How Do We Learn Fishing?

[Johnny wilkins]

Do people really want to learn how to catch fish? Describe how you initially learned to catch fish.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Low gearing - gotcha!

Im gonna get the book, I assure you. Meanwhile you keep feeding the info.

Thanks!

[dick tabbert]

Yea I was kidding about the arm part. Got the tube yesterday. Have to get the pump and fins yet. Going to Bass Pro this week end Woo Daves will be there so I think I can get my pump there while I'm in the store and Cabels next week and get my fins.

[Tony Livingston]

How much variety is out there concerning gear ratios, in a spinning reel? The trend these days seems to be a quick ratio.

The ratio on my Pflueger Presidents is 5.2:1, while the new Supreme is an even quicker 6.2:1

Great for spinnerbaits, or top water buzzin' for Bass, but it takes concentration on the part of the angler to slow his retrieve down, and keep it down.

[dick tabbert]

Tony I tend to go with the high gear ratio. One if you got to burn your bait the speed is there. If you want to slow the bait down all you have to do is slow down the retrieve by slowly turning the handle, it does take some discipline. 

[Tony Livingston]

I agree completely Dick. It's much easier to slow your retrieve with a quick gear ratio, than to have to crank frantically like you would with a slower gearset.

[Johnny wilkins]

Or use a longer rod and use the rod tip to guide your bait. For float fishing with live bait - the fast pick-up is essential. When casting a float a missed hit means a bait check sometimes. If you need to pick that out of 25 feet of water 60 yards away, you want the bait to arrive in 1/2 the cranks. For the subtle presentations and many other reasons, a long rod is like magic when it comes to - moving a bait, setting the hook, casting and playing larger fish. Use a larger spool and you are picking up that line even that much faster (coupled with a nice gear ratio). 

When float fishing moving water, the presentation has to slowly "run" through the spot you are fishing, bumping bottom sometimes and after that run, the line needs to be picked up and brought in. Having a slow reel or small spool in this situation is torture.

I guess we learn by reading and weeding (not a connection to InWeed™ (2012) Magazine)... but weeding out information that doesn't make sense. Reading BBG.com. Keeping an open mind and "casting" aside redundant things we have seen. While I say keep an open mind, in an online community there is a lot of enthusiasm and, like any giant book with 100's of contributors, there might be some ideas that just aren't going to make the grade.

I guess for this part of the thread I should say "retrieving" new information - selecting good sources for information, good authors and then giving their concepts a whirl. Take a read to all of it - try a bunch of new things and try to keep it a scientific exercise. Don't get painted into one box and think that just because you purchased tackle, a reel, a rod that this will be the best forever. There is other stuff out there. Why I have to admit I fish a jig on ocassion. There is no one method that works 100% of the time. It is like that cologne - Black Panther -65% of the time it  works 100% of the time.

Next week- fresh bait -weather be darned and same with the water temps - I am going to rig up " - ** Ultra Light ** - "... and see if I can't learn something. I learned something trout fishing in the fall - I fish too heavy some times.  : )

Bottom line- the fish will teach you and they don't even Tweet.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Exactly Johnny. Lately I've been studying large mouth bass and bass fishing. Everything from their biology to the history of the bass business come up. This is such a large field of study that I doubt I will run out of material anytime soon.

Does this mean Im going to become a "bass fisherman?" Not at all. But i live in South Carolina; bass are part of the Holy Fishing Trinity here. The odds of catching them on any outing are high and they could save an otherwise poor fishing trip.

At the same time, I was interested in them because bass and sunfish are very similar. Other than size, you can draw many parallel's between them - they are in the same family of fishes, after all. Knowing the one helps to understand the other. Learning about them lets them teach me, as you would put it.

[dick tabbert]

Catching bas is like catching Bluegills all you have to do is downsize.

[Leo Nguyen]

Dick is right. Catching bass is truly is like catching panfish. I caught so many bass on panfish rigs that it's not funny. However, the flexibility of bass is greater than panfish when it comes to tackles, since they're not as picky during pre-spawn and spawning period. When the panfish are picky during winter, so will the bass.

[Patricia Ramirez]

Well as always to much knoledge. Many knew things to try on.

I learn to fish from my father, as well as all the family. Then got married, had kids and start to think about my two young sons and his relation to nature, the i start to fish again, cause ia had a tandem kayak and begining to remember what i knew of fishing, then star to learn again with knew techniques and as somebody told, making some erros, and then trying to do better every day.

Today I can tell that one of the kids had wining a internet contest with a BG 10', he can bait the hook alone and star to like go fishing so i am glad for that. Biside we allways try to tech everyone who cares abaut kwoing how to be a beter fisherman, so the kayak is today an instrument to take some kids fishing and teach them this wonderful sport. 

so thaks again for all the things i learn.

[David Dillman]

Dick and Tony

There are not very many spinning reels out their with a a slow gear ratio that are quality reels.  Shimano makes some low end spinning reels with low gear ratios, but the quality is not the greatest.  Your right you have to slow down your reeling.  Some times I will count out to four seconds per rotation of the the reel handle.   Your don't have to have a slow gear ratio, but it helps a little bit.

I read the article last night by Bill Monica on horizontal spoon fishing.  He pretty much does what Charlie Brewer  taught with a jig, but uses a spoon.  That was a brilliant article.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

You nailed it, Dave. Good observation. They are very similar methods.