How many of you learned from family or friends growing up?
How about later in life?
The internet?
Magazines, watch TV shows, DVD how-to’s, books, etc.??
How many figured out how the masters of the craft learned and tried to follow their paths?
How many paid to go on charters to learn how they did it at that time?
How many try to get on as many boats as possible so they can learn another good idea?
How about offering themselves up as mate or deck hand on somebody’s boat so they can learn?
Some people value gas money. Some people value loyalty. Others might value knowledge. And still others may just want a tournament win or a dock cart full of fish. How about just a good time?
What’s your motivation both on the learning side and teaching side?
Edisto-fisher, bless his departed-from-charlestonfishing . com heart, used to talk about a fisherman’s level. He had levels one-five I think. Been thinking about his outlook lately and wondered if folks would share here so that everyone reading could understand a little more about our sport. We focus on the fish too much sometimes, IMO.
I learned later in life from going with others. Most of my trips include kids (mine, friends and others). I fish 1 time a year with just me and my best friend. That is the only trip I actually reel fish in. I let the less experienced/kids do all the reeling. Besides watching someone else catch their 1st offshore fish is awesome.
So I would say teaching
Now if I could just get my good friend Phin to teach me the art of bottom fishing
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
I have learned what little I know the hard way being boat b@#$ on a few different boats cleaning fish scrubbing boats paying for gas and bait none of which I minded doing cuz I learned something new everytime I was lucky to meet some really good people along the way . My father doesn’t fish so it has become something I have picked up along my teen years . I still have a lot to learn . My opinion now days everyone wants to be a glorified fishing god images of a tool model and a teacher too much criticism
i learned from my Dad on bottoming fishing and running a boat,most of the trolling i learned from the group of guys i have met here in Charleston and reading books,magazines etc…
I find i really enjoy taking people out and putting them on fish,its more about seeing them catch their first whatever verus me reeling in anything,i wouldn’t say i am a teacher because i still learn something new every trip,its just more about letting others get out there so they can see what this addiction is all about.
I received my first taste of saltwater fishing sitting in the front of my dad’s aluminum Lund catching stingrays/spots/croakers/whiting with blood worms while he flounder fished.
My first offshore lesson came from a fella named Skip Opalko and my father when I was about 13. Ever since then I could not get enough of it. I log most every experience I have on the water and read almost every saltwater publication I can get my hands on. I will talk to any and every one about fishing to try and pick up some nuance of a detail that may help on the next trip.
When I came across this website my junior year of college I knew I had found a goldmine. I picked up some rigging tips here and there but the true value from this site came with the real-time data in fishing reports. Knowing what colors were hot, when and where the fish were biting etc.
I pull almost all of my gratification from taking people brand new to the sport. You can lose sight of it sometimes on these boards and walking around the dock but VERY FEW people in this world ever get the chance to experience the gulf stream and everything in it from turtles to sunfish to flipper to billfish/dolphin/tuna etc. Seeing people’s eyes light up when that first dolphin comes over the rail and receiving phone calls two years later from people wanting to talk about the time we went offshore makes all of the spent money and time worth it.
I feel there is much to gain in all mediums you have listed Phin. Every time I think I have it all figured out, I will ride on a boat and realize that if I just made this one little adjustment in this situation I could have even more success.
I used to feel that a trip was a failure if we didn’t come home with tails sticking out of every box in the boat. Over the last few years I have learned that conditions will often dictate the number of fish you are going to bring back and that as long as everyone on the boat has a smile and had a good time, the trip is a success.
I could troll all day offshore without even a hook on the line and still have a awesome day. To me it is just being out on the water and how all ones “other” problems seem to just dissolve away. Putting fish in the box is just a added bonus in my book, same goes for hunting. Now, putting a kid on his first fish or hundreth, whether off or onshore is where it’s at in my book, the joy they get is priceless to me and worth way more to me then me catching a dozen grander marlin. Also nothing more gratifying then watching a kid release a fish with the knowledge that he will now be able to maybe catch it again. That’s the future of our fishieries.
I think a lot of it came from being raised at a early age on the water in different oceans all over the world and being tought to have a healthy respect for the oceans and all it’s creatures.
My Dad wasn’t so much a fisherman as he was a sailor, he tought me basically most of what I know about boat handling, ocean conditions, weather patterns, etc…
The man I credit for my fishing passion was a life long friend of my family who lived in Hawaii, when we lived there he used to take me out every single day with him hand line commercial fishing, and trolling, he also hooked me up with several charter captains who I mated for. When I was struggling in school there with multiplication tables he took me out fishing and tought me a rhyme for allmost every one, and used fish for examples. The next day I aced the math test. That really showed me that fishing is much more then just “catching fish”.
“Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after” HDT
(edit to add)
“One thing becomes clearer as one gets older and one’s fishing experience increases, and that is the paramount importance of one’s fishing companions”. John Ashley-Cooper
Russ B. www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
The past few years, I have not been able to fish much, if at all, during spring. I look at this forum and see people coming out of the woodwork catching fish and even talking down towards others when only a few months earlier they were newbies themselves. I see some bragging too- some deserved and some not! What I don’t see enough of, at least in my opinion, is people happy to have just gotten out there. Some folks who don’t get to go as much as they used to have a different perspective on what’s worth the most from a trip. Seems I have become one of those people myself.
Just want people to realize what it’s all worth because sometimes you get caught up in the competition with others or yourself.
I enjoy learning and then seeing others learning now. I have definately done my share of bragging and showing off, but now it’s learning and wondering what I can give back to the sport in terms of the people - not just the fish.
