Skunkings: Lessons learned

[Back Beach]

Sometimes the skunk is more educational than the success. My two trips this week have been skunks following four successful trips last week.

One trip this week was to fish under conditions that typically produce in spot A, but with no avail. Second trip was a bit different just to see if anything had changed in terms of fish being present in spot B, no avail there either.

I could have easily returned to the same place I'd been taking decent fish, but wanted to keep a couple other spots honest. I also wanted to take a stab at a real big fish. I've learned the bigger the target, the more failure you'll likely endure before you hit one. So far this week I'm 0 for 2, but at least I reaffirmed some things that may pay off in the coming weeks.

[numbskull]

I just look at a skunking as a type of foreplay........what follows makes it all worth while.......unless, of course, nothing follows..... at which point I get all jumpy and irritable and start thinking about cheating.


How much did you say eels cost?

[Flaptail]

Perserverance is the hallmark of a better striper fisherman. If you got the big stink on you and you don't press on you'll never learn anything.

Like someone said before just because you are not catching doesn't mean they were not there. The onset of the stink should be the trigger to think harder before you wet the next line. As the old adage says, "fish smarter not harder".

Sometimes all it takes is a color change, a slower presentation, tide specificity and voila, fish where you thought there weren't any!

Catching the big stink is just as helpful sometimes as is bailing them one after another and most important it will humble even the biggest of heads.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Perserverance is the hallmark of a better striper fisherman. If you got the big stink on you and you don't press on you'll never learn anything.

Like someone said before just because you are not catching doesn't mean they were not there. The onset of the stink should be the trigger to think harder before you wet the next line. As the old adage says, "fish smarter not harder".

Sometimes all it takes is a color change, a slower presentation, tide specificity and voila, fish where you thought there weren't any!

Catching the big stink is just as helpful sometimes as is bailing them one after another and most important it will humble even the biggest of heads.

I'm sure you know who coined the phrase, "The first number in surf fishing is zero ."

[Crafty Angler]

God hates a quitter...

Ya gotta take your skunking like a man and soldier on...

Ya can't catch 'em from your sofa...

Ya know, I keep trying to come up with new inspirational words to live by to ease the pain...

How about "An expert is someone who can tell you all the reasons why you didn't catch any fish"

I think Lefty is the author of that gem...

[Ed B]

HOPEFULLY..... A skunking teaches you to think and that will make you better.


Catching fish makes you better at catching, but if you're taking a skunking, you can become smarter at finding them or making them eat...So long as you keep thinking.