BLOG: Old habits die hard

HAVING experience is often viewed as an asset in fishing. It is a sport where trial and error plays an instrumental part in our development, where early wins are hard fought battles and fishless days are a testament to the changing nature of our adversaries.

It is rare to see an individual gravitate to fishing and have instant success without some form of tutelage. Some knowledge needs to be passed along somewhere to give an indication where to start.

I have been fishing for over 30 years now and have built up a bank of knowledge that I rely on every time I hit the water. Some of this knowledge is generational, meaning it has been passed down to me from my family often over multiple generations. Other knowledge is existential, which is basically stuff I have picked up along the way.

While my experience to me is invaluable, does this come at the expense of legacy? Has too much water passed under the bridge for me to change how I fish and be flexible enough to adapt to the evolution of our sport? Is a newcomer with fresh eyes and no legacy in a better position to think outside the square?

While all this may sound a little superfluous, and stems from a long bout of boredom in front of the computer, it raises some pretty interesting thought. To put it into action my father and I tried to change our old habits to the favourable new techniques in vogue last weekend. As right handers we cast with our right hand but also wind with our dominant right hand. This means during the cast and before the commencement of the retrieve we need to change hands with the rod. Most astute lure casters will tell you this is a cumbersome way to approach things. There are many drawbacks to this, namely the possibility for a weighted lure to sink into trouble or possibly an instant strike on touchdown that you might miss while you change hands.

For all money, no matter how many times I try to convert to winding with my left hand, I simply cannot do it. I have had too many years now to roll back the clock and start the learning process from scratch. However, I see young guns come in and do it with ease. They don't have the legacy of negative experience to try and counteract.

The other factor where old habits die hard is knot selection. While I have an arsenal of knots I can call on, I seem to fall back on the old rigs I have been using from day dot. The timeless blood knot gets used more than it should and I guess it's an autonomous reaction that happens when I'm not thinking about what I'm doing.

Even with selecting a location to fish I can be a creature of habit. I know certain spots at certain times of the year produce fish. Knowing this can be a positive and a negative thing. The positive is that I know I can catch fish somewhere throughout the year; the negative is trying to drag myself away from proven grounds to find a new oasis. Knowing I have a surefire spot a stone's throw away can derail my quest to find new stuff, thus hindering further progress.

While I wouldn't change how I go about things, at times I need to remain adventurous and remember the learning never stops. That's the single most compelling facet to our sport – you can never know everything!

Are you a creature of habit with your fishing or can you change like the wind?