake trout are usually reported in onches.

missmolly

07/07/2019 10:43AM

HayRiverDrifter: "I think this changes with age also. As I am older now:

No fish: great day just being on the water
A few eater size fish in a couple hours: good day fishing
Someone else cleans the fish: great day
Someone else cooks the fish: awesome day

Size: eaters are what counts"

I like your attitude. I once fished a smallmouth river with Wendy Williamson, the fly fishing guide out of Hayward.

We only caught little fish, but I'll never forget Wendy saying, "They're all good."

missmolly

06/21/2019 07:28AM

Good thread. I like your metrics.

Some complicating factors are relativity, as in how dumb are the fish where you fish. I catch uneducated fish in lakes that might be fished once a year. So, a thirty-fish day on such a lake would be a slow day for me, but if you fish pressured lakes, that could be a great day.

Then there is the shape of a fish. The bass below was a 19-incher, but not a typical shape. Its back is bowed like a bluegill, so I get a kick out of such a fish. Then there's the second bass with the forehead bulge. Again, a 19-incher, but the additional weight perks up my morning.

foxfireniner

06/24/2019 12:11PM

There are only 3 important fish:

First Fish,
BIggest Fish,
Most Fish.

If only one fish fills all 3 categories, fishing is bad.
If there is an argument about biggest fish, fishing is OK.
If there is an argument about biggest fish and it gets resolved by a bigger one, fishing is good.
If you can keep count of most fish, fishing is ok.
If you lose track of most, fishing is good.
If you lose track of most and the argument over biggest gets resolved by a bigger fish, then fishing is great.

the 4 fish sizes:
1) too small to fillet
2) pan sized
3) cut the fillet into chunks size
4) throw it back, I like knowing he is out there size

CampSnkRpr

06/24/2019 12:44PM

thegildedgopher

06/20/2019 02:04PM

I can get on board with that. It gets tricky though because one "great" fish can turn an otherwise "slow" day legendary.

We don't really ever measure anything unless we're keeping fish and it's going to be borderline legal. Of our three lakers recently, it was like "the little one," "the decent one" and "the behemoth." There was no question which was which.

mgraber

06/22/2019 10:47PM

The honest answer is that it is not only extremely subjective, but also very dependent on water body and season. I really can't disagree with anything anyone has said so far depending on water body and season. Also, experience can seriously jade you, and make what was once a trophy fish, an average fish, and what was once amazing fishing, average fishing. Not too long ago we asked an old man about the fishing, and he said it had been terrible, that they had only caught a dozen fish so far that day. We said that we had done really well and had caught at least 70 so far. When asked what we were using, we replied that we were using topwaters. He started laughing and said we must be catching bass. We said we were. He said,"Oh hell!! I've probably caught over 80 of those little #!*&!#*#!! That's why we can't catch any #!#*&# 'eyes!" and he walked away still laughing. The funny thing is that back then I would have considered a dozen walleye a very good day. It is all perspective, and the only thing that matters is what YOU think.

HayRiverDrifter

07/02/2019 12:36PM

I think this changes with age also. As I am older now:

No fish: great day just being on the water
A few eater size fish in a couple hours: good day fishing
Someone else cleans the fish: great day
Someone else cooks the fish: awesome day

Size: eaters are what counts

bwcasolo

07/02/2019 10:44AM

lundojam: "Lots of times folks say fishing was "good" or ""amazing" or that walleyes were "nice" or bass were "big." What's it all mean? Panfish are the hardest to pin down; one person's "nice" crappie is another's throwback.
To me good fishing is when you lose count. Great fishing is continuously catching fish. Ok fishing is enough for dinner, and poor fishing is not enough for dinner. Terrible fishing is no bites.
A nice walleye is 18" and a big walleye is 25 or 26 inches. A monster is 30.
A good eater walleye is 15", with plenty of 14's (and the occasional 13) hitting the oil.
A Nice bass to me is 16". Above that is real nice, 19 big and 20 a toad.
a 14" crappie is big, above 11 is nice, ten's an eater.
Little northerns are snakes and big ones are nice. Big starts at like 5 pounds.

How about you all?

We need to standardize this stuff! :)"
i think you nailed it!

carmike

06/21/2019 11:41AM

I was *just* discussing this with a friend of mine after a recent trip.

A mutual friend of ours had been on a trip in a different part of the park, and we asked him how the fishing was. He said, "GREAT!!!!" We were perplexed initially because our fishing had been OK/Good...We got, I dunno, maybe 10-15 trout a day, fishing reasonably hard, but we expected fishing to be better. He caught about half our total, though lower expectations led to a very different evaluation of the quality of the bite.

Regarding the overall success of a trip, I suspect the number of factors going into such an evaluation (species, fish size, angler skill, angler expectation, time of year, water temps, lake quality, ad infinitum) makes a standardized definition impossible.

Regarding individual species, I'd say...

A walleye has to be at least 24'' to qualify as a "good" one, over 28'' to be big.
A bass has to be at least 16'' to be "good," over 20'' to be a big one.
A trout has to be mid-20's to be "good," over 30'' to be big.
A pike has to be over 30'' to be "good," upper-30's to be big.

But I'm spoiled...I fish Mille Lacs all the time, so catching a mid-20's walleye and over 20'' bass takes no skill at all--only a little experience maybe. I find it difficult to adjust for different lakes, where a mid-20's 'eye or 19'' smallie would be dandy fish. In the same vein, I took a trip in May with some guys from Utah who get to fish the reservoirs out there for lake trout, often catching *monsters.* I was tickled pink to be catching multiple fish over 30'', but they were bored by it.

Wables

06/21/2019 12:06PM

I think that expectations are a huge component. A good day on a lake 8 hours into the BWCA is a fair day or worse 2 days into the Q. I've brought a number of people to the BWCA who were very disappointed in the fishing, but their frame of reference was Lake of the Woods, Lac Seul, etc. out of a motor boat.

old_salt

06/20/2019 04:44PM

Since fishermen are liars, what difference does it make?

bobbernumber3

06/20/2019 07:27PM

Nice bass... haha, pretty funny, but I have heard people say it. Reminds me of the "jumbo shrimp" oxymoron.

Basspro69

06/22/2019 07:32AM