Control what we can control is part of fishing success!

[fishfight]

My goal in a fishing day is to find a pattern. Fishing with another experience angler and no fish in that area means it is also a pattern to avoid. While someone landing a fish, on their first cast, in an area, the success does not necessary mean a good fishing pattern either. One reason fishing with another experience buddy helps a lot, we fish using different pattern or technique at the start, then fish and explore different areas, at times we might have to go back to where we started, hoping to find a pattern that works for that day.

WFN slogan has been :
First fish caught - a Fluke
second fish caught - A theory!
Third fish caught - A pattern!

A Pattern is what we need to establish, some anglers are talented and work hard to gain experience. A common mistake of a novice angler, they tried to fish the same conditions repeatedly without evaluating what works and what does not work. Since they witness other anglers have landed, they assumed they can do likewise. Unless they know their strength and weaknesses, they will just be committing the same mistakes all over again. Knowing our limitation is one step closer to success!

At times, when I notice more than hundreds of anglers, including me, getting skunk fishing in an area. I just pondered on the amount of wasteful gas, money and time , we all put together, fishing can be a big waste of precious time for many of us, if we do not calculate and learn from our failures.

There are things within our control that we should try to control, if we can focus on these areas, we are almost one step closer to landing our trophy catch :

1. Hook should be sharp enough to not potentially lose our trophy catch.
2.Are we using the right line? Check to find out how much visible is it on certain body of water?
3. Learn to master controlling the movement of our lure on still or moving current.
4. Having proper outfit or the proper rain gear, Read the weather forecast the same Morning before we head out. A fishing vest is always useful to keep basic things such as swivel , hook, weights, tissue, hook sharpener, etc...
5. Untwist our line every often to prevent potential bird nest
6. Drag functioning properly? Drag should be release when not in use
7. Having adequate sleep the night before, so we can stay focus fishing for many hours.
8. Fit enough to hike , especially at the Niagara area.
9. Enough funds save to invest in the right equipment, buy used stuff or in bulk if necessary.
10. Having the right buddy to work with. Is your buddy an asset or liability?
11. Hand cleaner or degreaser, and towel/rag. Equipment maintenance as well
12. Bring only limited tackle for the day use, especially to lighten our load during a day's hike.
13. Try to master only few lures, rather than changing lures each time. Line not on the water is the worse way to fish.
14, Learn to tie different knot fast and efficiently.
15 Study, learn and google info available. Distinguish between facts versus theories.
16. Evaluate our strength, weaknesses, and progress level from time to time.
17, Patience level should improve as we get more into this sport.
18 To be an opportunist rather being a pessimist person.
19. To minimize killing fish (just for the roe), for future reproduction
20. TO FAST AND NOT FISH, COULD BE THE RIGHT DECISION AT TIMES! Learn to cut our loses.



Things beyond our control:
1. FIsh feeding time
2. Weather fluke pattern
3. Changes in weed growth pattern this year versus past years
4. Fishing with wrong partner where personality clash on that same day.
5. Lost fish due to a fight or lost our tackle due to a snag
6. Fish disappeared this week after last weeks successful pattern.


Success in fishing is the process to acquire as many information, then develop proper technique, that will constantly lead us to be more efficient, resulting in us catching our next fish. Thomas Edison is a good motivator we can learn from. While discovering the light bulb, every time he failed, he just realized another ways or material to avoid.