As a child, I spent most of my summer days fishing with my grandfather and his friends. I have always felt lucky to have had numerous philosophical conversations with men near
the end of their lives. I was less than ten years old when I received
most of these small golden nuggets of wisdom and though I was young, I took these words to heart, and it has helped
me tremendously along my journey through life. If you can figure out how to be successful saltwater pier
fishing, you can probably "tackle" most things in life. Yes, I am that corny.
So, what exactly was it that made me as a young child want to listen to my elders? I wanted to catch fish of course! I realized that if I did what they told me to, by the end of the day, I would
find myself surrounded by people standing closer wondering how me and my grandfather always knew where the lucky spots were. They would constantly try to figure out how to detangle their reels while I sat there catching fish, never getting snared on anything. They never knew all of the subtle things I was told to do to make it all work.
Here is what I learned from fishing:
You can't force fish. They come when they want to.
Don't obsessively check your bait. The waiting can be
frustrating and you sometimes feel the need to make something happen but
let the line do it's work for a little while. Most attempts at control
will not only scare away fish, but will often shake the bait off
the line from yanking it so often through the current. If you just leave
it out there for a while, you'll avoid a lot of common fishing problems.
Multiply your chances at success with more setups.
If you can find the poles, cast a few lines out there. Make sure your bait is securely attached. Set them and forget them. Don't
get worked up whether they are going to succeed or fail because ultimately you have no power over this. If the baited line fails you, re-bait it
and throw another line out. When there is a big hit, and you pull that
fish in successfully, it is an exciting moment and will often draw a
crowd of onlookers. They won't know you how many times you've baited empty hooks, but watch as they slowly move closer to your spot to
fish.
Pulling the line in too fast will get you snagged!
It's important to take your time when pulling a line in. Make sure
you're going slow enough along the bottom to feel if it's beginning to
get snagged on something. You want to feel the line, and respond if you know you have to. If you stop in time, the current will often
loosen a snagged hook right on up. If you force the line in too quickly it will become
securely tangled and you may lose your whole setup. You can also get
snagged on other peoples lines this way and piss them off due to your carelessness and impatience.
Know when to cut the line.
Sometimes your line gets stuck despite all of your efforts and
expertise. When you know that there is no way short of you diving into
the water to untangle this mess, know when to cut the line. Sure,
you'll lose your bait, hook and sinker, but at least you won't lose any
additional time chasing after a futile goal. The sooner you can set
your line back up, the sooner you can start catching fish again with
that pole.
Wait for the right moment to grab an opportunity.
If you've ever gone saltwater fishing in New York, you'll know that the
water is pretty darn murky. Once your bait dips down a few inches, it
becomes impossible to see. The fish are also perfectly camouflaged for
this environment. The only thing you can see is the tip of your rod and
the direction of the line. Some use this to patiently know the right moment to pick up the
rod. I prefer to keep a finger on the line and feel the slight
vibrations coming from the other end. It's like having x-ray vision
into the water. The bite of a fish is distinguishable from most other
things like currents and seaweed after a bit of experience. The true trick is
reading into the right moment to jerk your line and snag that baby.
Pull the line too quickly and you can not only lose the fish but your
bait. Pull it too late and the fish can escape well fed. Knowing that
slight pulsation of nibbles that let's you know the
fish's mouth is right on the line and maybe getting slightly stuck and
knowing the exact moment to yank that pole upwards is one of the
reasons I will catch more fish than the guy next to me.
Some people get lucky and catch fish despite doing all of the wrong
things. Be happy for them.
Winning things by chance is the entire
game but always be happy for other's fortunes. It doesn't take away your chances of catching fish, and it may make you remember why you're out there.
The very most important thing to being a successful fisherman is the
actual action of throwing lines out. You can't catch fish if you don't
even try.
And finally, enjoy the moment.
Fishing is kind of boring and it takes some acclimation to doing close
to nothing for up to 12 hours straight, though seeing it as nothing is
just one point of view. This is your life. You only have a limited
time here yet so many moments go by unappreciated. When fishing, once
you become mindful of your surroundings, you will become to notice the
small things of beauty. The glint of the sunlight speckling the waves
warming your face. The smell of the sea. How the wind softly brushes
lightly across your face. Adjusting your focus to notice small fish and
things swimming occasionally past you. The sound of the gulls crying at
each other. The mysterious vibrations of the line under your finger as
it tugs with the current and bumps into things along the ocean floor.
Being able to quiet your mind, enough to feel this ebb of time flowing
by you and really savoring it is a way to optimize this time you have
everywhere every day. When you start to enjoy just being in the middle
of so much and nothing at the same time, you will capture a multitude of
moments that otherwise would have passed you by.
So there is all I have learned from fishing. All of my fishing buddies have long passed on, but I'm hoping their
wisdom will continue to live on. It has done me a lifetime of good so it makes me happy to pass it on.
