How much of fishing is luck versus skill?

[macgyver]

[quote author=Marty link=board=news;num=1097857775;start=0#15 date=10/16/04 at 19:41:21]
I have to disagree Tom. Do you not agree with me that when I have access to a small portion of shoreline that it is luck whether or not there are fish within casting distance?[/quote]

Well in this instance I say it's skill, or perseverance more than luck. Why not fight through the obstacles in your path to fishing other parts of the shore line? Why not get waders? Why not work your way through brushpiles? Why not get a inner tube and float out around to where you can have more access? To me these are the reasons people WIN TOURNAMENTS, and others don't. It's not luck that makes one person work harder to get to the fish than another. It's DESIRE

[quote]After all, what is luck? To me, it is things that happen to one, good or bad, over which the person had little to no control.[/quote[

Well that pretty much sums it up, however to me the questions is how much can we really control, by our knowledge and experiences? You would KNOW when would be better times to fish a spot than not to if you had all the knowledge for that decision. So putting yourself there WHEN the fish are is a lot eaiser when you KNOW the patterns.

And how do you account for all the fishermen who don't know what they're doing and catching fish? Surely, it can't be attributable to skill. What about the guy drowning a worm under a bobber hoping for a bluegill who gets bitten by a 10# bass? We know that such things do, in fact, happen. What skill was involved other than his knowledge that his bait needed to be in the water?

Sorry, but I see luck as playing a major role in fishing, at different levels, and in many different ways.

Yeah and those are the guys I shake my head at, and WISH WERE ME. Absolutely Luck can play a factor, but the odds of it playing a factor to those who play the percentages, and know the patterns of the fish, on any given situation, then lucks pretty much doesn't exist. Because if he does catch that 10lber then it wasn't luck that put him in that spot based on patterns. All of this is just my opinion of course
;D

Lizards