How would the pros do?

[RDB]

If they had to be a co-angler, I would give it a shot.  I would redefine what front-ending looks like.

[Luke Barnes]

I think it would be awesome and I would love to do it.  I would love to have a pro come with me to a local heavily pressured pond and use my stuff and teach me what to use, where to use it, and when to use it, instead of what I am doing. I would soak up all that like a sponge. What am I doing wrong at such and such body of water. 

[Boomstick]

Learning new lakes is basically another day in the life of a pro really. But the outcome of this would really depend on the skillset of the amateur. There are guys who know the lake in and out and would be pretty hard for a pro to beat on day one, and there are guys who can't catch a fish to save their lives. Is there any qualifications required besides owning a boat?

[TOXIC]

I’ve told this story before, I worked a show with Gary Klein and I made the comment I wish he would come fish the highly pressured lake I guided on.  He commented those were the lakes he likes to fish.  He said that skill was finding the fish.  Once he found them there were at least 5 baits he could catch them on.  

[casts_by_fly]

I love the idea and would love to do it, but I think there are too few pros and too few time.  This feels like something a pro would do once or twice to make a good youtube video for subscribers ("Hit the like button and your name will go into the hat to be the person the pro fishes with for the day").

 

More broadly though, this is what I like to do with my dad once or twice a year.  He's not a pro, but he's been bass fishing for 50 years or so now.  He knows a few things.  He'll come out and fish my waters (his boat, him running the trolling motor, I just pick the lakes and set the first direction).  I fish, but really I'm watching to see what he's doing different to how I'd do it and why.  I always learn a thing or two.  Same the other way around- I'll come fish his waters (still with him in the front of the boat, though he doesn't fish hard) and fish the way I think I could catch fish.  Not sure if he learns anything from me, but I can at least test my own knowledge and way of thinking vs his and see who catches fish.

 

I'd love to see a similar exchange set up here on BR.  I know some guys occasionally go and fish with others, but having a thread or forum for "I'm going fishing next saturday in this general area and have a seat in my boat" would be awesome.  

[Bankc]

I would love to have a pro come to my home lake.  I wouldn't even need them to show me where or how they caught fish.  I'd just be happy knowing what was possible.  Of course, if I could tag along, even better!  

 

So far, all of the locals I've talked to tend to do about as well as me, with a couple of outliers that I'm not sure I fully trust.  When 98% of the people you talk to claim to catch around 3-6 bass in the range of 1-3 maybe 4 lbs. on a good day, and some random dude claims to have caught 20-40, some in the 5-7 lb. range, you tend to be a little suspicious.  But you never know.  They might know something you don't.  It's a large lake.  Anything's possible.  I mean, in theory that lake doesn't have any smallmouth bass or drums (even according to the official government website that does electrofishing surveys), but I've caught both there, and most people don't believe me until I show them the photos.  

[Spankey]

6 hours ago, Bankc said:

I would love to have a pro come to my home lake.  I wouldn't even need them to show me where or how they caught fish.  I'd just be happy knowing what was possible.  Of course, if I could tag along, even better!  

 

So far, all of the locals I've talked to tend to do about as well as me, with a couple of outliers that I'm not sure I fully trust.  When 98% of the people you talk to claim to catch around 3-6 bass in the range of 1-3 maybe 4 lbs. on a good day, and some random dude claims to have caught 20-40, some in the 5-7 lb. range, you tend to be a little suspicious.  But you never know.  They might know something you don't.  It's a large lake.  Anything's possible.  I mean, in theory that lake doesn't have any smallmouth bass or drums (even according to the official government website that does electrofishing surveys), but I've caught both there, and most people don't believe me until I show them the photos.  

I feel like we fish the same lake and run into the same ramp guys. I think you are fishing it correctly. 

