by O’Neill Williams
I’m asked often, “How can I become a better fisherman?” My answer is always the same, ‘Go’. Easy answer wasn’t it. Easy, but not complete.
OK, here goes. If it is bass fishing in which you want to be more skilled, then join a bass club. You’ll be going with someone who will be doing his best to catch the most he can using his skills developed over years. Secondly, you’ll be going during times and to places that will test those talents as they grow, good weather, bad weather, cold, hot, windy, muddy, etc. Want be better at catching crappie, bream, trout, stripers, reds, tarpon? There are many articles and books, but it’s not like going, and going often.
Sounds tough doesn’t it? It is, but still you asked, so there it is.
Beyond bass fishing, the answer, no matter what the quest, no matter what the level, it’s always about going, going and going.
Easier? Sure, but you got to do it.
Can you become the new Kevin Van Dam? Maybe. Maybe not. Some guys just have it differently than the rest of us. I play golf once every couple of years, but it will not matter how many lessons I may take (never had one), Tiger and I are not going to be playing the final round together at the TPC. They, long term champions, understand it all better and more completely no matter what the task. They live in a different world. But let me ask, do you recall any ‘Bassmaster’s Classic Winners’ that subsequently fell from success the following year? I do, many in fact, both young and old, never to rise again.
What happened?
They stopped fishing and started the promotional tour; dinners, trade show appearances, consumer gatherings, and soon it was over for them. They didn’t have the extra edge developed and displayed on every cast and every hook set.
Then too, there’s much to know about the habits of the fish. What does the fish do when his habitat changes? What governs his travels or his position in the lake or stream? Current? How does it affect your success? What’s going on with the fish under the water is actually more important than what you’re doing above the surface. We could go on and on and possibly should, but I think you get what I have to say on this subject.
OK, what else can we talk about? Let’s expand and turn the tables. Are you already a good, experienced, knowledgeable fisherman satisfied with his success and enjoys the adventures? Good. Now what? Pass it on to a youngster. Take him or her, offer to be a mentor.
Have you been proud or your growth? Good again, but if you really want satisfaction, take a kid and watch the skills grow with him or her. It’s ever more rewarding.
Lastly, today, let me ask your indulgence to endure some crass self-promotion. OK? Beginning in July, O’Neill Outside Radio, about which most of you are at least a bit familiar, is expanding considerably. How? Here goes; the show, as you have experienced it before on occasion airing on WSB radio on Saturday mornings from 4AM to 6AM, will now be aired on SB Nation radio to over 100 radio stations across America and on Sirius 93. SB stands for Sports Broadcasting and airs coast to coast. Through December of this year, we’ve elected to re-name the show as “Realtree Radio” but it’s still just me and Woman Williams connecting with the fisherman and hunter on the way to the lake, stream or deer or turkey woods.
Here’s the scary part. We’ve turned my little trophy room at Three Falls Cabin into a studio from which we’ll send a live streaming television show to our Facebook page, to You Tube, Twitter, Oneilloutside.com, dozens of other websites, My Outdoor TV and other unfortunate destinations. You can watch live or later on Facebook and You Tube. Don’t forget, I warned you it would be frightening.
Point: The show will still air on WSB. That hasn’t changed. It’ll constitute a triple-cast.
So, there you are. It started in 1991 on WGST radio in Atlanta on Sunday evenings from 5pm to 7pm. I called my few friends and asked them to listen and to call occasionally. We probably had a hundred or so folks listening, mostly by accident. After relocating to WSB in late ’92, it took off and now reaches almost 1,000,000 listeners all over the world via the Internet. Over the next few months, via the triple-cast, we’ll likely have an audience of over 2,000,000. But please recall that it’s taken 27 years to make that happen.
If you have occasion to listen and watch, it might do you well, as in the beginning of this article. From our callers, an angler or hunter can learn via the shared information.
At least, I’ll show you the trophies I have from the last 60 years of fishing and hunting all over the world. Hurry though, I’m 73 and won’t be doing this much longer.