by Don Swearingen

Created on: November 10, 2009

Of course, catching a trout is a bigger thrill than catching a bass. The question should never have come up. There are at least four reasons this is so.

First, a trout is prettier than a bass. A bass is shaped like a beer belly. Go ahead. Look at pictures of large bass. They are all shaped like big barrels with great beer bellies hanging from them.

Not one of them is sleek, and streamlined, the way a trout is, no matter how big or small it is.

A bass's face and mouth is a pug nosed ugly thing that has nothing handsome about it, not the way a trout's nose is part of the streamlined whole a trout is.

A bass is a dull green. Or maybe a shiny, bilious green. In any case, how can it compare to the rose-colored stripe that decorates the side of a rainbow trout, or the bright orange circles on a brown trout's flanks?

Second, if you are looking for a battle, a trout's fight is easily the equal of the bass's, and it is probably the stronger fighter. Especially in the larger fish.

A bass can engage in some spectacular tail walking, but can it equal the acrobatic leaps of a trout that will come out of the water several times its own length, cart wheeling and shaking all over the place? As far as tail walking, nothing can give you goose bumps like a large trout walking on water.

Strength? No argument! The streamlined muscle that is a trout's body can cover the water faster, and with as much strength as a bass, and let's just talk about weight, shall we?

The world record for a Largemouth Bass is 22 lbs, 4 oz. The world record for a Rainbow Trout is 42 lbs, 2 oz. Nearly twice as much! The sheer size of a trout in many instances dwarfs the fighting ability of the biggest bass.

I have caught both, I am within ten minutes of being able to fish for both, and I will fish for trout every time, if I'm looking for a fight.

Third, generally, not always, but generally, trout live in prettier places and better water.

A bass can live in a muddy, sluggish impoundment surrounded by swamps, but a trout has a better opinion of itself.

It lives, mostly in places where the scenery is at least pretty if not spectacular. Snow covered mountains, sweet scented pine trees, blue columbines nodding their heads in a gentle breeze. That's the picture you get when you think trout. Or perhaps gentle slopes as in the Appalachians.

Not some mosquito infested impoundment in the middle of a cow pasture.

And the water! Have you ever seen any self-respecting trout trying to live in a low rent place like

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