A bit of introspection on why I suck at fishing

[Ron Jones]

A friend of mine used to say only fish where there is fish.
The Man

[Gfish]

hmmm, maybe get a scuba suit + clear riot shield

& go lure huntin'/gatherin'    could be profitable     

I've done that before. Heavily fished spots from shorelines often have snags that seem to get everybody. Once I got a Zebco 33 and ok rod combo---looked like the person was trolling(lots a line out) and not paying attention.

[handi2]

A friend of mine used to say only fish where there is fish.
The Man

That's so true..!! It doesn't matter how hard you try if the fish aren't there it doesn't matter what tackle and bait you are using.

What type of fishing do you do?

Keith

[Stan]

I have never forgotten this lesson from my youth.

When I was a kid learning to fish in the 1970's, one of my mentors - a very successful commercial and recreational fisherman - would often be asked "what is the one piece of advice you would give someone to make them a better fisherman".  His response was simple....He said to stop thinking of it as fishing, and start thinking of it as hunting.  A hunter typically understands his/her quarry.....how it eats, when it is in rut, where it beds down, etc. 

How many fisherman - especially those casual weekend fisherman - know these things about the fish they target?  Is it an ambush predator?  Does it feed by sight or scent? etc.

[MarkT]

Ya know Henry David Thoreau said it this way, "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

[SteveL]

Ya know Henry David Thoreau said it this way, "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

That partly explains why I see so many corks and lures hanging from the trees along the river banks. 

[SoCalAngler]

Sometimes it's the race car but usually it's the driver.

Ding...ding...ding. I think we have a winner.

IMO, a lot of time catching fish for me depends on my attitude. Let me share a short story.

Many years ago like 20 or so I taught myself a very important lesson. One day fishing for bluefin I could not buy a bite. It was not wide open by any means and anyone that fishes for BFT knows those fish can be very shy about biting. Anyway after many fish were landed, none by me, and several by very novice fishermen with not the greatest gear I was almost fed up. I walk into the galley and get a cold drink from the cook. The bite was still going on and the cook says, "Got your limit?", I say no and I can't buy a bite let alone hook a fish. He then says, "Their still biting you should get back out there". I said I will but first I have to change my attitude being as I was frustrated, anxious and a bit pissed off. I drank my beer, relaxed and was ready to give it another shot. I step on deck cast out a fresh bait and think to myself it would be nice to catch a fish but even if I don't this sure beats working. Long story short I get my first fish and then a few more. I even catch one on the yoyo iron which no one was trying and that fish wins the jackpot.

Ever since that time I just relax and hope for the best and don't worry to much about catching. I think this alone has made me a better fisherman.

[steelfish]

Ding...ding...ding. I think we have a winner.

Ever since that time I just relax and hope for the best and don't worry to much about catching. I think this alone has made me a better fisherman.

bingo !! thats my motto.



I always try to enjoy more the whole fishing trip, the sea, talking with my fishing friends and "being fishing that day instead of working", all that instead of actually passing the fishing day focused 100% on catching, "fishing is the whole cake, catching is just the cherry on the cake".

(sounds better in spanish but you get the idea)

[JasonGotaProblem]

This has blossomed into a great thread.

I'm a land based fisherman by default. Which is to say that if i had a boat or a kayak, I'd be using them. But i don't, so I fish from beaches, docks, piers, sea walls, and rock jetties. I tend to throw my lines around or under structure, because in my limited experience that's where the fish are.

And striperstan has hit on what i think is a very important detail. When i start talking about snook behavior, life cycle, and the way they are affected by water temp, people tend to give me funny looks. "You spend a lot of time thinking about this huh?" And yes, I do! I study them because I like eating them, and you can't go buy one.

My answer, the many times I've had to explain myself, is that if you talk to a highly skilled deer hunter about hunting deer, 5% of the conversation will be about guns and ammo, 75% will be about deer behavior and psychology, and 20% will be about timing. Now i just pulled those numbers out of my #### but I suspect they're in the ballpark.

