Helping rookies. I love it

[Darth-Baiter]

Saturday I went fishing at my local lake. It’s a tiny lake.  Crowded.  
 

i saw a guy floating around casting. I say hello and ask if he’s had any luck. 
 

“no. This is my third trip and I’m looking for my first bass”.  We talked a bit and I said. Follow me. He is the slowest Hobie kayaker ever   I waited and took him to a spot and said. “ throw a drop shot in there”.   Not sure he knew what that meant.  After figuring out each other’s vaccination status. I heel-hook his kayak and tie a drop shot on his setup. He’s a trout guy, so his gear was up to par. 
 

his first few casts into the Tules, he hooked a giant.  He lost it shortly afterwards but we both cheered the successful presentation.  It was awesome to watch!!  He cracked me up when he asked “ tell me you just saw that!”

 

he texted me the next day.  He got the skunk off!!! Bless the drop shot!!  I made a friend.   Well. Not when he feels the addiction takes hold.    

[InfantryMP]

That is awesome! Good job taking them under your wing...Fishing is fantastic and you probably made a lasting friendship out of it! Until he steals your spots lol

[Darth-Baiter]

10 minutes ago, InfantryMP said:

That is awesome! Good job taking them under your wing...Fishing is fantastic and you probably made a lasting friendship out of it! Until he steals your spots lol

Haha.  Yea. Maybe.  

[Mike L]

Great Job!!

There’s no better feeling than helping someone be successful at something that he’s never done before. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Deleted account]

[GaryH]

3 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Saturday I went fishing at my local lake. It’s a tiny lake.  Crowded.  
 

i saw a guy floating around casting. I say hello and ask if he’s had any luck. 
 

“no. This is my third trip and I’m looking for my first bass”.  We talked a bit and I said. Follow me. He is the slowest Hobie kayaker ever   I waited and took him to a spot and said. “ throw a drop shot in there”.   Not sure he knew what that meant.  After figuring out each other’s vaccination status. I heel-hook his kayak and tie a drop shot on his setup. He’s a trout guy, so his gear was up to par. 
 

his first few casts into the Tules, he hooked a giant.  He lost it shortly afterwards but we both cheered the successful presentation.  It was awesome to watch!!  He cracked me up when he asked “ tell me you just saw that!”

 

he texted me the next day.  He got the skunk off!!! Bless the drop shot!!  I made a friend.   Well. Not when he feels the addiction takes hold.    

Good job.. 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Nicely done 

[schplurg]

Was in a recent thread here with guys telling about how grumpy they are when other people are around. "Treble hook cast at them" was mentioned. Good to see this thread.

 

Some guy was walking toward me along shore at New Melones a few weeks ago. I grumbled to myself "don't cast here maaan..."

 

When he approached he asked, "Okay if I cast and fish through?"

 

"Sure go ahead!" Ya real tough guy haha.

 

He was catching fish, I was not. Could maybe learned something from him but I was about done. If you're polite I am more than happy to know you.

 

Edit:

Now that I think about it, he said, "Okay if I cast here, right?" So some people just assume you are going to be kind (what nerve!). Cool guy, just a hack like myself  

[Deleted account]

7 hours ago, schplurg said:

Now that I think about it, he said, "Okay if I cast here, right?" So some people just assume you are going to be kind (what nerve!). Cool guy, just a hack like myself  

I view approaching anglers as a teaching moment opportunity. Inflatable yaks are my favorite pupils...

If you are silly enough, clueless enough, or selfish enough to just assume that you are going to fish within a cast of another angler that was already there and that's ok, well then that just makes my day.

 

"Luckily I'm both agoraphobic AND antisocial, sometimes **** just works out"...

[galyonj]

8 hours ago, schplurg said:

If you're polite I am more than happy to know you.

 

I think that sums up my approach to interacting with people...in just about any circumstance. Though I'd just as soon not interact at all, I'm open to any possibility based on how the other party acts.

