Some people just have "it" I have no idea what it is but they have it.
Other people who are succesfull know there locales intimatly, Just as Piemma said. They also know winds and tide and even how the wind affects tide in the spot they are fishing, which wind and tide combo produce white water on the structure ther fishing..etc... Some people have that ability to just look at a beach they have never seen before and know exactly where to fish.
Good fisherman never rely on fishing reports from magizines or the paper, they know this info is enflamed and usually a week or more old. Good fisherman create there own success! Sharpies keep logs and watch patterns develop over the years and can almost pinpoint when fish should be at point A or B . They know for instance that such and such a hole has fish usually on the new moon in june etc..or between certain dates.
They dont fish with junk! all there equipment is top notch and always ready for a trophy, they change line aften, check knots, sharpen hooks etc.. Sharpies know when to walk away form school bass, they dont stay in a dead place to long, they move, they have considered every possible thing that can go wrong and try to be ready for any situation, As john said they dont make fishing a social hour, they talk but they are always fishng and aware of whats going on. Save the social hour for a club meeting. They find fish if there not here they hop on a boat and hit an island or they drive to the cape or rhody or wherever else......They take the good with the bad.They dont blame lack of this or lack of that or the moon or the wind or anything else for not getting fish, they just accept that its "fishing" and not catching.
A sharpie catches fish consitantly, the occsionall big fish does not a sharpie make but catching on a regular basis means he or she is doing something right.
Common sense? yes but, you have to give a good angler his due, surf fishing is hard, long hours, tons of time on the water and a way of life...There are sharpies and it takes years to become that.
Surf fishing to me was never casual, Its different from any other fishing there is, its not a lazy day on a bass boat tossing shiners to largemouth in the lillypads.I have no problem with the weekend warrior but that guy will never become a sharpie or have the success they look for, its a special kind of fishing and it should be because its a special kind of fish
