What Makes a Good "Fisherman"

[webby]

Most blokes i know enjoy having a yarn, The majority also like a drink. When they get together, the combination of these two social habits invariably leads to a certain amount of bullshit and exaggerated matters on the piscatorials.
I must admit, I enjoy these beer 'n' bull sessions almost as much as fishing itself sometimes, especially if the company is good. And despite the criticisms levelled at us by outsiders and our better halfs if your unlucky to have one, "dont you blokes ever talk about anything else", fishos are not unique in their conversational single-mindedness.
All you have to do is eavesdrop on a bunch of computer jocks, or rev' head or footy fanacits.
Lately, i've been involved in a few of these beer 'n' bull sessions when the topic has turned to the question of what makes someone a really good fisherman.
We all talk about good fishos and bad fishos, but what is it that makes the difference.
Has the cricket score bag man got it over the specimen hunter, the lure or fly fanatics, or is the real gun the bloke with the patience and skill to catch a monster on light line, or maybe it'll just always be "different strokes for different blokes".
Whats your honest opinions without any of the 'bull'?.
regards

[SeaHunt]

Hi Webby,
I dont think I am qualified to answer this one , but that has not stopped me before.
So for me it is patience and persistance.
[smiley=wut.gif]

[jeffo]

most decent fisherman can catch the fish when they are around and on the bite... a GOOD fisherman can find them when they are few and far between or entice them into biting when they are off the chew...thats IMO any way.
i think consistancy also makes a good angler.

[PinHead]

The answer to your question is very simple and indisputable Webby.

How good a fisherman is, is gauged by the amount of Green Ginger Wine taken on each fishing trip.

[michael_Brewer]

dunno ay.... ask rob?

[northsboy]

LMAO MICKY B! I would have to agree with jeff,to be able to find the fish when they are few and far between.....which i cant do

[bungie]

Its subjective. You are a "good" fisherman, or you have a "good" time fishing

[SeaSaw]

I reakon a good fisherman pays attention to detail and thinks about things from a fishes perspective.

A good fishermans hooks are never sharp enough, bait is never fresh enough, bait presentation can always be improved. He/She knows the time, location, moon phase, barometer, season, prevailing weather conditions, tide times, for every fish ever caught. He/She can instantly call on this memory bank to help decide where and when the fish will be there.

Hmmmm, that sounds like it could work, might have to start doing that myself one day.

[nofrills]

hey webby

i reccon a good fisherman knows when to stay home.

an old mate of mine used to say
"better to be sitting at home wishing you were out there"
than "out there wishing you were sitting at home"

cheers scott

[allniter]

I reckon a good fisherman can only come with age and experience.
I often ponder how guys like Webby, Mackmauler, Reefmaster
and Nugget can consistently catch targeted species.
We all know which species is in season at different times of the year - but to plan a trip and come back with a successful catch most of the time , is only mastered by a small percentage of people.
For the serious fisho, i guess a diary is a must - started way back when, listing tide times ,moon phases, etc. etc.
Even Lucky Phil seems to zip out for a few hours at a certain spot and zip back without spending a lot of time waiting-
obviously he has caught bream there before in years gone by.....
Reefmaster i think has been blessed by his fathers experiences at D.I. point which he has passed down to his son.
Unfortunately, instead of my father teaching me how to catch snapper or jew , he taught me how to catch 200 winter whiting at the pelican banks 20 years ago........
Guess who had to fillet them........
But now i know where to catch fresh bait!!!!
My 14 year old son is slowly learning to remember different spots for different times of the year, and can still recall the best fish details - what bait he caught it on, what spot, even which way the tide was running.
So me thinks a "Good'' fisherman is only good because of time already spent with his rod in his hand , remembering all the details from years gone by , then he knows when, where and how to target and return with a decent catch - most of the time.
#[smiley=sleeping.gif] [smiley=sleeping.gif] [smiley=sleeping.gif] [smiley=sleeping.gif] # # #
Sorry for waffling on....
regards darren
Oh, the "age" part, is in no way a crack at webby !!
well o.k. maybe

[Daintreeboy]

Time and effort play a big part, as does paying attention to detail. Some people have a knack of catching good fish most of the time because they've payed attention over the years on what works best. When they're not biting and you can still catch a few, that sorts out the old 90 percent rule.
Cheers, Mark.

[bugman]

You guys have got it all wrong.

The mark of a "good" fisherman is one who can make "good" friends with the "best" fisherman.

Webby - when are we going out?

Bugman

[bidkev]

I used to think of myself as a good fisherman "way back when" in the UK. I could find and dig worms as well as the pros (did it professionally myself for a while). I kept a diary, could target species successfully to the point that I was always in the frame when my local boat club ran a competition.

If there was big cod to be caught, I would target those whilst others were rummaging around for a bag full of whiting and I invariably succeeded in outdoing 'em at the weigh in. On one occasion I targeted dogfish and weighed in with 46 of the scavenging buggers whilst others weighed in the odd flounder. The club passed a rule that dogfish couldn't be weighed in in the future as "they are to easy to target" If that was the case, how come with 70 odd boats fishing, no bugger else weighed 'em in? I left after that and have never joined a club since.........clubs are alright......it's the bloody committeemen that bugger it up.....especially when they don't get to weigh in :-)

Nobody fished in my area back then if there was an easterly (offshore wind) as it was considered shite for fishing. I could go out on certain night tides with an easterly blowing (light) and catch fish at the rate of one every 30 seconds. Guys would come onto the pier and see me leaving "bagged out" and they would be full of hope and catch nothing. All that stuff gave me such a wonderful feeling, particularly as I was young and they were old timers.

I may post some press cuttings here at some time if I can get round to scanning them.

Nowadays, none of that matters. I'm happy just to get out there. I want to learn, yes, but I don't want to obsess over tides, moonphases, lure colours etc. Just being there is enough for me.

I respect, and in someways envy the guys here who know their stuff and persevere at improving their catch rate, and I am grateful to them for sharing with us. I know what that feeling of acheivment can mean to others but to me, it is not now of primary significance in how or when I fish. I don't keep a diary and I don't care for moon phases or state of tides. If I feel like fishing (most of the time :-), then I go. I don't think to myself, "Oh, it's a shit tide and the moon is wrong" I simply up sticks and get out there (when the deckie allows me ;-), whether it's in the boat or chucking a squidgy in my local creek.

I still want to learn and adapt, but not to the point that it detracts from my "being at one" with the sea. myself, or my family.

To answer your question. I don't consider myself to be a good fisherman (now) but I still find the fishing is good to me.....if you can understand that.

cheers

kev

[sir_noelus]

Well, I don't think it's subjective, becaus the two interpretations of 'good' are two different contexts/questions . To answer the question though, one could say something silly like "The mug who goes fishing catches more than the expert who stays home". However, I always wanted to call myself a good fisherman on the basis that I could go most places, catch most species, most of the time. 8)
Nearly too old to complete the exercise, I take pleasure in having fished lakes, streams, estuaries, beaches, rocks, game fished, etc etc, with baits, lures, flies,with generally an element of success. But I still don't call myself a 'good fisherman' using my own criteria . Noel

[easyrider525]

a good fisherman? i have all the must haves and then some. i take all the care in presentation and the right ways and use all the very best that i can afford. i've studied books tides moon phases and asked a million questions to the right people. i've listen learned and taught myself. my persistance and stubborness to be somewhere at the right time and tide has paid off sometimes. and i will keep doing so forever more. but to the question asked, simple answer..
one who catches fish and enjoys the whole thing for what it is.
pure bliss...................