Matt Watson: Fisherman still learning the hard way

Q: What do you call a person who gets shown a better way to do something, from someone with more knowledge and experience, yet they continue to do it their way?

A: A fisherman.

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I’m not sure why we are wired this way. We rig bait a certain way once and it works, and this becomes the best way to fish – it doesn’t matter how much logical thinking you apply, or alternate explanations (like it being a fluke), we take what actually happened as the ultimate evidence. I think there may be something anthropological about this phenomenon. We learn from what we experience, and we remember the things that helped us get food and made us successful hunter-gatherers in the past.

Another reason fishermen won’t take advice is ego. Yes fisher-men, I’ve not forgotten my political correctness. Women seem much more open to being shown a better way of fishing (well, most women).

Ego is often an accumulation of success, which, at least when it gives you confidence in what you’re doing, can be a good thing. You’re not likely to catch much if you are shifting spots or changing your rig and bait too regularly. Being confident makes you stick it out and keep that bait or lure in the water longer, giving you a better chance of getting a bite. But doing the same thing in the same spot time after time doesn’t broaden your knowledge, and if you don’t want to waste precious fishing time experimenting, set your ego aside so you can learn from others. You might be good at fishing, maybe even great, but you’ll never have all the answers.

I have many examples of when I’ve been given advice from experienced fishers, considered it, and then passed it up, choosing to do things my own way. Years down the track, of course, I’ve often ended up using the same method via trial and error. I’d then think to myself, “imagine all the fish I could have caught if I’d done it this way when I was told” – but, like many, I just had to learn the hard way.

To give a specific example, an experienced game fisher on the Great Barrier Reef told me that snelling circle hooks to his leaders had increased his hook-up rate. But I chose not to take this advice because we’d caught six blacks from seven bites with free-swinging circle hooks. It was not till a couple of years later when I had a terrible season hooking up with circle hooks that I tried snelling. I went five from six, and over a period of years since, I’ve maintained a better hook-up rate.

I’ve still not found the total answer but the point is, I could have got closer to answers faster, and caught more fish, had I taken the advice. The trick is listening to trusted sources and not necessarily the many self-proclaimed experts out there, as well as those that will deliberately give false information to guard their precious secrets.

With that said, learning the hard way is still sometimes best. But taking on board the knowledge and experience of others will get you more success, more often – just take care when looking for advice.

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

April 2019 - Matt Watson
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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