Reply To: 90% -10% I don’t believe it…

Dan,

I think the expression of “10 percent of the fisherman catch 90 percent of the fish” is definitely a hyperbole!

The numbers just don’t work out.  When you consider the FATC membership at 240 people, that would mean that a 10% representative sample would be 24 people and they are catching most of the fish…..  Not a number I could wrap my head around.

When you consider a core group of about 40-50 members who regularly go on the Team Up trips, now I can envision 4-5 (out of that 50)  who almost always lead in the fish count for a trip……HOWEVER, they NEVER are catching 90 % of the fish caught.

I think of one member(who remains anonymous) that catches more fish than anyone I know.  He catches 2500+ fish per year.  (You know who it is)  On days when he has been with the group on a trip, I have kept mental track of the totals for him AND the group.  Even when this person catches 80-100 fish on a trip.  That would mean the group as a whole would catch no more than 112.  That has never happened.  A more representative percentage may be 40-75% at best.

It is Hyperbole.

Now, about the statement “10% of the fishable water contains 90% of the fish”.   That has a better probability of being true.   But, I think that is Hyperbole also, because there is just too much variability in surface area of streams and lakes.

Whether either of these statements are TRUE or NOT, they at least give a good visual representation of the frustration 90% of us feel sometimes when we are focusing on personal fish counts.  Sometimes hearing it over and over is a little grating.