Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
For the last three months I’ve been running fishing charters in the lower Florida Keys. Because of constantly changing weather, wind, tides and the movements of fish, the fishing that we do down there has us always trying to figure out where we’re going to go next, and we seldom end up fishing the same locations two days in a row. Some trips we’d target large fish like tarpon or sharks and on others we might be looking for smaller quarry such as snapper, mackerel, barracuda, permit or bonefish. Some days we end up targeting both large and small fish on the same trip. On days like that, you can probably only imagine the variety of tackle we need to have with us to cover all the options, and when you’re fishing from a 17-foot skiff you don’t have the luxury of loading her down with extra tackle “just in case”! What you bring and what you leave behind can be crucial to the success or failure of the trip.
In three months, we fished almost every day and fell into a routine of heading out in the morning, chasing fish most of the day, running back, cleaning the boat, straightening up the tackle and then doing whatever we’d have to do to be prepared for whatever the next day would require, which could mean catching bait, tying flies, making leaders, getting chum, fueling the boat and always checking tides and the weather forecast.
Each morning, depending upon what we were fishing for and our clients preferences, the tackle we’d load on the boat might be anything from fly rods to medium-weight conventional rods and reels to light or heavy spinning tackle. What we’d be using at the end of our line would also vary from an endless array of artificial lures and flies to all kinds of cut or live bait. Though many of our trips were booked months in advance, others would sometimes be arranged just the night before which always had me scrambling to pull things together so that everything would be in order for our trip and I would be able to provide my clients with the best possible chance for success at whatever it was we’d be trying to catch in the morning. And down in the Keys, with so many options and so much to be ready for, you can bet that every last minute booking translated into a late night of preparation.
Though the waters around Delmarva might not provide us with quite as many options as we find in the south, local anglers certainly have a pretty diverse smorgasbord of fishing opportunities to choose from that are constantly in a state of change as the season progresses. When you consider that in any given week someone might find themselves fishing for bluefish, flounder, tautog, sea bass, sharks, tuna, stripers, billfish, dolphin and any of a number of other fish that frequent our waters, it’s easy to see how advance preparation is just as necessary a component for success here as anywhere else. You’re not going to fish for tautog today and then go tuna fishing tomorrow without taking the time to make some serious modifications to bait, tackle and equipment!
Of course, “being prepared” means a lot more than just having the right bait and tackle aboard for a given trip. After all, the success of a fishing trip is not predicated solely upon whether or not fish were caught. Most anglers will likely recall absolutely wonderful fishing trips where not a single fish was boated, just as they will other outings that were pretty much “miserable”, even though they caught a lot of fish. To be properly prepared requires anglers to look beyond the fishing part of their trip and consider all the big and little things that might contribute to the success or the demise of an outing.
I’ve seen anglers hail trips as an amazing success for no other reason than because of the incredible food they brought along for lunch. Safety and comfort must always be taken into consideration, and if neglected, can ruin a trip in the blink of an eye. Anglers must always properly prepare for protection from too much sun, the bitter cold and the chance of rain. They should have adequate food, water, first aid supplies and fuel. They should also make sure that they have a boat of the right size and hull configuration to deal with whatever sea conditions might be encountered. Of course their boat needs to be reliable enough to get them to and from their destination without a glitch.
Being prepared also means being able to properly handle whatever might be caught during the day, which would include having the necessary gaffs, nets and de-hooking tools, as well as coolers with enough ice and holding capacity to properly chill anything the anglers might wish to bring home. Big things – little things, there is so much that goes into making a fishing trip a success, and only through advance preparation will it all come together smoothly out on the fishing grounds.
There’s something known as “The Five P’s of Task Accomplishment” that states “Prior planning prevents poor performance”, which absolutely hits the nail on the head when it comes to pulling off a successful fishing trip. Anywhere I’ve ever fished, and no matter what kind of fishing was involved, I’ve come to know that the single most important thing an angler can do to help ensure a successful fishing trip is to prepare-prepare-prepare ahead of time for what they might encounter while out on the water.
So far I’ve only presented a rough outline of what type of things need to be prepared for without going into much detail about how to get it done. But don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging – I have a plan! In the weeks ahead I’ll use this column to go into greater detail about not only what needs to be taken into consideration when planning out a fishing trip, but also some ideas and tips about how to get it done. From the boat to the tackle, the bait and equipment. From tying leaders to following the tides. I might even go so far as to discuss a little about how to choose a good fishing partner which is an often overlooked but very important component of planning for and pulling off a successful fishing trip.
The new fishing season is upon – let’s get ready for action!
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
