Frank Nale, aka FrankTroutAngler on PAFF posts on every so often.
He is very detailed and meticulous on his record keeping as well as how he fishes. Here is something I found written by him from another site Under the title of:
I Have Now Caught Over 260,000 Trout, 100 Trout Per Day Average
Let me share a few points with you:
1) I have been timed by another angler and on a large stream it takes me an average of 25 seconds from the time I hook a trout until the time I release it. On a small stream this time would be substantially less. These 25 seconds include holding the trout up against the grid of inch markers that I have on my rod as well as unhooking it. It takes me about 5 seconds to get out my little notebook and write, for example, “7 BK 803,” meaning I caught a 7” brook trout at 8:03 a.m. It does not take me any additional time to determine the species since I can tell this at a glance. And if I care to determine whether it is a stocked trout or a wild trout, I determine this during the measuring process and it takes no additional time. Therefore, the handling time is a total of about 30 seconds per trout on a large stream; less on a small stream. Please don’t confuse me with the many fly fishermen who play their trout to exhaustion.
2) If I were to average catching a trout every 3.5 minutes for a day, this is 17.14 trout per hour. For sake of discussion, let’s round this to 20 trout per hour. The time required from hooking a trout until I’m ready to make my next cast is, on average, 30 seconds per trout. If you multiple these 20 trout times 30 seconds of handling time each it means that I spend all of 10 minutes in an hour actually handling trout. This leaves 50 minutes, repeat 50 minutes, for all of the other things required to catch these trout.
3) Most of the streams I fish do not require “walking from place to place” as you suggested. Generally, I’m fishing all of the water that I feel may hold a trout. I certainly don’t skip the water between pools unless I feel there will be no trout there. If I’m fishing a small stream that is too shallow to hold trout in the riffles between pools, it takes only seconds to walk to the next pool. Keep in mind that I don’t typically get up onto the bank to walk to the next pool; I stay in the water or walk on the rocks along the creek.
4) I am left-handed but I cast with my right arm. This is one of the things that speed up my trout-handling process. I do not fumble around as I manage the trout, my rod, needle-nose pliers, and a pencil and tablet.
5) Even on a tight mountain stream I rarely get snagged. This is just an educated guess, but I doubt I get snagged more than once every hour, even on a brushy stream. I have often fished for several hours and thought back on that time and realized that I hadn’t gotten hung-up even once. My straight-ahead, underhand, flip casting method is deadly accurate and is a key to my success.
6) I almost always fish with the same spinner all day, unless of course I break it off and lose it. I do not use a swivel or any split shot. I tie my spinner directly to my line. While fishing I cut my spinner off about every 15 to 20 minutes and re-tie it to undamaged line. I’ve tied thousands of improved clinch knots and I can do this in just a few seconds. Please don’t confuse me with fly fishermen who fumble around for ten minutes getting ready for their next cast.
7) While fishing, if I decide to do something that is not actual fishing, I do not count that time as fishing time any more than a stats-keeper would count the minutes a basketball player spends sitting on the bench as playing time. That would be illogical to me. If I stop to talk to someone while fishing I deduct those minutes. If I stop to take some photographs I deduct those minutes, too, as well as the time I take to answer a serious nature call. With this said, I find that I rarely deduct any minutes from the time I start fishing until the time I stop because I avoid talking to other anglers when possible and haven’t taken many photographs in recent years.
8) My best hour ever was 77 trout. This should give you an idea of how easy it is to catch just 17.14 trout per hour. I often catch two trout during the same minute and have on occasion caught three – my notebooks show this.
I hope this helps you and other skeptics understand how an earthly human can catch large numbers of trout that you as a fly fisherman find to be an incredible accomplishment.
- Frank Nale -"
Link to source: http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/forum/threads/i-have-now-caught-over-260-000-trout-100-trout-per-day-average.114460/page-13