[lunkerboss923]

I think relatively speaking the pro would be as good or maybe better. I think the technology angle, assuming the amateur doesn't have a boat or forward facing sonar it might even the field some. If it's a bank fishing deal. It's a complete junk fishing game and if they use the same equipment, then it's really in favor of whomever is catching fish. Are we fishing against Rick Clunn or Jordan Lee? Rick was kicking ass back in the 80s and 90s without technology, Lee was in college 4 years ago and grew up with technology gear. Clunn would be heavily favored against the amateur. Lee would be a favored, but not by much. Assuming the amateur knows the body of water. Most of us bank fisherman have to rely on our senses to make heads or tails of the water. I get a bottom lure (Jig, Texas Rig) and get a feel for the terrain. Throw a squarebill to see if there is grass. Then I pan the activity. Are fish busting Shad. What's the wind doing? I think you'd spend an hour just doing that. I feel like the pro would better than most, but again...I took a friend out fishing for his first time. He caught more fish. I've been fishing 20 years and I think I could give the pro  a run for the money. 

[TnRiver46]

9 hours ago, lunkerboss923 said:

I think relatively speaking the pro would be as good or maybe better. I think the technology angle, assuming the amateur doesn't have a boat or forward facing sonar it might even the field some. If it's a bank fishing deal. It's a complete junk fishing game and if they use the same equipment, then it's really in favor of whomever is catching fish. Are we fishing against Rick Clunn or Jordan Lee? Rick was kicking ass back in the 80s and 90s without technology, Lee was in college 4 years ago and grew up with technology gear. Clunn would be heavily favored against the amateur. Lee would be a favored, but not by much. Assuming the amateur knows the body of water. Most of us bank fisherman have to rely on our senses to make heads or tails of the water. I get a bottom lure (Jig, Texas Rig) and get a feel for the terrain. Throw a squarebill to see if there is grass. Then I pan the activity. Are fish busting Shad. What's the wind doing? I think you'd spend an hour just doing that. I feel like the pro would better than most, but again...I took a friend out fishing for his first time. He caught more fish. I've been fishing 20 years and I think I could give the pro  a run for the money. 

Lee may be young, but he won a bassmaster classic without an outboard engine on Conroe. Just a jig 

[Swamp Girl]

On 11/9/2022 at 3:37 AM, Columbia Craw said:

Bass fishing is a process.  Pros are like NFL top tier quarterbacks who are great at going through the progressions of pass options and do it fast.  Pros assess the situation quickly, test it and refine the catch technique or move on and reassess.  They do it fast.  The article is more about the thought processes that get them to the point of actually throwing what they decide on.  

 

 

Great analogy. I try to go through my progression of pass options fast too and that happens before I even reach the lake. It happens the evening before, when I'm thinking about the water I'll be fishing and rigging my five rods for it. 

[Dwight Hottle]

On 11/8/2022 at 4:15 PM, geo g said:

In he long run I would always put my money on the pro.  Although someone could always get lucky once in a while.  Pros all have a proven records over time on all types of water, and conditions.  They don't always produce, but they have been there many times in the thick of the battle.  

 

That's right pros are pros for a reason. 

[lunkerboss923]

31 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

 

Great analogy. I try to go through my progression of pass options fast too and that happens before I even reach the lake. It happens the evening before, when I'm thinking about the water I'll be fishing and rigging my five rods for it. 

It's a matter of junk fishing until you find what they like when fishing from the bank. That's why I carry 5 rods. I have a bottom contact jig/worm rod, moving bait rod, cranking rod, fairy wand, and jerkbait/topwater. More times than not I won't catch anything, but what I will do is try a technique that I'm uncomfortable with, like a jig. I am a terrible jig fisherman, but I like it. Sometimes I will search the bank for potential forage that they are eating. The other day I found a crawfish shell that was red and blue. I pulled out a lipless crankbait that was red and blue and on the first cast I caught a nice fish yo yoing back to the bank. I caught 3 other fish doing that. We don't have live target, in fact, the closest thing we have to it is that iBobber that we cast out on a heavy rod and Bluetooth it to our phone. It does work, but it's a heck of a lot of effort. Is it worth it? Probably not, bank fishing is the purest form of fishing, in my opinion. It allows you to think. It makes you think. Sure a nice Phoenix boat, with a high powered outboard, forward facing sonar and live scope is nice and it would make for an exciting experience, who wouldn't want to see a bass inhale your lure underwater? I just think the old timers pros are much better fishermen because they use their brains. Technology is nice, but it has ruined fishing for the younger generations. It's ok to not have a 25lb sack at the end of the day, that's why they call it fishing. 