Reading the way I used to talk or the way I see some others talking on here, it seems silly to me now. People think they are better fishermen than others if they have caught more fish this year than someone else. Meanwhile someone else may have caught a lifetime of fish already and may just have a different motivation to go offshore.
I learned to fish in the ponds and river where I grew up. Had a chance to do it basically every day if I wanted. By the time I got in college I could care less about it. Now I want to teach kids about it and see them happy and challenging themselves- much like we want to see children learn to behave and approach the rest of their lives. Same with offshore fishing. So many analogies to life that people seem to soak right up, especially if they’re young. I Bottom fished a little with my granddad when I was a kid. Those were the loran and paper graph days. He would break down almost every trip, but he never gave up and ALWAYS brought home tons of fish for everyone. Then, when I was a teen, we didn’t bott
I have been fishing all my life, but only in the last six years got into nearshore and offshore fishing. Started out with a 19’ cc with no gps and would run compass bearings to artificial reef buoys. From there, we just ran headings from buoy to structure and watched for the fish on sonar and set reef marker. Really just going at it pretty blind for a while, but had a great time. Most times we would do pretty decent on the fish also.
Got a bigger boat a few years ago and now I have a lot more options. Still, pretty much all of my knowledge is a combination of books, Internet, forums like this and alot of time spent on the water. Most of the time I take friends, family and co-workers who have little experience offshore. I end up doing a lot of the work, but I enjoy it. I like to put people on the fish. Pretty much all of my offshore time has been on my boat. First stream trip we laid a goose egg when everyone else was slaying the fish. Got some good advice from some people at the dock and the next time we slayed em.
I agree with Russ B above in that just being out there is a victory in itself. I learn a lot from every trip, if it was super easy I would be looking for a new hobby. I have an 11 month old son and I just can’t wait to pass some of this stuff down to him.
Have been fortunate enough to have met some really helpful people who are always willing to share some spots, tactics, etc…some people I have taken out will probably never have the opportunity to ever get to experience it again. But I promise they will never forget the trip, and those kind of people are in awe of what some of us might take for granted: dolphins, turtles, flying fish, even weed lines and other flotsam at the stream. Touch hit it on the head, that is what it is about for me.
Watching my wife catch her first tuna, dolphin, red snapper, etc… You couldn’t wipe that smile off her face if you tried and she wil never forget it. Now if. I could just get a decent window when I can actually fish…
Phin, well put! I know what you mean about going home to the country and talking about this stuff and the looks that you get in return. Great topic for discussion, I think about this often. Some just don’t get it.
My Dad has a passion for fishing. The earliest I remember was once going down to Folly when I was about 4 for a surf fishing trip. We stayed until the fish stopped biting. I didn’t care, it was fun and it let me stay up past bed time.
Also had the pleasure of going fishing with Dad when we lived in San Diego in the early 80’s and in NJ also in the same decade. We caught everything from Flounder to big Stripers. I lost interest in high school (Stall High was all I could handle) but still went a couple of times with my Dad and Neighbor, by this time we were back in Charleston and fishing offshore. I moved away and it wasn’t until about 2000 when I came back to Charleston that I wanted to get back into it. My Dad now has Parkinson’s so he doesn’t like being offshore anymore but he still does everything else. For him it’s about the challenge of catching what’s out there.
For me it’s about being out on the water with friends and family. I love fishing, and learning a new challenge. I also love sharing what I know about fishing. There has always been someone that took me fishing when I didn’t have a boat, so now I save a spot to take 1 person who has never been. I don’t know all that much about this great sport we have, but do manage to bring home fish. I still do what I can to get on someone else’s boat (PLB in pocket) and see if I can learn something new, see how others rig their equipment, why they do this, how they do that, and everything in between. If anything, I have learned is that our city has the best fishermen in the world, we share and teach. I have never fished with anyone here who has not been anything short of outstanding.
Still, it will always be offshore for me until I cant physically go anymore. There is nothing like being able to see as far as the horizon on a clear day, or seeing the sun rise on the way out. The ocean in a way is my happy place.
It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I found out about this site. I definitely learned a bunch. Thank you all from Charleston Fis
Still, it will always be offshore for me until I cant physically go anymore. There is nothing like being able to see as far as the horizon on a clear day, or seeing the sun rise on the way out. The ocean in a way is my happy place.
TRUTH.
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
I started fishing in Murrells Inlet probably when I retired from diapers. Earliest memory I have is on our familys Glastron catching drum on the jetties. My Grandfather retired the day I started walking and up until the day he passed away he made sure if I had a spare moment there was going to be a rod in my hand. He always made sure I could launch, drive, navigate, anchor, and bait every trip. When I was younger these things seemed redundant, but looking back I miss those days out on the inlet more than anything! My first boat was his hand-me-down 19 Sea Pro that I still cherish to this day, but today I have upgraded to my Sea Fox yet nothing has changed from what he taught me. I still strive to learn from anyone who is willing to teach me. I seldom get a chance on my boat to reel in a fish, but 100 fish could not compare to seeing the smile on friends and familys faces when they catch one. Im with phin, I constantly wish I was in that bigger Freeman or Yellowfin, but I never really think how lucky I am to be able to take my boat offshore and fish with the people I care about. In the end, its not how many fish you have caught in your lifetime, or how many trips offshore you have made, but its how many lessons you have learned and how many experiences you have given others.
When your 12 year old son hooks a fish and passes the rod to the 10 year old on the boat, now your fishing.
I set personal goals for myself, fishing a lot more artificials. Making the baits myself, giving them life and color. Big fish, light tackle, no harness, out of MY element. That is the progression for me.
