What's A Technique That Someone Showed Or Taught You?

[papajoe222]

If you're like me, most of my fishing knowledge was self taught. Magazines, TV shows, etc.  There were,  however, a few people in my life that actually took the time to show me a few of the things that have made a big difference in my angling experienes.

My dad, of course, ignited the passion in me. He was a live bait fisherman and a jig and minnow was my introduction to casting not just bobber watching.  A  patient old man showed me how to play a fish on spinning gear after he witnessed me loose two nice walley in a row.

A good friend taught me that it's almost as much fun teaching and seeing your 'student' catch fish as it is catching them yourself.

Last, but certainly not least a friend that is no longer with us taught me that I'm never alone when fishing by myself and that's the best time I've found to talk to Him.

[Long Mike]

All of them.  Whether it be from the printed or recorded media, or personal instruction, someone else taught me.

[bmac31]

Had a friend show me how to rig a drop shot properly.

Brian

[Tylertut]

Had a very nice person teach me how to fish for steelhead and brown trout while on vacation in Michigan last year. The guy was super nice and bared with my probably stupid questions for awhile. He even let me borrow some spoons because my selection was slim.

[Bankbeater]

When I was a lot younger I friend showed me how to put together a bait for catfish.  It's a C-rig and you just let it sit on the bottom.

[BassnChris]

Procrafter showed me how to rig and fish the dropshot at last years Road Trip.

I have learned a lot about fishing by watching Glenn's videos.

Here in Oklahoma, My Dad sparked the fire for fishing before he passed away when I was 6. Years later, in California, our kind neighbor Mr. Swanson is the man that taught me the basics of fishing.

[A-Jay]

A couple of years ago BR member and now good friend Dwight Hottle invited me to smb fish on Lake Erie.

 

His style of open / big water jerk bait fishing is different from anything I'd ever seen or read.

 

I've been a smb addict all my life and having someone share this world class smallmouth fishery & his extremely effective technique has enriched my fishing to a level I would have never been able to realize on my own.  Notching several new smb PB's has a way of doing that.

 

Saying Thank You just doesn't seem any where near sufficient.

 

A-Jay

 

 

[Jigfishn10]

Fishing for me started with fly fishing. I was vacationing in the Colorado Rockies and hired a guide for the day and fished a couple of gold medal rivers for trout. I got home and used that experience to catch bluegill on fly. Next came bass fishing using topwaters and cranks. A friend belonged to a club in NH and he convinced me to join as a non boater. He showed me how to fish slow with soft plastics and jigs.

[ww2farmer]

Wnybassman has taught me a few things, and I have shown him a few. It works both ways.

[ColdSVT]

I am mostly self taught...but a buddy of mine taught me how to jig fish and its been all down hill from there. Lol

I taught him the jerkbait and he taught me the jig. Now we both almost always have both tied on lol

[J Francho]

A man in a bass boat caught two nice bass from the slop near our dock, back when was 12 or so. I asked him how he got his lure through the weeds. He showed me a Texas Rig, and have me a bag of Culprit worms, some hooks and sinkers. Totally blew open a whole new world of bass fishing for me.

[MarksHooked]

I've never met him, but Roadwarrior taught me how to target and catch my first bass with his post 'Guaranteed to catch bass' I found that article through Google, practised setting up a weightless texas rig, and then went out and caught my first bass. After that I spent a ton of time on this website, and every technique I tried last year was taught by the members of this amazing group whether they knew it or not!

[Mike2841]

My uncle taught me the Texas rig and how to tie knots.

[Fishes in trees]

What a question, I'd have to say someone else taught me everything I've learned about fishing, either in person or in print.  I don't think that there will ever be a magazine as focused on teaching as the late 80's thru early 90's In-fisherman was.  The mid thru late 70's Fishing Facts magazines shaped  much of my attitude and approach to fishing in general.

 

As far a people showing me stuff, back in the early 80's I thought that a jig and eel was the best bass bait there ever was.  I hadn't ever caught a fish on a spinnerbait, and had only limited success with a Mepps style spinner.  A professor pal of mine gave me a lesson one afternoon on spinner bait fishing to the tune of 40 or so to 2.  A very simple idea - spinner baits skimming the tops of weeds in 4 to 6 feet of water.

 

I didn't have a clue about pitching until I fished a few BFL tournaments.   I was whining about how I was getting back boated all the time and I got told to learn how to pitch, it would open up many more casting angles to me.   True fact.  Took me nearly a whole season to get any good at it and now10 or so years later, I'm still not a master at it, but I don't suck either.

 

Last summer, fishing with a buddy, I was whining about how I couldn't catch a fish in slop on a frog.  And I had spend some money on decent gear.  My bud proceeded to take MY rod & reel, with my black frog tied on and proceeded to catch one fish in the 4 lb range and a couple more slot fish in the next 5 minutes.

