To each their own.
I have watched seminars at boat shows, usually cause I know the speaker and want to support them
I have been given certain videos, and yes, I ended up watching them.
Never paid for stuff.
I have a theory that... " You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink ". Pretty sure you know what I am talking about.
I suppose if you are young and just starting out on a fishing hobby and you don't have a mentor or experienced fisher to guide you, then yep, you should grab all the help you can get. If it works good
I think most people that indulge in tutorials either video, online, hardcopy etc... miss the fine print... the minute details that a good fisher uses or does. Patience is a virtue you cannot teach, it must come naturally.
Reading the lay of the water, structure, wind, barometric pressure, moon phase, water quality, tide, target species and so much more is what the best of the best and shall we say, competent, fishos do, before they wet a line.
When you ask someone what they are chasing, and they say " anything "... walk away.......... they will always be chasing " anything '.
I do hope people gain knowledge from the " pay per view " media and go on to be successful in their own right.
LP
Kingfisher Painting Solutions:- Domestic and Commercial.
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Well said Phill
This resonated with me
I think my personal fishing epiphany came when I stopped "just going fishing" - when I started to target species ( my first was jewfish) .... where , when , bait . I really believe this approach helped through a progression of target species & techniques .......... Those days of going fishing & coming back with zip are thankfully long gone (mostly) as I think I can adapt to the situation / scenario . Time & dedication certainly brings results & is probably a good way to learn ..... but guidance helps.When you ask someone what they are chasing, and they say " anything "... walk away.......... they will always be chasing " anything '.
I paid the big bucks to hire a guide the first time I went to NZ to fish for trout ...... the stuff I was shown you would never get off the internet / youtube / books etc - you had to be there.
I was lucky enough to be friends with the late Trevor Burgess - what he taught me about impoundment barra fishing was worth its weight in gold (many hours fishing together) ..... I certainly wouldn't have progressed as quickly as I did without his help. ...... all those little nuances that you learn over years of fishing a location or for a species.
like many things in life - many of us ..... often flick through stuff & go straight to the ending - looking for the fast track ..... I'm guessing fishing is the same with people not having the time to learn (spending 100s of hours on water looking rather than fishing) .
So I do see why people spend the money .
I asked about Ryan Moody & his sounder courses because I know I dont use my sounders well enough - I've got the tech on the boat .... but I dont utilise it enough . So maybe I do need to spend $$$ .
My upcoming trip I'll have the time to spend looking & learning + utilise the tech ( side Imaging a reef for example when searching) & see just how good or bad my interpretation is.
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
I go with a plan to target a species but if it doesn’t work out I target anything
by targeting anything I look at the location and use a artificial to suit that environment that covers a few species
so fishing for anything but with a method
I paid for social fishing $49 for three months
lots of local dam maps reports and techniques for cod yellas and trout
My take on it is dont be afraid to admit you dont know stuff and embrace any opportunity to learn more...I understand what Phil is saying but also realize that not everyone is as intuitive, intelligent or has as much time to work it all out to a high level of expertise...
I'm not saying just throw money at every snakeoil salesman with a "course" to sell..do your due diligence as nagg is doing and get some opinions from people that may have been helped by such courses and if it sounds good then why not..?..the amount of money we spend on the rest of our fishing lives its just a small drop in the ocean...
My missus has bought just 2 courses...and I was pleasantly surprised...with the sounder skills 2 course (was $229 18 mths ago on special) it showed me how lazy I had been previously in not fully utilizing the unit as well as having no clue about what I was looking at with my first side-scan unit... ..I'm still pretty lazy but have the course still as a reference material that the missus brings up on the telly from time to time to try and stimulate my pea-brain into action..
One of the coolest things is that I now have a few Red producing marks in the deeper waters that I wouldnt even have noticed or given a 2nd glance too previously.... thats been worth the money in itself..
We also have done the wonky hole course which was great and during winter we will seek out some of these nannygai- infested inshore honey holes....the bathymaps tutorials are also good here....the wonky holes course has some crossover with the sounder skills ones obviously as you need to hone your sounder skills to find them ...
A lot of the info is available around the web but Moody puts it into a pretty concise and easy to understand format (and because I actually paid money for it I felt obligated to actually put a bit of effort into studying it..) ...
I think the cost of some of the online courses are prohibitive though for the majority of us ..... Ryan Moody - $600 for Sounder Skills 2 - $1500 for Barra Basics .
You'd really want to make sure that it is worth it before slapping down the credit card .
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
One point to make and it’s a long one.
when I was a kid “45 now”. We would go on holidays and and the parents didn’t give a shit where I went.
here’s a pack of prawns and $2 take your fishing rod and don’t drown.
