Imagine a time way back in antiquity when an early angler dragged a fish to the mud at his feet and expressed disdain for his catch.

That seems improbable considering prehistoric fishing was a subsistence activity, the opportunity to gain protein to feed family and friends. But at some point, I am certain, ancient anglers began to specialize in their hook-and-line pursuit of fish for the table.

For the hungry, a fish is a fish, a meal for the table. But among sport anglers, fish snobbery is a thing these days, as we increasingly specialize in our pursuit of our favorite species.

Anglers are a particular bunch. Readers know I’m a bass guy, specializing not only in my studies of largemouth and smallmouth bass, but also in the lures I deploy on rods, reels and lines designed to be effective in teasing bass to bite.

Just about every species has its fan base. I have friends who zero in on muskies, walleyes, crappies, steelhead and catfish, and who are disappointed when the fish that strikes is not their target species.

Recently, however, I have persuaded myself that I can have a boatload of fun by accepting the catch, regardless of its genetic makeup.

My transformation is a result of the willingness of walleyes, saugers and crappies to eat the lures I’ve been throwing for smallmouth and largemouth bass.

Several trips to the Ohio River helped drive home the point. I went there two weeks ago intending to take advantage of the hot smallmouth bass bite. Word had reached me that 100-fish days were happening. Enough said. We were rigged and ready.

The smallies certainly cooperated. Fishing buddy Ted Suffolk and I boated many bass, but we also put a hurting on the river’s walleyes, including a fish topping seven pounds. That’s a great fish by any standards, and certainly noteworthy as an “accidental” hook-up on a 3-inch Ned worm on a fifth-ounce jig head.

A follow-up trip to the Ohio produced more than two dozen walleyes and saugers, all tempted by finesse Ned worms tossed into current seams with hopes that smallmouth bass would find them. The smallies did bite, but the unintended walleye and sauger catches were proof that short, stubby stick worms will trick more than bass.

Another trip this week also yielded more than I’d bargained for in terms of variety.

I was fishing a six- to seven-foot flat with scraggly stands of curlyleaf pondweed and hydrilla, picking off a few bass that loved the 3-inch Mayor boot-tail swimbaits marketed by Rapala Crush City.

After unhooking and releasing several two-pound largemouths, I set the hook on a 10.5-inch crappie that couldn’t resist the swimbait. I stayed in the vicinity, scanning out in front of the boat with my Eagle Eye 9 sonar and picked off two dozen crappies, all clones in the 10+-inch range.

Each catch piqued my desire to catch more. Though they were incidental catches on my bass mission, I couldn’t resist trying to up the score. If you can’t have fun catching crappies on almost every cast, fishing just isn’t your game.

Make no mistake, I will continue to rig up for bass, but if Mother Nature puts a few walleyes and crappies in my sights, I’ll enjoy the benefits.

Jack Wollitz writes this column weekly for readers of the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.