Shore Fishing: Luck, Skill or Science???

[Wreckingball76]

Shore Fishing : Luck, Skill or Science?

One for the Philosophers....

Hi all, I've been thinking about writing a blog recently and would like my first one to be on this subject. I've often pondered the balance of contribution each of these factors have in successful shore fishing (if any!). After talking to a veteran seasoned Angler recently on the Pier, just generally chatting about the recent weeks fishing. He mentioned the word 'luck' in the conversation about 3 or 4 times. Using the statement "it's luck most of the time". To be honest this surprised me, but it also got me thinking about what Anglers perceptions where when it comes to our sport. What do everday Anglers believe drive successful shore fishing? Luck, Skill or Science???

Luck - or 'chance' if you prefer means just that,plain old fashioned 'luck'

Skill - I would class as accrued knowledge and expertise. This could be technical or physical, knowing the right places at the right times, selecting the correct tackle and bait to do the job etc etc.

Science - good science is always demonstrated by proving that a well thought out theory is incontrovertibly correct.

For example is it: 50% Luck, 40% Skill and 10% Science or 100% luck?

There is obviously no way to determine a correct answer to this, it is purely a matter of opinion and I expect that the values will change between novice, intermediate and experienced Angler as well as person to person. There may also be other factors I haven't categorised like Karma or Religion?? Do you point your prayer matt North East and pray to the 'God of Cod' before or during each session, for example???

It would be very interesting to hear your perspective, views and reasons behind them, I think it might generate an interesting debate, it'll also give you something to do during the unsettled weather over the next few days!!!

I'll somehow write these opinions up and post my views after I've had a chance to think about it more!

Regards
Si

 

[white water]

skill

 

[Mogthemackem]

Knowing the right time of tide, wind direction, size of tide, time of year, temperature, bait to use, rig to use, size hooks to use, gear needed to help ensure you land the fish, venue to fish from, where the holes are, how far to cast and species you are targetting has to be taken in to account. If there's 2 of you taking all of this in to account and fishing the exact same spot then I suppose luck will come in to it lol. Also, you can just stick a worm on your hook, cast 10 yards, be the first time you've ever fished and catch a double!

In other words skill and science will do you better in the long run. Luck may catch you more fish at times but knowledge and ability will catch you more consistenly.

You cant go fishing for dabs with a 7/0 pennel using a 3 full crabs and squid cocktail 10 miles up the Tyne and be more successful than someone using size 4 hooks with rag tipped off with mackerel fishing the 44 mark.

Saying all this some of my fishing buddies think I'm quite lucky lol

 

[BestNest]

It's Luck, and av got NEN!!!

 

[al.thain]

great post! in my opinon it is reverse order,, you plan out your theory, then when the times/conditions are right the skill comes into play on choice of location,bait tactics etc,, then you rely on the fish to play the final part which could be the luck point of view... id defnetley say skill is the main part to success, you hear of the same anglers always catching and i dont think its just pot luck they always do. i have my own stupid superstitious things which i have to do or i think ill not catch such as looking at my rod from the left hand side of the rod stand in the left hand side of the stand and a jumper i always have to put on ha ha, stupid i know but a think a few other anglers might have their own superstitions

 

[phill_itofish]

40% skill 40% science 20% luck

Reasons

You could be the best angler in the world, investigate your mark, know what fish should be there and in what conditions, put you hook right where the fish should be, do everything right but on the day the fish might not be there.

The again maybe that's me getting the science wrong and not just being unlucky

 

[Charlton]

one of the most important factors you have missed is bait, all the best anglers have top quality bait, there is a lot of skill (accrued knowledge) as the same anglers win competitions over and over again, if it was luck, then different people would win all the time. A saying of mine about anglers, and I mean no offence
those that know nowt think they know it all, and those that know a lot realise how little they know.

 

[lambtonworm]

Anyone thats bothered to listen would have heard me say this ......
50% bait,30% skill,20% luck ,its not pure luck that its the same names in the frame in local matches,pleasure fishing on the pier/rocks/beaches always the same faces,get the knowledge and lady luck will see you alright ...

