The Pros

when they fish its for a living, have you ever heard of ONE MANS HOBBY IS ANOTHER MANS JOB, makes a lot of sense when you think about it

Fishing is a whole lot of fun for me....and I try to have fun even if I don't catch a single fish. Had a blast on LM Sat morning in the wind just checking out fishing holes with an underwater camera but didn't catch a fish! I watched largemouth bass till my eyes were watering. But I still had a lot of fun doing it and it was a hundred times better that staying at home. An occasional tourney to break the monotony and talk to fellow fishing fanatics is also great fun to participate in. However, if it was my livelihood and I was depending on tremendous skill plus a bit of luck everytime I hit the water to make a living and support a family I can't imagine how it could be anywhere near the fun level I have with it now. I like to fish to reduce my stress level... not add to it!

there is more networking in pro fishing than most imagine. It is a team sport.

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Originally Posted by JigginPoleJoe

Obviously... They are good at it, what is it they do different that makes them successful?

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I think this is a great question; I ask myself the same question not just about the pros but some of the "amateurs" I constantly see catching crappie on CDC. I have stalked, read, and watched about everything the net has to offer and seem to be unable to put it all together in any sort of consistent way.

I use to think it was all equipment, and I know that good equipment set up the right way helps, but I've got the best equipment I can afford and it is certainly the best I have ever had and I seem to strike out more now than I ever did before.

Here is what I have determined I suck at; I see the lake, the coves, banks, lay downs but it doesn't translate in my mind the way it does in better fisherman's minds. They seem to be able to know more about what is under the water than I do by seeing all the same things. This is also definitely true for how they use and interpret their electronics. I am new to a fish finder and have realized it does nothing for me except give me depth, temp, and bottom contour....but here again all those pieces of data aren't computing for me the way they do for so many of the CDCers. So, I take in all this data and just keep fishing pretty much the only way I know how even when it doesn't work. I assume that once I learn this stuff...if I ever do, there is just another layer of finer details that I will have to learn as well such has the jig color different weights and such.

Well, I think like a fish............they think like a BIG FISH.:pRoflRoflRofl

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Originally Posted by soswine

I think it is the boat wraps myself.

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X2, to really catch the big ones you got to have sparklies on your boat .... at least according to my oldest grandson.

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Originally Posted by Gomer Snerd

there is more networking in pro fishing than most imagine. It is a team sport.

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Maybe, but so is pro basketball .... just sayin' ...... maybe big fish are attracted to big egos?

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Originally Posted by Strip

LOl!!!! It used to bother me that the bass pro's made it look so easy. I was fishing during a legends tourney one time and I watched a pro come down the river at 60 mph shut the motor down and by the time the boat had stopped he was on the front deck boating a 4+ lb fish. He boated a second one and then was gone again. I checked that spot with my finder and there was nothing there but a navigational bouy. how did he know to stop there?

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Saw the same thing on a local lake down here. One of the local pros flies across the lake comes to a stop in open water, catches 2 bass, makes a few more cast and then is gone out of sight. I wondered what was going on, so I went and looked at it with the sonar. It was 1 christmas tree by its self in a shallow creek channel. Some of those guys just know how to get it done. Even some of the amateurs can be pretty salty.

size matters in fishing hint hint networking does too

I just watched the crappie fishing 101 video by Ernest Paty. There is a lot of useful stuff on there, at least for me. He mentioned trolling for crappie while using a weight on his line and slow trolling them near the bottom. Is this the way it's always done or do you sometimes just drag a crank behind the boat and cruise the lake?

I think if you are new to crappie fishing this is some good info. catchcrappie.com - Home of Ernest Paty, Fishing Instructor I had no idea how to look for crappie on a finder, he points that out real well.

One thing that I have a hard time with when fishing a tourney is trying to remember I don't need to catch a limit of fish I just need to catch 7 big fish.