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.