Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
For the last few months fishermen who reside on this side of the equator have been waiting and preparing for this very moment, when the ice is gone, the waters are warming, and fish are returning from their southern or deep water wintering grounds. The new fishing season is upon us - here it is - ready to go - happening now- welcome to it!
This is also a time when angler’s hopes and aspirations are at their zenith, we’ve scrubbed the winter grime off our boats, our tackle is tuned, hooks are sharp, we’ve added a few new accessories to our tackle boxes, maybe even picked up a fancy new fishing shirt or two to keep us looking sharp when we posing for photos with our catch or tooling around the docks at the end of the day. This is going to be our greatest season ever!
But if we had to make a list of what would constitute a “great season”, I wonder what that list would look like. Tournament wins, a freezer full of fillets, our picture on the cover of the Coastal Fisherman, catching a particular type of fish, a plaque for catching the biggest or the most of some kind of fish this year? Whether they realize it or not, I’m pretty sure that most anglers start each season, and each fishing day, with some sort of goal in mind. Such goals may be as lofty as trying to set a world record or as simple as helping a grandchild catch their first fish. Goals can be good, they help us to be properly prepared for our trips, stay focused on what we need to do to achieve our desired outcome, and can provide us with a little extra satisfaction from a “job well done” or “mission completed” when it’s all over.
But as good as fishing goals can be, they can also prove to be counterproductive when they become too much of an obsession for those in pursuit of them. Problems can and often do arise when anglers get so focused on a particular goal that they lose sight of better judgment. While heading out the inlet one morning I saw a fellow in a relatively small boat fishing off the tip of the south jetty. As I passed I mentioned to my 1st mate that the guy seems so focused on getting his casts into the rocks that I hope he’s also paying attention to the big swells coming in from behind him. We learned the answer to that 15 minutes later we heard someone call the Coast Guard over the VHF radio to report a boat with one person aboard that had been washed up onto the south jetty. When we returned a few hours later we saw parts of the demolished hull that were still among the rocks.
I guess the guy was so focused on catching a tog or a striper that he lost track of the perils of his environment that were sneaking up from behind.
Perhaps nowhere do goals play a bigger role for anglers than in tournament fishing, and nowhere in fishing do anglers’ goals get them in trouble than in tournaments. I’m guessing that it’s safe to say that almost no one enters a tournament unless they have a goal to win it. Even those who realize that they have only a slim chance of winning still have a goal to do their best and hope that between their own skill and a little (or a lot) of luck, they might end up somewhere in the winners circle when it’s all over. Unfortunately, history has shown that sometimes an angler’s goal to catch a winning fish instead lands “them” in a very bad situation.
Too often, the goal to win a tournament prompts fishermen to forego their better judgment and put out on the water on days when the weather or sea conditions would normally keep them tied up to the dock. More than just a few boats and even lives have been lost because someone decided that to meet their goal to win they would gamble with the safety of the boat and crew.
Over goals can also erode relationships. I have some friends who are brother-in-law’s and one of them owned a big boat and they used to fish together every weekend. They really made for a great team, they were good anglers and had a lot of fun together. After a few years they decided to enter a big tournament for the first time. Unfortunately, even before they left the dock on their first fishing day things started to get bad between them. As they prepared for the event they began to disagree and argue about how to set up the boat, the bait and the tackle. Essentially they had different goals for what they wanted to accomplish in the competition, one was hell-bent on winning and the other just wanted to have a fun week of fishing the way they always did in the past. Neither was right or wrong but it caused enough friction between the two that when the week was over the one took all his stuff off his brother-in-law’s boat and they never again fished together - the boat was sold that winter.
I’m not suggesting that setting fishing goals are a bad thing - they’re not. Picking up a fishing rod and having a specific goal in mind for what you want to accomplish with it can “at times” provide a much more rewarding experience than just going for the easiest catch. In 2000 I set a goal to catch my first permit and I wanted to do it on a fly. Permit live in tropical waters and are considered by many to be the most challenging saltwater fish on the planet to take on a fly. It took 13 years to accomplish that goal and most of the pursuit occurred while fishing with my wife during our winter jaunts in the Florida Keys. At the same time she set out on a goal to land more than just a couple world record fish on fly tackle. In the process the two of us spent hundreds of wonderful days on the boat learning, practicing, and sometimes inventing new fishing techniques, trying new tackle, and always exploring new places.
It worked for us because, despite our rather lofty aspirations, we never forgot that the number one goal was to have fun every day. No fish or record was worth having a miserable day on the water and we knew that an enjoyable day on the water had nothing to do with whether or not we accomplished our other goals.
So there you have a simple ending to a long winded story. A fresh new season is upon us and many of you probably already have some goals in mind for what you hope to accomplish before it comes to an end. Don’t be afraid to set big goals and pursue them with commitment and enthusiasm. But, as one of the greatest things about fishing is the inherent uncertainty of it that cannot be overcome by any amount of money, time or talent. Make sure that nothing stands in the way of what should be the number one goal of every fisherman - to have a safe and enjoyable 2022 fishing season! §
