My biggest striped bass ever at 46" |
There are two factors that can determine whether a fish is big or small; the location and the angler. Let's take striped bass for instance. Stripers are migratory. We see far fewer fish in New Hampshire than they see in Connecticut or New York. The overall size of the stripers in New Hampshire will be smaller than states to the south too. Your chance of catching a 50 pound fish in New York or Connecticut are relatively good. Your chances of catching one that big in New Hampshire are not as good. So, a big striper caught in New Hampshire may seem small to an angler south of New England. I have had photos posted on Facebook of mid-40" stripers that I caught criticized and called small by some southern anglers who obviously don't realize that catching a striper that is closer to 50" than 40" in New Hampshire is a special thing. A small fish in one geographic location is often huge in another.
Size is also relative to the angler. Some people fish more than others. I had a kayak fishing client (Mike) this summer. We were into some good schoolie action when he hooked into a schoolie on the larger side of what we had been catching. It was a 26" little porker. See, there I go calling it little. For Mike, it was the biggest fish he had ever caught. To him it was huge and he will remember it for the rest of his life. On most days I would have thrown that fish back, maybe even with a bit of frustration over the time it cost me, and kept fishing for a bigger one without giving it a thought. Having clients like Mike help me remember that there are people who don't have access to schools of blitzing stripers, or any stripers, who would kill for the opportunity to catch a 26" fish from a kayak.
A happy Mike P. with the biggest fish of his life |
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