All while the parents sat at the caravan park drinking wine and having a chat.
I use to go to the library and get every fishing book there was and birthdays Xmas were more books magazines and some cheap gear handlines packs of hooks etc
I still have my fishing almanac printed in 1973 and it would still teach you how to catch fish
combine this with wandering around the bush reserves creeks round home your constantly learning things about the world as well as lots of trial and error having a fish and lots of covering ground while you wander around.
Now with social media you can see the younger ones want instant gratification to have a fish to show on instagram.
If they arnt catching they arnt enjoying the hobby
now it’s fact these 20 somethings were a cocooned locked away generation sheltered from everything and just don’t have the life skills to deal with boredom and disappointment.
there is so much information out there
you don’t even need to read a book, just google how to catch squid and it will tell you the type of structure to fish over.
then download a map with structure on it and go for a wander and have a fish.
If it doesn’t work go find another spot and so on and so on.
I dont give out spots I give out advice on type of structure water depth bottom type to look for.
I use to think they were lazy stupid and so on but just realise that’s how kids are brought up now to expect instant gratification and very lacking in life skills.
took me 14 fishless trips to catch my first cod and it was only 45cm but I was happy as catching my first marlin
When you think about it we all pay for it in one way or another we pay for a device to log on here and we get info in one form or another.
We can also think in the current economic and technological climate. This maybe referring to some comments above about ' flickiing through the story straight to the end "... just wanting the spots etc
For us older folks, we started fishing with parents and mates, using handlines in estuaries, a long stick piece of line and garden worm in the local creeks hooking small native species and other things unheard of today.
We eventually ended up in boats, no sounders, no gps,,, using landmarks as our guide. Jeez, I remember quite vividly 4 of us in a 17ft boat heading offshore at 1770, with a compass.......... ( I looked at a Chart the night before and made mental notes )... I look back at that and think,, what were we thinking ? 60k's offshore, no land in sight and a best guess to make it back... many times we did this. Oh, using 4ft glass rods and 7 inch Alveys....
Eventually upgrading to modern GPS, full colour sounders and more. I think we have it easy these days and the fish are no longer safe.
Having said that, I still employ the little measures learnt standing on the beach in the estuary at Fingal Heads, casting a handline with a prawn attached, donging Tailor prolifically.
Patience, location, match the hatch, tides and more.
Stevej mentioned the Anglers Almanac,,, yep... great reference and to this day I still utilize the " Maori Fishing Calendar " adopting it to here.. https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-a...hing-calendar/ .... the old " major bite / minor bite " times and it rings true.
With all the information that can be bought and learned, the best advice anyone can give, is to " have fun ". I know of people that head out in their $100,000 rigs, with a few mates or family and catch bugga all, and complain. Missing the point I say.... You are out there, you have the toys, sharing an experience............... just freaking enjoy it........ you are so far ahead of the pack.
I don't do a lot of freshwater stuff and that is due to a number of reasons, but the river, creek, estuary, bay, inshore and offshore adventures are memorable, each and every one for different reasons. I feel lucky I can do this, or well managed, but seriously....those of us that have this passion, this urge to fish, to hunt & gather, to share with family and friends, we are the lucky ones and learning something every time we head out is part and parcel of the experience. If it all becomes too easy, we'll lose the passion, lose the fire, lose the expectation of putting a plan in place and achieving goals.
These days I get more enjoyment watching my, friends, family, kids and grandkids hook into a fish and even when they pull in a 20cm whiting or a cracking Snapper, the joy on their face reminds me what fishing is all about. As we get more experienced our goals shift, upwards and our expectation shifts, upwards. Never be disappointed after a day out fishing, guaranteed you've learn't something and you have an experience under your belt.
LP
Kingfisher Painting Solutions:- Domestic and Commercial.
For further information, contact details, quotes or advice - Click Here
Not sure if your being sarcastic or not
I’d never seen one caught so read up watched you tube videos
In the end it was just thousands of casts and luck
I think he's trying to say if you had known it would take you 14 trips to catch that first cod - would in hindsight would it have been better to pay for the information or a guide ? .
It's a pretty fair question actually & something to ponder on ......... do you need to invest or at what point should you invest ? .
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
Ok I understand
cod are just a different fish. A fish of a thousand casts I’ve been told
I could have used baits and caught one a lot earlier
the main issue was I was trying Different spots all the time and never learning a area properly
and combined with super low river levels it wasn’t ideal for lure fishing
Still had fun and didn’t complain
I havnt got one yet Barry so well done
I don’t bait fish or troll and because I fish solo I don’t fish as hard or for as long when someone’s on the boat with me
Easier to retrieve in the dark with two etc
motivation to get up a bit earlier when it’s cold