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High Percentage Fishing: A Statistical Approach To Improving Catch Rates

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Envisioned as the “Moneyball” of largemouth bass fishing, High Percentage Fishing offers a practical approach to put more fish in your boat. It freely mixes big bass wisdom from some of the world’s greatest fishermen, with statistical findings from a vast database of catch information. Part science, part strategy, this book boils down critical concepts into fundamental truths that will help you catch more fish. Learn about:
•Big bass habits and locations
•The impact of weather on catch rates
•The effect of lunar cycles on fishing
•The best and worst times to fish
•Ideal lures to catch a giant
Engineer and statistician Josh Alwine slices through the data and demonstrates that some of fishing’s oldest and most conventional thinking is little more than myth.

127 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 28, 2016

57 people are currently reading
27 people want to read

About the author

Josh Alwine

2 books2 followers
Josh Alwine is a lifetime fisherman, who currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his family. He has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, a Master’s in Business Administration from Marquette University, and has achieved a Black Belt certification in Lean Six Sigma. He’s fished as far south as the West Indies and as far north as Canada chasing a variety of fresh and saltwater game fish.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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1,204 reviews20 followers
September 1, 2018
A very good book, and one I appreciate, but realistically the very important information could have filled an index card and the important information could have filled a sheet of paper.

To catch fish (the book centers on bass) go to a lake that not a lot of people go to, and do it in the middle of a week. Use plastic worms or live bait. Black is a good color. Be sneaky and fish in low light, especially dusk. A lot of the other stuff doesn't seem to matter. That's the gist of it, and there's more information in the book, but not _that_ much more (and some appears to be filler, like talking about hypothesis testing).
10 reviews
April 29, 2019
Very important point you missed

As temp increases the fish must say more. This increasing temp is more important than the temp. Very easy to apply. If air temp is higher than water temp you catch fish. If air temp is below water temp you catch no fish. With rising temps the fish become more active and must feed (try it in an aquarium). As temp falls they become sluggish. It is the change in temp, not the temp.
1 review
January 24, 2025
Worth the read

Over all the book was very informative with some information I will try to apply. On the other hand my personal preference would have liked the book to go more in depth about seasonal changes and a more step by step strategy for planning a fishing outing. All in all it was worth the read.
153 reviews62 followers
February 1, 2017
Not a review that most of my followers will care about, but if fishing is your thing, read on.

Deemed the "Moneyball for bass fishing" the author - a operations manager in manufacturing - seemingly has the statistical chops to pull that part of the book off. He gathered over 40,000 catch records, added in the historical weather and moon data, and lays out what he found. The world of fishing is decidedly less data-rich than baseball though, and hence the thin size of the book.

That's not to say it isn't useful though - there are some ideas in here I hadn't thought about or knew, and it's really helpful to see data instead of the normal folktales. Will it magically improve my fishing? Not sure, because it really depends on the veracity of the data, and fisherfolk are by their nature stretchers of the truth, even when trying to be helpful. It would have been helpful to see the raw data fully understand the power of each of his conclusions. But I can say that given circumstances of no data vs. some data to base things on, I'll take the data.

If you're a bass fisherman (or fish freshwater lakes in general for predator species), reading this is not a bad way to spend a winter's evening, but I wouldn't call it must-read.
2 reviews
April 26, 2016
Good information

I'm gonna write this review for those that are just stating out I'm bass fishing. Meaning you have little experience with bass, baits, how to work said baits, etc

Likes:
Summarizes data some previous popular bass books in organized manner
Adds much of his own findings.
Debunks some old, widely known fishing 'rules'.
Breaks down a lot of information on bass habits and life cycles.

Cons:
Very analytical, while it is impressive, some of it is unnecessary
Doesn't touch on how to work lures very much

Summary:
Great book for beginners and veterans alike. Not a one stop info shop, but you can hardly expect it to be.
1 review
March 6, 2016
Data and fishing

As a data guy and fisherman, I thoroughly enjoyed the author's findings and this book. I'm going to recommend this book to everyone.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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