I had to start this in a fresh thread as I'm now venting....
I've got to break in here. To paraphrase, "It doesn't take skill to catch shoolies" - IMO that's generally crap. It may take less skill catching tons of shoolies than it does for someone with a fly rod landing 30# bass one after the other over a nasty rock reef at night in a snot storm. That's probably more skill than most other local fishing period. It takes varying levels of skill to fish various ways and in various locations. Some of the guys down south need to cast baits far to get to fish and some have made a fine art of jigging in the Canal but alot of it is relative to what you are doing. It can take more skill to catch finicky school stripers than it does to flip a 5 galon bucket over and break open a six-pack with unmeated hooks. There are alot of "relative" things here as far as skill goes that need to be accounted for no matter what size fish you are fishing for. Most of us here are fisherman (collective, that includes you Juls <img src="/Images/biggrin.gif"><!--e7-->)! We had this pissing contest two weeks ago. We all are obsessed by this passion to fish for stripers. That's why we are here.
Personally, I love to chase big bass but I don't get the opportunity to do so as much as I'd like. Often I'm fishing schoolies which can be challenging and alot of fun. It's also FISHING!!! This website is called striped-bass.com, not schoolieville.com, not handpouredjerkbaits.com, not eelfishingfromblockisland.com, not dorfonflyfishing.com, nor is it clamslingers.com It is STRIPED-BASS.COM. We chase striped bass here. Morone Saxitalis (sp?) Whether they're little or IGFA records, they got damn stripes running down the side!!!! There are people that land all kinds of fish that don't have skill - it happens.
This is a place for people to dig in and help each other out. To talk about stupid crazy things you've done or seen. A funny joke - whatever. It's also a place to discuss the future of the fish, very important and personally I don't think there is enough of that being discussed. It shouldn't have to be a place where everyone urinates in everyone else’s cheerios!!!! Phewwww... Gotta take a leak, be right back... OK. I'm back. All better now I think... Bill, you go off sometimes and piss in peoples cheerios when they don't deserve it. I bow to you as being the best angler ever to catch a striped bass or a bluegill but you've got to understand that you are not the end all of fishing for stripers. I'm sure that there are lots of people out there that would throw their hard earned money behind a Stetzko or someone else as the best angler out there (I'd have to back Bill as I've seen him fish, regardless of family ties) and you know, someone else might just win. Tim Coleman thinks you're the cats ass and that's a hell of a compliment but that doesn't mean everyone else is back asswards when it comes to fishing and what they are doing is wrong.
Some people can't fish at night all of the time, I can't. I've got a regular job 50 hours+ per week that I need to stay relatively sharp for. Some people work at night, what do they do quit there job?? Some people have bad wheels and can't work a beach for miles on end. Some people think that fishing out of a boat is like waking up next to Cindy Crawford and winning the lottery at the same time!!! Some methods are better for catching more, big bass - at night with eels is most likely the best for a surfcaster. Live bunker might be the best out of a boat. But what is the best hands down method to fish for striped bass is whatever you do that gets you down to the water with something tugging on the other side of the line. What is hands down the best method to fish is what makes you a happy angler. That's what's important. THAT IS WHAT WE ARE ALL HERE FOR!!! We are all out here to fish, that's what we do.
Threaded Mode