Happy New Year! It’s that time again where we all begin making those New Year’s Resolutions! Have you made yours yet? Are we cutting back on sweets or social media? Are we pledging to get into the gym to work off those extra holiday pounds?
This year I’m planning on something a little different. Yes, I eat too many sweets and spend way too much time on my phone and, yes, I do need to get my butt in gear and back in the gym because—let’s be honest—it wasn’t just the holidays that added on the extra few pounds. These are all great goals and I will do my best, but this time I want to pledge to do something else.
This year I pledge to learn something new, everyday, by being better at things I do every day. Here’s my plan:
1) Be more consistent with completing entries in my Captain’s Log. Every chance we get to be on the water is an opportunity to learn more about the spots we fish. We must begin to really analyze our tools, tactics and fishing conditions. But it doesn’t end there. My dad is always reminding me that “the weakest link is stronger than the best memory.” And that saying is right! Let’s begin writing about our fishing experiences in our Captain’s Log, complete with date and time on the water, rod and reel selection, lure, fly or bait choice, cloud coverage, wind speed, air and water temperature and, of course, where we fished and caught fish. Having these things written down allows for the angler to figure out patterns and provides ideas of where to fish certain times of the year based off knowledge gained from previous years. We need a baseline and that begins by adding in new entries to our Captain’s Log.
2) Slow down. I am finding more and more that if I get a bite or catch a fish that chances are there are more fish in close proximity. Too often a fish will get in the boat, and we keep on moving. But the days that I intentionally and quietly wait, look, listen and really pay attention after catching a fish, I find more fish in that same zone without even moving the boat. I recently had a trip on the Mosquito Lagoon where this played out five different times at five different spots. I am truly a power fisherman, and want to cover as much water as possible. But when I stop after a bite or landed fish, I consistently find and catch more fish at that same spot. And that’s exactly what happened the other day. I power-poled down and we fished that same zone and caught fish after fish until the fish stopped biting because we caught them all! I am learning from these moments and it is infectious. Pictured with me from that day is repeat client, Dave, from Texas. He boated well over 50 fish and we lost count of how many inshore slams (redfish, speckled sea trout, snook) he caught. I even got to catch a few! :)