FoxHunter
25-01-2008, 22:50
The Secret of the World's Greatest Fisherman.
Picture the scene: One of New York's great fishing harbours, Montauk, is home to a fleet of trawler boats. These are huge, ocean-going vessels. And each one of them has a captain and crew of five...six..even seven experienced fisherman.
In addition, they have all the finest mechanical and electronic fishing devices known to man. They use echo sounders to stay on the coattails of huge shoals of fish. They have depth charges to measure how deep the fish are swimming. And they have huge trawling nets that can catch hundreds, even thousands of fish at a time.
But the port of Mantauk isn't just home to trawler fisherman. It's home to all types of fisherman. People who work on trawler boats to earn a living. People visiting New York who are avid fisherman can jump aboard one of the many vessels, drive miles out to sea and fish the day away on excursions. And there's also residents of Montauk who enjoy whiling away the hours by getting a bend in the rod. People like John Rade.
If you've never heard of John Rade, the one thing you should know about him is that he's not just your average fisherman. In fact, he's been called the world's greatest fisherman. Why? Simple: On any given day, you'll find John bobbing up and down on the dark blue seas surrounding Montauk harbour.
He fishes from a small 10ft x 5ft boat. He doesn't have any sophisticated echo sounding equipment. Nor does he have any type of huge fishing net. He uses a rod, reel and a landing net around the same size as the average carp landing net. Yet amazingly...
He outfishes almost every other fisherman in the harbour!
Take for example a boat called the Viking Starship. On any given day the Viking Starship takes out as many as 30 -- 40 people to wet a line and catch a few fish. And on any given day, there could be as many as ten such fishing excursions taking place. But John Rade manages to outfish them all, catching many dozens more fish than 50, 60, 70 or more other fisherman...combined, fishing in exactly the same stretch of water!
In short, the man is a fish-catching sensation. Best part is, he uses no fancy lures. He doesn't buy into the "best bait in the world" fad. He uses a small spinning rod and reel, simple rigs...and bait that he knows the fish love. So what's his secret? How can one man fishing alone outfish up to 70 other anglers fishing in the same stretch of water?
Well, a reporter from the East Hampton Star ran a story on John titled, "John Rade, Maestro of Rod and Reel" and begged the question: "How do you do it, John?" After a short pause, John revealed his simple 9-word secret for catching all the fish he can handle...and at any time of the year. His answer:
Don't think like a fisherman, think like a fish.
According to John, he was a fisherman since he was a boy. And there's one principle an old fisherman buddy of his taught him to follow. And by following it, he's never had a bad day's fishing in his life. John Rade told the reporter "when fisherman go out to fish, they think like fisherman. When I go fishing I think like a fish."
He devoted his whole fishing life to answering that one important rule: "How can I think more like a fish?" He says that most fisherman are chasing the newfangled wonder bait. Tying up fancy rigs. Using various coloured lures. Using devices like echo sounders and all other kinds of electrical items. In short, they're thinking like fisherman, not like fish.
Instead, John Rade patiently studies everything he can about the fish he wants to catch. What their life is like, when they feed with abondon, what particular things they like to eat throughout the seasons, where they can find their food, what makes them wary, what habits do the big fish have that their smaller brethren don't, and other things.
But just as important, he studies their environment.
What depths they're likely to be swimming at and why. The temperatures of the water they're swimming in and how that may affect their feeding patterns...habits...and behaviours. He studies everything that can in some way affect the quarry he's targeting. And he manages to outfish everyone who goes up against him, often by huge margins.
What can you learn from John Rade's secret of the
world's greatest fisherman?
Are you "thinking like a fisherman, not like a fish?" Are you studying your quarry's feeding habits...and where they find their food? Are you studying the environment in which it swims -- properly? Are you making the most of the season's? Are you...well, I think you're getting the idea i'm trying to put across.
Imagine if you just improved all of these areas of your fishing by a mere 5-10%. How many more fish would you catch? How much better a fisherman would you become? My mission in writing this article is to hopefully plant of few seeds of thought. If I have, and you continually expand on the questions raised through John Rade's principles, if you push you knowledge levels of your target and its environment...and gnaw on the question "how can I think more like a fish, not a fisherman" I fully believe you can push your skill and resulting catch rates to the moon.
Did you like this article? Did you hate it? Your comments appreciated.