[Choporoz]

On 11/9/2022 at 6:17 AM, T-Billy said:

Yep. Time on the water and diversity. Most of us fish a handful of local waters. Those guys fish a wide variety of lakes all over the country, and learn to break them down quickly.

Lots of reasons in this thread about why pros are good.  This one here is huge.  I think of it a bit like bowling and golf.  It is one thing to be top golfer or bowler on your home lanes or course.   Quite a different thing to be in the money consistently when playing unfamiliar place every week.

[lunkerboss923]

14 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Lots of reasons in this thread about why pros are good.  This one here is huge.  I think of it a bit like bowling and golf.  It is one thing to be top golfer or bowler on your home lanes or course.   Quite a different thing to be in the money consistently when playing unfamiliar place every week.

Maybe, but the same said Pro with a couple of rod, a small tackle box with limited assortment of lures, and no modern technology kind of evens the playing field. A pro golfer is going to beat the Club Pro because he has put in the work and can draw/fade a shot. Give him a set of clubs, no GPS, and 100% relying on instincts will definitely give him a difficult time. The club pro can make it interesting for him. I don't think he walks away 10 strokes better. Bowling, I don't feel there is any home field advantage. You can either roll or you can't. 

 

If you are going against Jacob Wheeler, Justin Lucas, or Ott DeFoe heads up 3 rods on your home pond that you've fished 100 times, straight up no technology, I think the pro still has the advantage, but not by much. You can't convince me that all they have to do is show up. Average Joe's have skill too. Dumbing down the pro to bare bones evens the playing field. 

[Swamp Girl]

46 minutes ago, lunkerboss923 said:

It's a matter of junk fishing until you find what they like when fishing from the bank. That's why I carry 5 rods. I have a bottom contact jig/worm rod, moving bait rod, cranking rod, fairy wand, and jerkbait/topwater. More times than not I won't catch anything, but what I will do is try a technique that I'm uncomfortable with, like a jig. I am a terrible jig fisherman, but I like it. Sometimes I will search the bank for potential forage that they are eating. The other day I found a crawfish shell that was red and blue. I pulled out a lipless crankbait that was red and blue and on the first cast I caught a nice fish yo yoing back to the bank. I caught 3 other fish doing that. We don't have live target, in fact, the closest thing we have to it is that iBobber that we cast out on a heavy rod and Bluetooth it to our phone. It does work, but it's a heck of a lot of effort. Is it worth it? Probably not, bank fishing is the purest form of fishing, in my opinion. It allows you to think. It makes you think. Sure a nice Phoenix boat, with a high powered outboard, forward facing sonar and live scope is nice and it would make for an exciting experience, who wouldn't want to see a bass inhale your lure underwater? I just think the old timers pros are much better fishermen because they use their brains. Technology is nice, but it has ruined fishing for the younger generations. It's ok to not have a 25lb sack at the end of the day, that's why they call it fishing. 

 

I like the way you think, lunkerboss, and fish. When it comes to depth, I sometimes use Fish & Wildlife depth maps, but I don't take them fishing, though, because they get wet and worthless in my always wet canoe. However, one can determine depth with different lures, but in the end, depth doesn't matter to me as much as simply where the active bass are that moment.

