How hard are you willing to work, to learn....

[DarkSkies]

I saw a lot of guys leaving the beach yesterday when the bite slowed down during slack tide. The fish were picky, yes. Even the blues. But to have an activity level, during slack, is almost unheard of, unless there is a lot of bait and fish in the area.

A few old timers and I continued to catch fish, a slow pick, unhooking and releasing them quickly when w brought them in so as not to telegraph that we were catching.

Your success as a fisherman, long-term....depends on your ability to recognize certain bait patterns and conditions,. Adapt when necessary, hunt for the best conditions where fish are most likely to be, and exploit those conditions to your favor when you sense a good bite might develop.

This took years for me to learn...through many depressing times when I failed......failure is a good thing, IMO, because it forces you to think critically about what you are doing.....

It amazes me that a lot of modern fishermen, are content to skip this process, by chasing internet reports...or asking for directions to the best bite on social media.
By taking these shortcuts, you can't achieve your full potential as a fisherman, because you won't be able to recognize when you should stay in one area, because a bite is about to develop...
or leave and go to another area, because the bite is truly over....
because conditions have changed...
Just my thoughts....

[DarkSkies]

The title of this thread has become even more compelling to me...after seeing the rise in laziness and report chasing on Social Media......For a long time I stopped helping people I met on my trips....realizing it could come back and ruin the fishing and experiences that mean so much to me........

Last year I had a change of heart....and began helping people again......but only in certain situations, when it seemed to me...they had that "spark".....that thirst for knowledge......It was something that I found absent from a majority of social media....folks more concerned with the "where" than the "why"......

It was refreshing to see it resurface again in some of the many interactions I had out there with New anglers who wanted to learn.......enough to give me renewed interest in helping........as I hope to help a select few hard workers this year......time permitting....

In fact, some of the richest experiences I had last year......were helping others....If a gruff, crabby, grouchy old fart......helped some of ya's to catch a fish or two last year...when you were struggling....that might have been me.
I'll try to share some of those stories when I get a chance.......

[dogfish]

Respectfully speaking, people don't want to work hard to find fish today. They don't even want to work hard at their jobs, Dark. They spend all day on their cell phones texting.