 

[al.thain]

one of the most important factors you have missed is bait, all the best anglers have top quality bait, there is a lot of skill (accrued knowledge) as the same anglers win competitions over and over again, if it was luck, then different people would win all the time. A saying of mine about anglers, and I mean no offence
those that know nowt think they know it all, and those that know a lot realise how little they know.

got to agree with you there alan you always hear the same anglers winning or catching year in year out ,, for me angling is a lifetime learning curve

 

[Wreckingball76]

Great responses so far lads, Luck seems to be the controversial one at the minute....

Regards
Si

 

[Wreckingball76]

,, for me angling is a lifetime learning curve

couldn't have put it better myself....

 

[Darnc]

Like all sports you learn the basics first then the more you do it the better you get and by doing it more often you learn what works best and what doesn't, you build up knowledge this will last a life time and you never stop building up the knowledge but with all sports you will get some luck now and then that's just the way it goes.

 

[Karl M]

I think skill and knowledge play the biggest part. Bait is also important, however the fish are either there or not. Knowing where the fish will be at what times is the key to success. If the fish are there and you catch an unusualy large fish then that is lucky.

 

[Codcodcod!]

I always say if the lad who's catching the fish knows what he's doing differently then it' not luck.

There used to be Alot more fish on the marks esp In daylight and certain conditions. In the past there may of been 10 marks or so that would hold fish, now it's prob 2. The best anglers with the best bait usually caught them. If there not In front of you, you're not going to catch them.

It doesn't matter how good you are if your baits crap you'll catch f all.

To be consistent in daylight in the winter up here you have to be bloody good! Nobody is consistant anymore really. The fish have to be on your fav marks to do well.

It's much easier to be consistant at night rather than daylight. Stevie Williams is prob the most consistant angler during the summer up the coast for me. Where as I just chuck it and chance it if I fish up there in the summer. Prob why I don't like it cos I don't put the effort in to learn it.

As they say 10 per cent of anglers catch 90 per cent of the fish. To answer your question that's not luck.

 

[Thunderpants]

50% Skill 50% Luck
You need the knowledge to catch but how many times have you been at a usually good mark with the right bait the right tackle at the right time and blanked

 

[chris elliott]

valuable lessons

valuable lessons

i was lucky enough to fish with a famous north east matchman some 20 years ago(hes still one of the best in the country)it was for a sell thru video some of you may have seen many years ago,we fished newton on one of the scenes,like a pillock i cast straight out using ragworm onto the sandy bits,got nowt and never lost a lead,however the gent in question actually cast behind himself from the skeer back towards the shore to where he knew there was a small hole,two casts two cod,and he said he wasnt fishing the hole anymore,so i tried it,nowt,he knew after many years of expeience that the hole couldnt hold more than three cod at atime and moved on,so i learnt this from him
1)dont cast over the fishes heed
2)only use the best possible bait(he treat his peelers like a long lost freind)
3)sit down for fifteen minutes before you do anything and just look at whats going on(the way the kelp is moving,the wind,the waves,if other anglers are about ask what the crack is)
so for me its bait 50% knowledge 50% ive had the occasional lucky one like having an ovverrun and getting a fish,but would try and learn from it,if i could be 10%as good as the top rock anglers and matchmen id be happy

 

[Mogthemackem]

Something I forgot to mention about catching fish. If you are targetting a certain species using a certain method and bait and its not working, you can either persevere or you can totally change tactics and catch fish. Some anglers are either too stubborn or obsessed about catching cod but when they're not there you can either blank trying or change and catch fish. Knowing when and how to change these tactics is also a skill and none of it is luck as you won't accidently put a different rig on, a different bait and cast in a different place.

 

[codseeker]

never 2 days alike in this game depends if the fish are there ya will only catch whats infront of ya and what bait they fancy on the day

 

[paulthespark]

luck is for me the main factor here, for instance fishing for different spieces of fish ie mackerel you don't need skill or science to catch them all you need is to be there at the right time when a shoal come close inshore luck, on the other hand when winter fishing for cod is a different matter, skill really does come into play, yet no matter how skillful you are you still need a certain amout of luck, if you are fishing with a group of anglers who are quite skillful and you catch the only fish of the day then you are the lucky one and everbody else will call you a lucky ba###rd and rightly so, luck,me and my son where fishing the heugh loads of lads on all seasoned anglers no fish catching except for my 9 yearold son,catching loads of small coalies down the side some skill, then he hooked and landed a 5lbs cod on a 0 1 hook with a snot end of a ragworm luck.

 

[Lowrider]

As someone once said "The more i practise the luckier i get",