That " Something Different"

[CrankFate]

Thank you to everyone that can admit the pros are better at it. There’s no doubt they are. As far as success, not just in fishing, but in anything, goes—I have noticed the one thing that makes the most successful people the most successful. They usually have a natural ability to know when to take the advice of others. Whether it is in their business dealings, medical treatment or in fishing. That ability is the one in my opinion. To do that, you have to remain open to new things at all times. If something works better, it’s worth doing. The biggest obstacle for most people is doing things their own way when there are other ways that might be better. It’s not easy to do something differently, after doing it how you’ve been doing it. Especially if you’ve been doing it that way for a very long time.

[Jaderose]

I talk a lot about Frogging on here and I would consider myself "Decent to Good" at it.  The one thing I CAN do (at least I think so) is "read" an algae mat.  Especially after a cast or 2.  You can tell the depth under it by color, density of the mat, the way the water ripples after your frog lands along with other tells.  It's very helpful because it allows you to target more productive areas efficiently and let's you "show off" when fishing with a buddy.  I went out with a guy a few years ago and was calling my shots.  See that stick over there?  Bass there.  Cast to it...BOOM!  It's not magic nor do I think I could even teach it.  It's just experience after a couple of decades or so of weird obsession with froggin.  It would be the ONLY way I would get in a boat with somebody like Ish Monroe, Dean Rojas, or about half of you guys and go head-to-head.  I might get smoked but I'd give it a shot.

[WVU-SCPA]

15 hours ago, RDB said:

In my opinion, it’s not the style that differentiates good from great.  Christie didn’t win this week because he can reel in a spinnerbait better than me.  I could have been in the boat with him, reeled just like him, and I still would have gotten smoked.

+1 to this.

 

I like the example of fly fishing for trout.  Two people fishing the same fly, same cast, to the same fish, and two completely different results can occur.  It's the 100's of split second changes or nuisances that could trigger a strike or refusal. 

[walt-14]

13 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

The only something different I have over my bass buddies is I catch bigger bass then them...right @walt-14?

I plead the 5th....

[Deleted account]

3 hours ago, CrankFate said:

Thank you to everyone that can admit the pros are better at it. There’s no doubt they are. As far as success, not just in fishing, but in anything, goes—I have noticed the one thing that makes the most successful people the most successful. They usually have a natural ability to know when to take the advice of others. Whether it is in their business dealings, medical treatment or in fishing. That ability is the one in my opinion. To do that, you have to remain open to new things at all times. If something works better, it’s worth doing. The biggest obstacle for most people is doing things their own way when there are other ways that might be better. It’s not easy to do something differently, after doing it how you’ve been doing it. Especially if you’ve been doing it that way for a very long time.

I have a sticky on the fridge, and my wife used to write it on my forearm before tournaments with a sharpie, "Don't fish stubborn".

[RDB]

6 hours ago, softwateronly said:

The only "style" I see is how one reads and interprets conditions to make the above decisions.  I somewhat believe that the casual angler can get swept up in the style stuff and miss the true skill.  I also believe that all the pro's physical skill sets fall in a range that doesn't effect the outcome.

I took the style reference as a pro’s focus on perfecting their preferred approach like KVD and power or Taku and finesse or Hackney and a jig.  In that regard, a casual angler could probably improve through simplification.  As far as skill, again I think it was in reference to average v. pro.  There probably isn’t a huge difference between pro’s.  I look at it in 2 buckets - finding fish and catching fish.  Both are big differentiators between average and pro.  The average angler can improve one in the driveway, the other is going to require some time on the water.

[RDB]

7 hours ago, Spankey said:

Years back Bassmasters held an event in Pittsburg on the rivers.  I believe KVD won it. At that time I had my dad out with me fishing. He said to me “I believe you (me) could place in that event with any of those guys”.

There may be some truth to that in isolation.  Put on a top level event at Fork or Rayburn and allow some of the better local sticks compete and they will probably hold their own.  Put them on Guntersville or St. Clair the following week and they are probably going to get embarrassed. 

[CrankFate]

59 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

I have a sticky on the fridge, and my wife used to write it on my forearm before tournaments with a sharpie, "Don't fish stubborn".

I can’t post what my wife says in place of that here.

[Deleted account]

Just now, CrankFate said:

I can’t post what my wife says in place of that here.

LOL. You gotta kick up the vig from winnings. "everybody's gotta eat"

[CrankFate]

34 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

LOL. You gotta kick up the vig from winnings. "everybody's gotta eat"

won’t matter. She was genetically formulated better than the Internet for pointing out personality flaws.

[PhishLI]

8 hours ago, softwateronly said:

The only "style" I see is how one reads and interprets conditions to make the above decisions.

And that right there is the whole ball of wax, IMO. Over the same amount of time different people will end up merging varying degrees of developed skill, will, and intuition. Personality plays a huge role. That's why some people consistently out-fish others. Some people crack the code, and apart from random dumb luck, others never will. 

 

That's the beauty of fishing though. Most people can thoroughly enjoy themselves for a lifetime armed with little more than random dumb luck.

[Spankey]

3 hours ago, RDB said:

There may be some truth to that in isolation.  Put on a top level event at Fork or Rayburn and allow some of the better local sticks compete and they will probably hold their own.  Put them on Guntersville or St. Clair the following week and they are probably going to get embarrassed. 

I agree with you bub. I would take a spanking like back in the days I was in Catholic School by the nuns.

[DitchPanda]

11 hours ago, walt-14 said:

I plead the 5th....

Sorry bud to easy...couldn't resist

[Tennessee Boy]

Very interesting topic and I've enjoyed reading the responses. 

 

Back in the 90s there were two school teacher (I don't remember their names) that spent their summers fishing on Guntersville.  Legend has it that they only fished Mann's 20+ deep diving crankbaits and that they had a bunch of milk run spots that they used to kick everyone's butt  in the local tournaments.  One of them won a major B.A.S.S. event on Guntersville.   They developed a unique approach that worked for them and made them a lot of money.  I don't think that approach would work on a pro tournament trail or any trail for that matter.  No one seemed to respect their skills and everyone seemed to hate them.  I'm sure envy played a role in the hate.    

 

Were they good anglers?