Schools Are For Fish
While we would meet a couple times a month, only a few anglers stuck around. We would always start the season with 15 to 20 people who would fish the first contest. By the 3rd week, not many people were left coming to the outings. What I figured out is that many did not like "losing" to a few anglers who were very experienced in fishing. Many wished to learn how to fish but the competitive environment was not for all. A few anglers with experience would catch a load of fish and at weigh-in time, the newer anglers were disgraced, embarrassed and consistently without fish.
The people who wished to learn fishing, would show up and possibly learn a few things from our fishing seminars held at waters' edge around Chicago. There is a small group that would fall into the category, learned a little bit and had a little bit of success- so they moved on.
Another group of fishermen, showed up, thinking they knew a lot. This group was also embarrassed but they took it in a totally different way. One man was fishing with us in Palatine and I said to him before we went fishing, "can I show you some tackle that will work today on this lake?" He replied no thank you I know how to catch fish. This man turned down the help, but was there for some reason. Well, anglers on both sides of him caught a lot of fish. I was two people away from him and managed close to 20 lb. of fish. The best angler in our club was right next door to him- on the best spot. He caught 45 lb. of fish in 4 hours. Our new angler friend who said he knew what he was doing- caught .35 lb. of fish (3) small bluegills.
Before I could make my way over to this man, he had walked a little fast back to his car after seeing all the fish weighed in. I was going to be nice, but the guy slipped into his car, flipped his stuff in the back seat and closed his door (in nearly one motion). Backed up right in front of me and all but peeled his tires out exiting the scene. This type of angler can't take the horror of knowing, they have wasted the majority of their life, not catching fish. I can't figure out why they wouldn't seek help from those that did catch fish.
The last type is a rarity, the angler who wishes to improve, but would stick it out and compete. Only about 5% of the masses that I would teach, meet and fish with would compete more in fishing events, while losing.
Keeping a fishing organization going with competitions in the Chicago area has proven to be very tough. Midwest Angler altered they way we do business and switched to the pursuit of teaching people how to fish in the Chicago area. Teach them, groom them into better anglers and then the area could support competitions. Most important, many people would start to have success fishing, learn about their local waters and the environment, then fishing would grow. After a while, maybe growing competitions would be a good thing.
After taking anglers out and seeing them have success with fishing, I could see that MANY in Chicago will go crazy when they find out they can catch a ton of fish as well as giant fish in ANY water right near their home. This is the basis for the fishing school, drive as little as possible, dominate your local waters and catch fish you NEVER have in the past.
The Chicago Fishing School is born. Happy Birthday to you - learn how to fish!
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Learn how to fish in our Fishing Classes, or in private guided fishing sessions.
Find out what you have been missing, and start catching many fish.
J
