Shore Fishing: Luck, Skill or Science???

Its all about doing your homework research the weather, venues and species.

Makes some phone calls check the forums target the species that are being caught.

Prepare your tackle, bait equipment and clothing for the conditions then head to the venue when you have all the elements correct as they can be ready to catch your target species and be ready to switch your tackle to different species should a shoal come by.

Most important enjoy your fishing and stay lucky :)
 
Some people even think all peelers are the same. Believe you me they ate certainly not. On some days some crabs will outfish others. There are times when I have fished next to someone casting in exactly the same areas and outfishing or being outfished. Difficult to put your finger on it. There are also some anglers who will never ever make the grade, they have all the gear, bait, years of knowledge, fish all the time then still catch nowt. I think its important to fish with the right people and to have fished when fish are about. A confident angler will always have the edge.!
 
Matterless how good an angler you are there,s one thing that always remains the same.

If there,s no fish in front of you,you can,t catch them....
 
paulthespark said:
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 .
Click to expand...

Ah but is that luck? The skill and the science here is knowing when to fish for them, for instance, i probably wouldn't head down the pier on a flat calm sunny June morning and fish for cod, likewise I wouldnt head down with a strong easterly in the middle of winter and fish for mackerel, is this not using the skills and science I ask you ?? lol
 
Just to mix it up a bit

Last year I headed out to a local mark where I lure fish for bass, the conditions were perfect, tide was right, water temp was good and I had the right lure for the job, I was rewarded with a nice plump bass that I swiftly returned. I didn't think id been lucky I thought I had applied the skills I've learned.

A few weeks later conditions were much the same, I did everything the same and, well I blanked, now I didn't doubt my skills I just thought I was unlucky. Does this say more about the man than the fish lol
 
a familiar subject which regulary crops up

anglers all have their opinions provided from years of experience.

if i where to look at 'luck' , 'skill' , and 'science' and wondered which was to be most significant in my domain, which, is cod chasing, :D


thats easy - science
 
Just a couple of things i've learned in 40 years of fishing, sometimes it doesnt matter if you catch or not so long as your out away from the misses and kids, i've used the best crab baits for hours then switched to worm and caught the very next cast, you can fish when everything says its looking good (tide, wind, weather etc) only to blank and then when it looks like crap, flat calm brilliant sunshine and catch none stop, i think its definately luck. As metioned before how many times have you been macky bashing and everyone around you is catching and your not despite using the same lures, and casting as far as the next bloke, then the next time you go its you catching and no one else. Just my thoughts on it!
 
chris elliott said:
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:D:D
Click to expand...
Treats his peelers like a long lost friend does he?
Last time i met someone i had'nt seen for ages,i did'nt pull their arms off:D
 
Some excellent responses so far.....

I'll tell you where I'm at... I struggle with the concept of Luck in general. I'm a firm believer that you create your own Luck. I can understand how situations can be perceived as Lucky... Taking the example earlier that a first time angler catching a large Cod on a snot end of Ragworm 10 yards out. But for me that wasn't lucky, that was the right thing to do in that particular situation to catch that fish. Whether the angler is aware of that or not is a different matter.

I believe that there is a reasonable scientific explanation for everything. Therefore for me I believe it's down to a balance of skill and science only (and every sub-catergory)
Science must be the cornerstone on which to hone your skills.

For a very crude example : Cod love to eat peeler crab (amongst many other things), that's a scientific fact because *it can be proven by examining the contents of Cod stomachs. The skill comes from knowing this, plus knowing how to present it correctly and effectively put it in the right place at the right time using the right equipment.

I would class myself as a very average angler with a hell of a lot to learn, and as its been mentioned already, it's a lifetime learning curve with a of a lot of variables.

Very interesting responses so far there definitely seems to be a divide on the luck factor.

Keep it coming

Regards
Si
 
It doesn't matter what type of fishing it is or where in the world you're fishing, fishing is easy RIGHT BAIT, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME put all these three factors in your favour you will consistantly get good results, just get one of those three factors wrong you'll catch little. Sure you can catch a lucky fish against the odds but not on a consistent basis. I heard a saying many years ago and it is so true 90% OF THE FISH ARE CAUGHT BY 10% OF THE ANGLERS THE OTHER 10% ARE CAUGHT BY THE OTHER 90% OF ANGLERS.
 
i can target sticklebacks with garden wormz down barnes park and i know for definate i will get one ..unless the netters have been in and wiped them out ;)
 
Shore Fishing : Luck, Skill or Science

Shore Fishing : Luck, Skill or Science

experience is king imo, yes good bait is important but you can have the best bait in the world but if your putting it in the wrong place you'll likely go home with an empty fish bag
 
Skill, knowledge, experience.... Add it all together in the right way and you can certainly make yourself more lucky than the guy next To you who doesn't have these in his armoury. Stack the deck in your favour but you can only catch what is there on any given day. 10% luck, 90% everything else lol
 

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