Regards,
FoxHunter
Picture the scene: One of New York's great fishing harbours, Montauk, is home to a fleet of trawler boats. These are huge, ocean-going vessels. And each one of them has a captain and crew of five...six..even seven experienced fisherman.
In addition, they have all the finest mechanical and electronic fishing devices known to man. They use echo sounders to stay on the coattails of huge shoals of fish. They have depth charges to measure how deep the fish are swimming. And they have huge trawling nets that can catch hundreds, even thousands of fish at a time.
But the port of Mantauk isn't just home to trawler fisherman. It's home to all types of fisherman. People who work on trawler boats to earn a living. People visiting New York who are avid fisherman can jump aboard one of the many vessels, drive miles out to sea and fish the day away on excursions. And there's also residents of Montauk who enjoy whiling away the hours by getting a bend in the rod. People like John Rade.
If you've never heard of John Rade, the one thing you should know about him is that he's not just your average fisherman. In fact, he's been called the world's greatest fisherman. Why? Simple: On any given day, you'll find John bobbing up and down on the dark blue seas surrounding Montauk harbour.
He fishes from a small 10ft x 5ft boat. He doesn't have any sophisticated echo sounding equipment. Nor does he have any type of huge fishing net. He uses a rod, reel and a landing net around the same size as the average carp landing net. Yet amazingly...
He outfishes almost every other fisherman in the harbour!
Take for example a boat called the Viking Starship. On any given day the Viking Starship takes out as many as 30 -- 40 people to wet a line and catch a few fish. And on any given day, there could be as many as ten such fishing excursions taking place. But John Rade manages to outfish them all, catching many dozens more fish than 50, 60, 70 or more other fisherman...combined, fishing in exactly the same stretch of water!
In short, the man is a fish-catching sensation. Best part is, he uses no fancy lures. He doesn't buy into the "best bait in the world" fad. He uses a small spinning rod and reel, simple rigs...and bait that he knows the fish love. So what's his secret? How can one man fishing alone outfish up to 70 other anglers fishing in the same stretch of water?
Well, a reporter from the East Hampton Star ran a story on John titled, "John Rade, Maestro of Rod and Reel" and begged the question: "How do you do it, John?" After a short pause, John revealed his simple 9-word secret for catching all the fish he can handle...and at any time of the year. His answer:
Don't think like a fisherman, think like a fish.
According to John, he was a fisherman since he was a boy. And there's one principle an old fisherman buddy of his taught him to follow. And by following it, he's never had a bad day's fishing in his life. John Rade told the reporter "when fisherman go out to fish, they think like fisherman. When I go fishing I think like a fish."
He devoted his whole fishing life to answering that one important rule: "How can I think more like a fish?" He says that most fisherman are chasing the newfangled wonder bait. Tying up fancy rigs. Using various coloured lures. Using devices like echo sounders and all other kinds of electrical items. In short, they're thinking like fisherman, not like fish.
Instead, John Rade patiently studies everything he can about the fish he wants to catch. What their life is like, when they feed with abondon, what particular things they like to eat throughout the seasons, where they can find their food, what makes them wary, what habits do the big fish have that their smaller brethren don't, and other things.
But just as important, he studies their environment.
What depths they're likely to be swimming at and why. The temperatures of the water they're swimming in and how that may affect their feeding patterns...habits...and behaviours. He studies everything that can in some way affect the quarry he's targeting. And he manages to outfish everyone who goes up against him, often by huge margins.
What can you learn from John Rade's secret of the
world's greatest fisherman?
Are you "thinking like a fisherman, not like a fish?" Are you studying your quarry's feeding habits...and where they find their food? Are you studying the environment in which it swims -- properly? Are you making the most of the season's? Are you...well, I think you're getting the idea i'm trying to put across.
Imagine if you just improved all of these areas of your fishing by a mere 5-10%. How many more fish would you catch? How much better a fisherman would you become? My mission in writing this article is to hopefully plant of few seeds of thought. If I have, and you continually expand on the questions raised through John Rade's principles, if you push you knowledge levels of your target and its environment...and gnaw on the question "how can I think more like a fish, not a fisherman" I fully believe you can push your skill and resulting catch rates to the moon.
Did you like this article? Did you hate it? Your comments appreciated.
Regards,
FoxHunter