 

A couple weeks ago I was out at a spot for a lunchtime sesh when this dude came through, and he asked me a question about what I was throwing. Which turned into a discussion of how to fish that, and it went from there. Ended up sitting there shooting the breeze about fishing and stuff for a good half hour, at some point joined by his brother that was fishing another part of the pocket. I barely got any fishing done, and I didn't care because a) the fishing was crap, and b) I was having fun anyway.

 

They went to fish the other side of a culvert and caught me as I was packing up. Said one of them caught a fish but they didn't know what it was, and showed me a picture of this dude holding a good size crappie. So we all got to celebrate a couple small wins on a tough fishing day. It was cool.

[TnRiver46]

Kudos!! This is what it’s all about 

[islandbass]

You created a monster now, lol. Great job. The DS is one of my main weapons and has also helped me get others into fish as you have. 

[TOXIC]

I can’t tell you how many bags of Senkos and 3.0 gamakatsu ewg hooks I’ve handed out over the years.  Yamamoto sends me bulk sample packs of baits just for this reason.  Feels really good to help someone become a better angler.  

[Darth-Baiter]

I’m still the constant recipient of assistance

 

people help.  I had a guy in a bass boat in a tournament explain to me why the bass were where they were at.  I learned something awesome that day. 
 

[gim]

18 hours ago, schplurg said:

If you're polite I am more than happy to know you.

I was crappie fishing the other day (anchored) and for the first time years, I actually had a boat approach the area I was fishing and ask if they were “good to fish here.” I said “ya that’s ok, your good there.” They anchored up about 50 yards away and started fishing. That kind of behavior is something I haven’t seen in years on the water. They sat there for about half an hour, didn’t catch anything, and then left.

 

Most of my experiences on the water are on the opposite spectrum of this.

[geo g]

You did an outstanding thing for that guy, and he will never forget your generosity.  I enjoy taking guys from fishing sites without boats out to fish, and have seen significant improvement from them over a couple of months.  It makes me feel great if I can put them on fish and watch their smiles after the event.  Years ago I thought about guiding, but mentally could not charge people if the trips were unsuccessful.  That would not be good for the family income.  Lol!

 

 

[schplurg]

16 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

I view approaching anglers as a teaching moment opportunity. Inflatable yaks are my favorite pupils...

If you are silly enough, clueless enough, or selfish enough to just assume that you are going to fish within a cast of another angler that was already there and that's ok, well then that just makes my day.

 

"Luckily I'm both agoraphobic AND antisocial, sometimes **** just works out"...

 

 

He did ask first.

 

I fished with a guy in a small aluminum boat last year, not my boat. A young guy on shore was upset because we drifted into his area, although he really cut in front of us. We talked it out and the guy I was with didn't want to move as we'd just caught fish.

 

Long story short the guy on shore hucked a few casts close to our boat. The guy I was with wanted to do something about it. Rather than finish this story, I will just say you'd better be darn sure who you're messing with. Really really dumb idea.

 

Nothing happened I talked him down.

[Functional]

Its all in the approach for me. Its just common courtesy to at least acknowledge and ask if you are going to be fishing close to someone else. Same goes for advice and general areas to fish for newer people or even people who just want to do better, I'll spill everything that has worked or didnt work if they go about it the right way.

 

Its something I feel lacks quite a bit though with people of all ages. For example this past weekend I was fishing in my kayak and not once...not twice...but 3 times a guy motored within 10 feet of my kayak passing me to stop no more than 20 yards in front in the direction I was working the shore. Same guy, not so much as even a glance at me...2nd time I rowed over his lines, 3rd time he got the sailors treatment. No excuse for it.

[geo g]

With so many people carrying guns today, a few stupid moves could be a nightmare for not only the one without, but also the one with.  Court procedures and jail time could go on forever.  You just have to use good common sense, and figure out is it really worth it!