Learning by Doing

Fish with as many people in as many places as you can to become a better angler

(The writer's opinions and observations expressed here are his own, and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies or positions of FLW.)

Being 24 years old, I, along with most people, would consider myself to still be a kid – for lack of a better word. I am well aware of the fact that I still have a lot to learn before I become even as wise as I thought I was in the past, especially when it comes to fishing.

Oftentimes there is a fine line between being confident and thinking that we know it all. This is a mind trap that I have fallen into countless times, refusing to take what I was thinking for anything but the truth. At the end of the tournament, I would look back and realize that if I had been just a little bit more open-minded, I would have caught a lot more fish. The tournament results were just further proof.

If it happened one time, that would be one thing. However, history has a way of repeating itself, and I can think of more instances of my own stubbornness burning me than I can count on both hands.

This offseason, one of my main goals was to instill in my brain that I do not – not now, nor will I ever – know even a minute percentage of what there is to know pertaining to bass fishing. This is one of the many things that make fishing what it is.

With the changing trends in baits, weather conditions, water temperature, boat pressure, etc., fisherman have to always keep an open mind, knowing that things can take a 180 from not only one day to the next, but by the minute as well.

That’s why it pays to learn as much as possible, from any and all sources, about how to catch fish. Every fisherman has his own unique identity pertaining to the way he fishes. I have never seen two people that fish exactly the same way 100 percent of the time, and we pick up on little things from others that we get the chance to share a boat with. This is why I always encourage people to fish with as many other fishermen as possible. It does not matter if it’s a person who has won five Walmart FLW Tour events or a 65-year-old man who has fished out of a johnboat all his life.

My fishing identity came from mainly three people: my uncle, grandfather and father. Each one of them taught me different aspects or techniques that have stuck with me. For instance, I learned a lot about fishing shallow from my dad, Mike Neal, about fishing offshore and reading electronics with my uncle, Rogne Brown, and I caught hundreds of schooling fish with my grandfather. These are the three anglers that I’ve fished with the most, but I have learned many small details from others too.

One time I was on Watts Bar with a longtime family friend catching them on a football-head jig. I was throwing just the run-of-the-mill green pumpkin with a matching twin-tail grub as a trailer and catching them fairly frequently. He pulled out a black and blue jig with a pumpkin trailer on it. Of course, I laughed under my breath, knowing that he would never get a bite on something as ugly as that combo. However, after about 10 minutes of him loading the boat with three fish to every one of mine, I was tying on a black and blue jig with off-color trailer to match his. That lesson has stuck with me, and I have caught many fish using that exact combination.

Another perfect example was at Lake Toho, on the first day of the first Walmart FLW Tour tournament that I fished as a co-angler. I drew out Brett Hite, who went on to win the tournament. He caught his fish on a ChatterBait, and those were the first fish I ever saw caught on one. It is no secret now that when I fish shallow, the ChatterBait is one of my go-to baits.

Sure, I might have eventually caught on to the oddball jig combo or the ChatterBait in the course of my career, but fishing with these two people sure did shorten the learning curve.

On the reverse, I encourage everyone to be willing to take other anglers fishing, especially those who might not get the opportunity to fish very often. Had I not had people willing to take me when I was younger, I would not enjoy this great outdoor sport nearly as much.

Fishing as a whole has a much brighter outlook than it had just a few short years ago, with the advancement of both High School Fishing and FLW College Fishing. As long as there are people who are willing to take the time to get younger generations involved, we will continue to see more people stick around in this sport. I, for one, take pride in knowing that there will be people sharing my passion for years to come.