 

A boat is where we disagree. Yes, bank fishing is pure, but you're leashed to the land. In my little canoe, I can roam and I do roam. I paddle a couple strokes, position the canoe for my casting, and cast three to five times. Then I move, always looking for active bass and changing my lures. Even if one lure is consistently catching fish, I still switch because I'm curious about bass. I don't need much of a boat. My only requirement is that it's light enough for an old woman to lift. 

 

I also agree about a 25-pound sack. The best piece of fishing advice was given to me by an accomplished fly fisher who said, when I landed a tiny bass, "They're all good."

 

She's right. We need to be grateful for them all, big and small.

9 minutes ago, lunkerboss923 said:

Average Joe's have skill too. Dumbing down the pro to bare bones evens the playing field. 

 

^I really like this.^ I can read a reed line and see the gap and wriggle my canoe through it. That's a skill set that a pro might never develop and certainly not in their big, shiny boats.

 

I'm so quiet in my canoe that there were a couple times this past summer when I worked deep into the lily pads and made a mistake and bumped the boat and I saw four or five swirls less than four feet from my canoe. They didn't know I was there until I blundered or if they did, I was stealthy enough that they felt secure. 

 

I'm almost always the only one on a lake, but if someone else arrives and they're half a mile away, I sure hear them again and again and I'm hearing them through the air, which doesn't conduct sound nearly as well as water. If I'm hearing the other fisher with my old ears, the bass sure are hearing them too.

[Woody B]

Taking away the pros boat and equipment would be like expecting Tom Brady to throw a properly inflated football.    

 

Fishing with no prep isn't really a "pro" thing either.   Preparation is one of the things that makes a pro a pro.  Don't pros often employ guides for pre fishing a new to them lake?

[Swamp Girl]

9 minutes ago, Woody B said:

Taking away the pros boat and equipment would be like expecting Tom Brady to throw a properly inflated football.    

 

Fishing with no prep isn't really a "pro" thing either.   Preparation is one of the things that makes a pro a pro.  Don't pros often employ guides for pre fishing a new to them lake?

 

 

All I know is that if I ever become a pro, I'm going to fish with a jet pack and use drone submarines to attach transponders to all the big fish. 

[Kirtley Howe]

26 minutes ago, Woody B said:

Taking away the pros boat and equipment would be like expecting Tom Brady to throw a properly inflated football.    

 

Fishing with no prep isn't really a "pro" thing either.   Preparation is one of the things that makes a pro a pro.  Don't pros often employ guides for pre fishing a new to them lake?

In my stipulations, I did not rule out preparation. The pro could use maps, ask locals, check weather and water conditions, etc. . But they could only use the tackle I have and can only fish in ways I can. If I don't have a boat, they cannot use boat. If I have a boat but no sonar, then they can use the same boat, but cannot add any equipment to it,,,,and so on. As said, I am pretty sure any pro would still out fish me, but I would learn a lot about how to get better with the equipment I have.

 

[Swamp Girl]

Here's something beyond the line of what we're discussing:

 

 

[Choporoz]

I don't watch a lot of pro fishing, but I have seen some the past 3-4 years.  Sure, I did watch Patrick Walter put on a FFS clinic a couple years ago in Texas.  And I've seen some make hour long runs that would take me a couple weeks.  But I think we're giving too much credit to their equipment or tackle.  Most of the time I turn on a tournament, Taku or someone else is tossing a stickbait into grass, Hackney is pitching a jig or some guy is throwing a spinnerbait at a bush.  I bet a lot of us use rods, line and reels much 'better' (or more expensive, anyway) than most pros.  Knowledge, experience, decision making set them apart.

[Cdn Angler]

They do it 24/7 and are good at it. 

 

One thing I notice is that they are ridiculously efficient. It isn't because they have a $500 rod either. 

 

They have every technique, piece of equipment, boat, motor, cast etc. dialled in. No backlashes, line twist, errant casts, wrong type of line for what they want to do etc.  

 

I only get out so often and there's basically always a level of experimentation going on. Experimenting and winning don't go together. Sometimes experiments go poorly.