Talking to a friend about this, he pointed out the # of snook ive caught this year. And he's right. I think I've landed more snook in 2020 than my entire life before it combined. So maybe I'm over analyzing.

And I also realized that while I've been on more small fishing trips this year than last, thanks to covid and needing to get my toddler out of the house while my wife teaches remotely, also thanks to covid, most those trips were not to my normal fishing spots because they were all closed. So i was just looking on google earth for spots with water access near somewhere to park, and going and trying my luck.

And the reason why my main spots are my main spots, is because there's fish there!

Also last year I didn't usually bring my kid bc he was too young. This year he comes along on most trips (and does great). That writes off some of the more adventurous spots, and its impossible to manage 4 rods and a toddler. But he's getting better at walking on rocks, and its a worthwhile trade anyway. I love that he's getting hooked on something other than TV.

[steelfish]

........... This year he comes along on most trips (and does great). That writes off some of the more adventurous spots, and its impossible to manage 4 rods and a toddler. But he's getting better at walking on rocks, and its a worthwhile trade anyway. I love that he's getting hooked on something other than TV.

thats what I said, just enjoy the fishing day, I remember when I took my little princess to fish on a local pier, I was more happy than her when she caught her first fish on a new rod I built for her, that was almost 4 years ago and she still remember all the small details on the fishing day,  she was anxious to use her fishing rod and the cherry on the cake was that from all the fishermen that were fishing that day on the pier she was the only one that caught a fish that day, so, she came back home as a champ anxious to tell that to mom.



this is the thread I made
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=20665.0

[JasonGotaProblem]

Great story. My kids "first fish" was when he was 2, but I was holding the rod and helping him reel it in. This was his first non-catfish, but I was still sorta helping.

Now we have an agreement, there's no "his rod" and "my rods." What we do is work together instead. he reels in the small ones, I reel in the big ones. It was his idea. But i still "help" him by keeping one hand on my fancier rigs.

I love going out with him. The questions that kid asks, and the ideas and explanations for observations that he comes up continually surprise and impress me.

[Gfish]

Too cute Alex and Jason! Maybe there should be a sub-section for kid/fish pictures. I like how you got some good background in both pictures to see the diffrent environments.

[steelfish]

Too cute Alex and Jason! Maybe there should be a sub-section for kid/fish pictures. I like how you got some good background in both pictures to see the diffrent environments.

hey compa G,

Glad you mention it, I made a thread few years ago (2005) with that idea, post pictures of your kids fishing, only kiddos, it has some sucess but got lost on the daily post, maybe if a moderator want to put it as Sticky thread so more members will see it and continue.

https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=14493.0

so, Jason, please post that picture of you boy on that thread to keep it alive

[Donnyboat]

Love it jason, green chair for Dad to sit on  a bucket for the little man to see over the wall, good thinking man, cheers Don, love children's pictures.

[boon]

I had an interesting epiphany a while back: the amount of use my setups got seemed to be inversely proportional to their cost. While several lovely high-end setups were purchased with big dreams of catching enormous fish, the reality is that I would only actively target those species maybe one in 10 trips; the other 9 trips it was a couple of trusty combos that were considerably less expensive that did the lion's share of the work. I suppose I could have gone one step further and tried to use the fancy big-fish setups at times and locations that didn't warrant it, but I suspect the reality is that I would have experienced a similar thing to you, in a reduced catch rate. First the fish have got to be there, second you've got to fish for those fish... no point putting down a beautifully presented live bait when the fish in the area have a mouth the size of a grape.... or deploying a tiny little bait on a 150lb leader so it looks unnatural as all get out and nothing touches it.

Naturally, I used this as a justification to buy more shiny toys... now I have two very very nice combos that come out with me every trip, and cover a broad range of types of fishing.

Still hasn't meant I catch more fish