Northern Bassfisherman vs Southern Bassfisherman

[Bassboss]

I can agree. All though if you think about it... a trophy bass is not the same in a norther or souther lake. While the norther guys will be weeding through 1-2lb fish, looking to get a 5lber.. they're still trying to catch a trophy bass, here in Fl., we could be weeding though 3-4lb fish, trying to catch an 8-9lber. We are both trying to catch a good fish all the same!! The only difference is size. For example, if we catch a 5lber, we're not working at it as hard as them at it. If we catch a 9lber, and they catch a 5lber, we where still both trying to catch trophy, and probably working at it the same.....

Also look at KVD on the Harris chain, he never does too good, sure he's most alway in the top 10, but he's never won one on th Harris chain. He's from way up north too.

[JB]

The way its been this summer I've heard of one five pounder and mostly two pounders being caught. Weird year to say the least. Even the southern ohio lakes that give up huge fish have only had one or two days of big fish being caught by my buddies that fish it every week. all other species are biting like mad tho. An average trophy ohio fish is about eight pounds, most locals will mount anything from four to seven if they are new to the sport, but who can afford to stuff a fish in these economic troubled times?

[nofearengineer]

I think for the true top-tier guys, there would be no difference at all. Years ago, maybe. But these days, with the internet and the exchange of fishing information, it's possible for a southern boy to know all about the fishing patterns of a northern fishery, and vice-versa.

For the very good fishermen who know their local waters like the back of their hands, but don't travel a lot, I'd maybe give a tiniest of edges to a northern guy, since he probably has had to develop a little more diverse arsenal of presentations.

Either way, give either guy a season or two in the other guy's territory, and they'll be putting fish in the boat.

Lousy anglers like me apparently can't catch fish anywhere.

[Baron49]

Enjoyed reading the posts on this topic. For many years I travel from the 1000 Island area of New York to Florida and at first was intimidated by the vast expanses of hydrilla and reeds on most of the Florida lakes. The other thing it took a while to get used to was a Florida strain bass is a lot different creature then a Northern strain largemouth or Smallmouth. Over the years learning about these fish and how they are fished has helped my over all fishing any where up and down the East coast. I get about the same amount of time each year on southern waters as I do on northern waters and fishing both has been a big advantage over friends of mine that only fish the 5 or 6 months of open water in the cold north country.

[Raul]

Some differences between northern anglers and southern anglers:

1.- Crazy northerners got "seasons" , we down here in the south divide the year like this: Pre-spawn, spawn, post spawn & huntin´ , not cuz we can´t fish, it´s just cuz it´s the only time of the year we can shoot at game without getting a hefty fine. BTW, since we can fish year round and we can´t shoot at game year round we just gotta go huntin´ .... near our fishing grounds just in case we can´t shoot at anything we still got our rods locked and ready to rock in the truck.

2.- Northern guys go "ice fishing" the actual activity of drilling a hole through ice and try to catch fish through that hole, completely alien concept for us guys in the South, we don´t get it ! , for us "ice fishing" means fishing for the last ice cubes in the cooler.

3.- Guys up north as soon as the temps hit the 70° mark apparently get the urgency to get naked dressed: short sleeves, shorts or bermudas, flip flops, darn, we guys done south don´t get it either, that´s what we wear inside the house but by no means we wear that for the outdoors, 70´s are what we call "winter" temps. For warmer temps we wear long sleeves, trousers and shoes cuz we ain´t in no rush for second degree burns.

4.- Norther guys the age of 40 and more look as fresh as a just picked from the field lettuce, we southern guys age 40 or more look as fresh as a 3,000 years old egyptian mummy.

5.- For us southern boys pork rinds, canned vinnies and pickled quail eggs are a perfectly acceptable fishing lunch, ok ?

6.- For us southern boys any bass under 5 pounds is a dink.

7.- When we say we like our food hot we ain´t exactly talkin´ bout the temperature.

[Abbeysdad]

And nobody mentioned that down south there are some nasty critters lookin at fishermen as FOOD!

I don't think it's a North vs. South thing (that war is long over). A good fisherman will most likely adapt. If the spinner bait isn't working, maybe a crank or a soft plastic may. Texas or Carolina rig doesn't produce, maybe a wacky rig will. Fishing the docks doesn't produce, maybe the drop off in the cove...or the shallows in the bay.

Seems to me, just another day on a lake. Now having said this, there is something to be said for knowing the lake topology and the fish migration on the lake - perhaps relative to the time of year or the recent/current weather. We all know there are often good fishing 'spots' on any body of water more likely to produce fish - getting to know them may be a challenge.

For instance, there is a coal burning power station on a lake here that uses lake water for cooling - this means they pump warm water back into the lake - I understand that this makes for a real spot for fishing in early spring and fall because of the warm water expelled. If you didn't know the lake, you might not know that 15 miles north, there's this spot ....