Fishing in the Central Valley: Unlearning old habits is never easy
I recently watched a famous professional bass angler at a fishing seminar, and before he started he asked his audience: “ Could you please leave your fear/ ego outside, while we’re talking fishing- so I can really help you learn?“
Interesting question.
He explained later that he had found the biggest barrier to learning new ideas and improving was getting fishermen to listen with an open and receptive mind rather than with an attitude focused on justifying what they were doing.
The pro had a good point, many anglers let their egos get the best of them and become focused on validating what they’ve been doing for years. They refuse to change rather than humbly learning new ideas that are much more effective.
Getting stuck in a mental mindset can be hard to break.
Several years ago I had a long time angler call me to guide and teach him some new ideas to hopefully help him improve his catches. He was not happy catching a few stripers per trip, using bait and minnows and he felt stuck in his ways.
When we finally hit the water, I showed him some new techniques that I knew could help. I also helped him with sonar as well as a different trolling technique.
We ended the day with more than 15 fish, which was way beyond his usual results. Excited, he told me he was now ready to move on to a higher level of fishing.
I didn’t hear from him for nearly a year, until one day, I saw a boat coming toward me and it turned out to be him.
Floating along together, I asked how he was doing.
His eyes lit up.
He had gotten a new 18-foot boat, sonar and accessories. so he could do “some serious fishing.”
He had pretty much cloned my own setup.
“Now I can fish the way you showed me,” he explained.
It sounded like he was doing what I had taught him.
Incredibly, he had gone out and literally spent a small fortune duplicating all the tech and accessories I had on my boat.
The moment of truth came when I asked him how well his fishing was going with this incredible new rig.
That was when his expression fell.
“Well, actually I’m still learning , but my catching hasn’t done that well,” he said.
I was confused, he had everything he needed but he wasn’t doing any better?
He confessed that he was not using the techniques that I had shown him.
And when I asked him why, he suddenly needed to go.
As he began to motor away I asked him one last time if he was going to troll?
“Naw! he grinned back at me, “I’m headed to the dam to fish minnows! At least I’m catching a few doing, and I’m more comfortable doing that,” he said.
That was truthful. The reality was that he wasn’t trying to troll at all because he lacked confidence in it and it was easier to revert to his old habits.
Change required him to move out of his comfort zone.
And he was uncomfortable doing that.
Catching minnows is fine but he had said he wanted to catch more.
Many anglers are in information collection mode but never put that information into practice.
Unlearning old habits is never easy, but it’s usually necessary to improve. Be courageous and seek to keep getting better. And never give up!
Roger George: rogergeorge8@protonmail.com, Rogergeorgeguideservice on Facebook and @StriperWars.
