Posted by bass 64 on 07-28-2003 09:19 PM:

Food for thought..............

I've been seeing some posts lately with some people regarding fishing as luck, some as skill and some as a combination. I personally feel it lies somewhere between the two and lean towards skill a tad. Any way one of my old teachers said a quote that I personally describes Luck perfectly. " Luck is when preparation meets oppurtunity." Do you agree, disagree? Just curious...........

The way I look at is that if a 6 lb bass hits your lure and you have good equipment, technique and skills you were prepared when the bass decided to hit your lure. If you have shitty equipment, a bad hookset, and you fight the bass poorly you are not prepared.

For instance, Two years ago in the Adirondacks I had a giant largemouth on at night. At least six pounds, but anyway I had bad equipment a really tight drag(poor skills) and he broke me off next to the boat. I feel now that if I had hooked that same bass this year, he would have been in the boat.

Remember this is the qoute." Luck is when preparation meets oppurtunity." Comments?....................- Joe

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Posted by HugeFish4 on 07-28-2003 10:05 PM:

I agree with the quote completely. Now that doesn't mean that some first timer can't get lucky and catch a 6lber!

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Posted by Broadbill on 07-28-2003 10:12 PM:

You're way too young......

to be that philosophical and wise.

These kids nowadays...What are we gonna do?

Broadbill

Posted by bigredfishing on 07-28-2003 10:46 PM:

i think that luck is a direct function of skill...if you do the right thing enough times, the right kind of things happen...

thats my take on it

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Posted by HugeFish4 on 07-28-2003 10:48 PM:

Fishing requires the skill "to make your own luck"! I couldn't manufacture any luck this weekend! LOL!

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Posted by Barry on 07-28-2003 10:54 PM:

Hey I went FISHING this weekend. Didn't catch a damn thing just went Fishing (even resorted to bringing donuts, that did not work either) but I still had a good time.

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Posted by basseracci on 07-28-2003 11:37 PM:

Great quotes on luck...I agree with both of you bass64 and bigred...Good insights on the topic of luck and fishing...

Mark

Posted by Gregg on 07-29-2003 12:16 AM:

You do your homework, pick your spot make a nice presentation and sure enough it was holding a bass. At that moment was it luck that it was holding a 5lber rather then a 2lber

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Posted by JOHN G on 07-29-2003 12:16 PM:

definitely a combination....with skill getting the edge.....

after a while, you make "lucky guesses"!

happens in all things , not just fishing.......

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Posted by carpecarpium on 07-29-2003 01:14 PM:

"Luck is the residue of design." --said by some smart guy.

But no matter how good the design, "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

Just look at George Perry.

Posted by Bob Monetti on 07-29-2003 10:04 PM:

I think it is a little of both luck and experience. Recently, I was vacationing in western Maine. Our family rented a cabin on a pond which held SM and LM. Of course, I was fishing at 5:00 every morning and catching some fish. I took my mother and sister out a few times who have little fishing experience. I tied a simple original floating rapala on rods. As soon a we pulled up to a spot they were catching fish. And they caught the biggest fish of the whole week.

I know my practice found some active spots and helped them out, but it still is funny how they could out fish me on big fish. I did notice that when i pulled up to a spot they would just cast and were very slow on enaging the reel and working the bait. The hit was immediate or when they retrieved at a slow crawling pace. They were not used to the equipment which made for a very slow presentation.

My lesson was defintely to slow down my baits. I often have the urge to work areas fast and move on when there is now action. Beginners can even teach us a few things.

Luck....... I don't know.

Posted by HookUp on 07-30-2003 07:21 AM:

Ain't Rocket Science

... But there is an art to bass fishing.

Right Lure, Right conditions (that's the luck part), Right waters, Right Spot, you'll catch fish.

Posted by Charlie on 07-30-2003 12:03 PM:

I have to agree with most of the comments posted so far.

Coming originally from a style of fishing where live bait or edible product was on my hook, catching fish was easy.

Learning to bass fish took me 11 years before I went onto the professinal curcuit, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, it is an on going apprentiship that I do not believe ANYONE ever completes.

There is little to question that making a piece of metal, wood, plastic or rubber act like a living breathing creature in water is a skill set all on it's own! I would never be so bold as to compair our style of fishing with fly fishing, but similar principles apply.

Lure placement, conditions (water and atmospheric) "matching the hatch" etc all play a vital role.

If I have to put a percentage on this I would say it's a 80/20 split. 80 percent skill set and 20% right place right time (luck) etc.

Although the trophies on my wall may tell a different story, getting the larger fish to eat is still a "work in progress".

Tight Lines!

Charlie

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Posted by dodgeguy on 07-30-2003 06:59 PM:

the truely skilled will always outshine the lucky ones over a season of fishing!!!

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Posted by earthworm77 on 08-04-2003 02:49 PM:

Anyone can luck into a good fish....to do it on a regular basis is a skill.

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Posted by carpecarpium on 08-11-2003 09:46 AM:

Anyone who's done more than a little casual fishing knows that there's a lot of skill involved. But one of the reasons I like to fish is that random, goofy things can happen.

For instance, I was flailing away at the water for over an hour one day with nary a nibble when I decided to change over to a crankbait and promptly hung it up and broke off on the first cast. Cursing under my breath, I was thinking that it was going to be one of those days when I saw my precious crankbait bob to the surface. I tied on a jitterbug to retrieve my crank and the line fouled on the lip. Yeah, I thought, it really is going to be one of those days. So the jitterbug is coming in under water on its side when, of course, a nice two pounder grabs it. My first and, it turned out, only fish that day. I had finally stumbled on the action it wanted--absolutely none.

Or another time I was making perfect skip casts under some tree branches with absolutely no effect. I was about to throw another cast when my finger slipped and my bait plunked down into the water at my feet. A nice bass grabbed it.

Or when a buddy cast his worm into a tree, snapped back, and the worm comes flying out, landing in the water behind us and a bass engulfs it.

Catching a nice fish through skill and experience is the most satisfying experience but the random and the goofy is what causes me to laugh like a hyena.

Posted by wnybassman on 08-11-2003 05:08 PM:

A quote I came up with a couple years ago: "You have to be skillful to put yourself into a position to be lucky".

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