“Trout Bums” and “Bassholes”: Distant relatives or kissing cousins?

By: Levi Ladd, MooseKat Guide Service

When you tell a group of bass fisherman you prefer trout fishing to bass fishing, you’ll most often hear one of two possible responses.  The most common response is: “trout fishing sucks.”  The next most common response is an awkward frown followed by immediate silence.  On the contrary, if you’re at trout camp and you tell the guys you prefer bass fishing to trout fishing, you’ll get the same response.

I mention this because open water season is just a week away, and trout fishermen and bass fishermen alike are chomping at the bit to wet a line.  Despite the seemingly blatant contrasts between the two fish and the two styles of fishing, fishermen of all types are gearing up for spring fishing.  While a trout fisherman is washing his fly vest and going on a quick diet to squeeze into his neoprene waders he can’t fit into due to too many winter brews, the bass fisherman has the hose out and is waxing his boat while enjoying the same brew the trout bum next door is swearing against for “shrinking” his waders.  The trout fisherman has his canoe and paddle in the truck to go fishing in solitude in the Great North Woods.  The bass fisherman is making sure his radio batteries are charged enough to pick up his favorite country station and crank it up over the roaring noise of the dam.  The trout fisherman brings a baggie to store the few fish he may catch that day while the bass fisherman brings a brand new disposable camera to document the dozens of bass he’s planning on boating that day.

Trout fisherman and his vest, bass fisherman with tackle bag – these anglers have more in common then most of them know or already know but would never openly admit.  They have their annual traditions for each season and each outing.  Each have their favorite spots that take them away from everything.  Both types of angler have their favorite bait or fly that with their favorite presentation on their favorite water is guaranteed to catch their favorite fish.  Also, both face the challenge of matching wits with the fish they seek. Bass angler and trout angler alike go out with different expectations yet they both go out for the same reason – to be on the water with nothing but a rod and line between you and Mother Nature’s finest and most respectable creatures.  

I’m often asked what is harder or what is more popular or who is a more respectable fisherman between your typical trout bum and your typical bass addict.  How can you compare the environments of trout making silent and delicate strikes like a mother kissing an infant to the wet and wild strike of a smallie hitting the top water with the same disregard to calm as a startled beaver?  The answer is simple:  there is no answer.  While a bass fisherman trying out fly fishing for the first time may end in total disaster, so can be the trout fisherman running a boisterous buzz bait across the top of the water.  Taking a fisherman out of his element puts a fishing perspective on the old “fish out of water” adage.  A fish out of water is not a fish at all just like a skilled angler fishing with unfamiliar gear and methods for an unfamiliar fish is now a newbie and hardly an angler at all.

In my opinion, comparing bass to trout one will find them as a species more comparable than meets the eye.  Trout and bass alike are fools; they’re fools for the right bait presented at the right time in the right way – susceptible to be caught by an 80 year old veteran or an 8 year old novice.  Even if they know you’re there, they’ll strike if you strike them the right way.  The big bass and the big trout are the old bass and the old trout; they got old by not getting caught.  One thing is true: whether catching bass or trout, the fish catches the man, not the other way around.

The true distinction between bass fishing and trout fishing is defined by us, the anglers, and the way we pursue our query.  The bass angler speeds out to his spot with a 60 horse Yamaha while the trout angler quietly canoes out to his spot using his 60 year old arms.  The bass angler loudly curses out his fishing partner for landing the first largemouth of the day while the trout angler curses out the dog for bumping the paddle against the gunwales, afraid the dog has spooked the fish for good.  While the morning may begin with the bass addict placing the cooler in the boat and the trout bum zipping his flask in the vest, they both head out for a day’s fishing with the day’s success certain to be defined as good or bad by the fish, never the angler.