Perfect

[Koz]

As most of you know, I run a lakefront hotel and my kids fishing program and my occasional tournament fishing is a topic with guests.

 

This morning I was talking with a guest who was in town to fish and I gave him a promo card from Missile Baits who sponsors our kids program and we talked fishing.

 

Fast forward to noon today and I was getting squirrelly in my office so I grabbed a rod and went down to our docks to fish for a minute. Winds are a constant 20-30 mph today but I needed some fresh air and clear my head.

 

That same gentleman and his daughter are fishing off our docks so I say hello and head to the far dock to fish. The wind grabs my first cast and I miss my target, but the second cast is right on target about 6” off the seawall. I get bit and land a nice little two pounder.

 

The daughter starts shaking her head and saying, “You’ve only been out here for 3 minutes and you caught a fish!”

 

With that (and the wind) it was perfect timing to wrap it up like a champ and go back to my office.

 

But before leaving I broke down the better spots for them to cast given the current conditions.

 

Considering we all have good days and bad days out there, the timing of meeting the guests and making a quick catch was lucky and perfect. And now those guests said they want to come back and spend time fishing with me. As I walked back to my office, all I could think was the phrase, “Like a boss!” 😀

[thediscochef]

I have this sort of experience at Roberts from time to time. It's not magic or talent or whatever. It's time spent. I can remember two instances in particular - one being the TPWD TV show I was filmed for. They were filming me, giving a demo of a basic wacky rig. As we're getting done with the demo, wham a three pounder. Perfect timing. Can't script that, can't call that shot.

The other things that come to mind are another three pounder on a particularly hot day at Roberts. Right around sunset on a red eye up on the riprap. This teenager comes over and says that's the best luck he's seen anyone have all day and I just got there. I gave him a tutorial. The most important part of the lesson was when I told him I've been catching fish that time of day for the last week. It's a pattern identified, not fish whispering. 

Same thing when I saw a fish while yaking with my buddy, said "watch this" and caught that fish.

 

In the same way that there's no replacement for displacement, there's no substitute for experience and time next to water.

 

It does give a particular sense of accomplishment 

[Alex from GA]

The replacement for displacement are blowers and the substitute for experience are the forward facing sonars.