I'm still not any good at frog fishing, but I've seen it done now and I have hope for future seasons.

 

So there are a few anecdotes on the subject of how I've learned what I've learned

[Pz3]

I learned most of it from other people but I still try new things time to time.

[Teal]

One of my best friends and mentors, is a jerkbait beast. He showed me a lot of ins and outs of using the lure efficiently. I was intimidated by them before.

He also showed how to pattern fish and quick searching methods before I refine my pattern.

I have several fishing buddy's that I helped teach to skip baits all the way under lower boat docks with a baitcastr.

I love fishing with different people, you are going to learn something...weather its what to do or what not to do

[snowhite1312]

I grew up with catfish ponds so I caught catfish pretty easy..but I have to say I learned bout bass fishing from a x...the one thing I can say was useable info...lol....and the other was watching fishing shows...my favorite guy Mike Iconelli..

[gr8outdoorz]

A long time ago I was chasing trout in my favorite river. By this point I was pretty well versed with a fly rod. There was a large rainbow tucked behind a large boulder right next to an undercut bank and I could tell she was feeding on tiny mayflies in the film. No matter how good my drift was past that boulder, she would not come out from behind it.

 

This older gentleman had been watching me for a while and waded over to me when I took a break. He took the time out of his day to teach me a low, side arm curve cast so I could get the fly behind the boulder and under the bank.(anybody that fly fishes knows this is one difficult cast!) After about 20 min of practicing, I was finally able to curve it while keeping the line low to the water. First cast, I curved it right behind the boulder and as soon as it landed...FISH ON!!!!

 

I thanked the man profusely for helping me, but the best thing for me was that I could tell he was more tickled than I was! That lesson is one of the main reasons I will always take the time to help out any angler at any time.  

[mnbassman23]

My dad introduced me to bass fishing by showing me the texas rig, which is all he ever did when he rarely bass fished. I was hooked after my first fish. He was a hardcore muskie/walleye guy and he taught me a lot about targeting those species. My passion was bass fishing so I have been self taught besides tossing a t-rig around pencil reeds. Now he is getting back into bass fishing so I can return the favor and teach him a thing or two. I have also taught a lot of other family members and friends how to bass fish and progress with new techniques. It's just as fun to watch them be successful as it is catching fish yourself. 

[bartdude186]

I learned a lot from my dad before he passed, although it was mostly live bait fishing from the ages of 4-9 it still helped me learn a lot on how fish behaved. One day i got an itch for those crazy looking fake things at the local tackle shop where dad bought his minnows at, after begging him to buy me a couple i never looked back. I taught myself most of everything i had learned before i found this site, and since i have been reading on this site ( long before i joined) i have honed my skills more and more and am still learning every time i log on.

[wnybassman]

A man in a bass boat caught two nice bass from the slop near our dock, back when was 12 or so. I asked him how he got his lure through the weeds. He showed me a Texas Rig, and have me a bag of Culprit worms, some hooks and sinkers. Totally blew open a whole new world of bass fishing for me.

 

 

LOL

 

[Sam]

Jim Kerr, an old guide and professional bass fisherman many years ago, showed me the dead stick technique one cold day on Chickahominy Lake in Virginia six years ago.

 

The bite went away on our plastics and moving baits so Jim took out a Moccasin Blue finesse worm and threw it out Texas rigged. He then proceeded to light up a cigarette and just sat there, not moving.

 

Frankly, I thought he finally went off the deep end. He just sat there smoking his Lucky Strike and not moving.

 

Then, lo and behold, he reared back and nailed a bass after he almost finished his cigarette.

 

Seemed to be a life time but he proved to me that dead sticking has its place in our cold water presentations.

 

Jim passed away from lung cancer two years ago and I really miss that guy. He was old school and could still out fish the new techniques using what he learned back in the 70's and 80's when he was a pro and guided on the Chick and Historic James Rivers.

[shimmy]

My dad taught me how to jig fish. I still to this day find myself learning from him. Jig fishing has so many different levels of skill and every time i feel like i have really gotten the skill down, i find he has more to teach. Gotta love fishing.

[rippin-lips]

I've learned a bunch from this site and others on the net over the years. Also magazines,tv,youtube,ect. I do my best to pass it along to whoever I can.

[SirSnookalot]

Like many my dad started me off and taught me so much, his been gone 22 years but every time I catch a big one I hear his words in my mind.

My old friend Wight Cooke taught me how to fly fish for trout in Northern Michigan.  I know a guy casually who suggested a drop fly rig for tarpon and snook about 10 years ago, I downsize that set up for bass sometimes, very similar to a double fluke rig.  My best buddy George down here taught me cuda fishing and how to make the lures too.