You can have all of the rods, reels, plugs etc. but the difference in my eyes seems to be whether or not your phone rings.

time and lots of it.

Or maybe fish 40 hrs a week? Unless your Mike:fishin:

Commitment.........


I've also noticed that when I go to presentations a lot of them usually contain the line "....My Ex-Wife...." somewhere in it

Might have something to do w/ that commitment...:hihi:

rare custom plugs

A big eel.

A big eel.

that and no wife, a pissed off wife, or an extremely understanding wife.

You also need to be able to refer to yourself in the 3rd person like Lebron James!!!!!!:uhuh:

time and lots of it.

Commitment.........



and a willingness to learn.

A love of the sea. The will to do it , Strong legs to carry you to the spots. Ability to concentrate intensely while the line is in the water. The mental capacity to learn and integrate what you learn into finding and catching.

...one who is willing to spend countless hours trying to outwit a fish with a brain the size of a cumquat...

Call yourself "Maestro" and insist everyone else does too!

Claim that every spot is your "secret spot" that produced a 50 lber.
the last time you fished it.

Claim that you were fishing "XXXXX" lure before everyone else, and you know EXACTLY how to fish it for maximum effect.

Then you wake up in time to go to work, waiting for the end of the day, week or season depending on how crappy ypur job is!:biglaugh:

Quite a few years back i fished every night during sept,oct, & nov, cept for 3, and it wasnt for just a couple of hours, most I would say were between 4 and 6 hrs, lots of dusk to dawn outings. Does that count,lol. Desire is the key ingrediant to becoming a good surf guy, not saying I am, not yet anyway. If I was only 20 years younger.

What does it take?

The ability and DESIRE to teach someone else without taking credit for it. (Trust me, they will give you the credit.)

Anybody can catch a fish, but how did they get their start?

that and no wife, a pissed off wife, or an extremely understanding wife.

:uhuh:

all you need is time and no responsibilities

From what I've learned on this site, I think you need to have a wetsuit, energy drinks, eels and potatoes. Not necessarily in that order.

The thread header should be more descriptive.

"What it takes to be a great fisherman (in your own mind)"

or

"What it takes to be considered a great fisherman"

Everyone can say "I'm a great fisherman", but the true test is whether others would say the same!

that and no wife, a pissed off wife, or an extremely understanding wife.
Or a wife with a boyfriend
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

From what I've learned on this site, I think you need to have a wetsuit, energy drinks, eels and potatoes. Not necessarily in that order.

And a tin of scoal.

Seriously, i think what matters most is time on the water and being aware of what you are doing. The most enjoyable part of it all for me is that im constantly learning and am eager to learn more.

that and no wife, a pissed off wife, or an extremely understanding wife.
Mine can go from one to the other in milliseconds, for no reason I can comprehend.

RoyL is a great fisherman. Ask him, the rest of us are just pretenders.

who ever has the most fun doing it .. If not ,might as well buy clubs ..

all you need is time and no responsibilities

Dude, You changed your name.....

Passion, you gotta live for it. Its gets you out of bed an in your vehical, it makes you brave the nastiest of conditions and makes take one more cast and the one more and am done ok really this time last one, wait was that a bump ok last one same spot!

An addictive/compulsive personality coupled with sociopathic tendencies and a general dislike for people. From there, success in fishing becomes just a small matter of channeling all that negativity, anger and mental illness into fishing - like the rest of the psychos do.

While having the time is an important factor it is the use of that time I think that separates the good from the great. Noticing which spot fishes better under all conditions, keeping records of what happened on any given night over time will give you much better results than the other guys that just rely on their memory. It is not something I do for a number of reasons but I think that the guys who are seriously methodical about both fishing conditions and gear maintenance do a lot better than others.

I think you also have to have that unending desire to figure out why things happened not just that they happen but why. It is that constant need for understanding what the causes of a good night or a bad night were. The great fisherman I know don't take things at face value there is always that internal questioning of what the cause was.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Miyagi say you must have focus, either that or what Joe said

Or a wife with a boyfriend
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

or no wife at all. :grins:

a good mentor

having a first name of MIKE,,,,,,,,,,,
and a last name that ends in a vowel!!!

seriously~~~ check out the high hooks for the OTW leader board.
uncanny, to be sure. they share 3 things, imho ~~~

LOVE this GAME!!!
they have a degree of desire/passion/obsession that is GREAT.

THINK like a FISH!!!
years of hunting a beloved prey teaches you to get into their heads and KNOW them.

WORK smart and HARD!!!
combine the first two with the ability to get out there and apply them
with a focus and determination that never gives up until ALL 3 have been fully exhausted.

factor in the drive to be great, to be #1, and you are there. most of the Great Ones ~at anything~ that i've met have high standards for themselves and won't settle for second place, no matter what they do. especially so when it comes to their chosen discipline.

lastly, you could also be born with IT.
the IT Factor is huge,,,,,,,i believe that each of us is born to do something ~~GREAT!!! whether it be a Noble Laureate Writer, a 2nd Grade Teacher, a Teddy Ballgame, a Super Fire Chief, or the next Moses,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the truly Great Ones seem effortless as they turn a piece of wood into a Stradivarius and most of them are humbled by their own abilities and are willing to share what they realized long ago is a gift. we have, each of us, been blessed with talents that set us apart from the rest of the gene pool and puts us in our "element" when we engage ourselves in employing said talent.

some cats were just BORN to fish and they will outfish those around them, consistently; even on their worst day/night.

a good mentor

or a friend who is a great fisherman :biglaugh:

I have the honor of fishing with a couple absolutely great fishermen. It's the intuition that dumbfounds me.