Luck is very paradoxic in that it really doesn't exist.  What appears to be luck is simply variance outliers on a normal curve.  No one is lucky all the time, and eventually, for every lucky day or event, there will be an equally unlucky one.  Skill and preparation push an angler down the bell curve a greater percentage of the time.  In the long term, the skilled and prepared will always enjoy more success, but can be crushed in the short term by someone who had one of those outlier (lucky) days.

Don't ya just love those OUTLIER DAYS?

I see all you guys have a great point, I guess I just hate the word luck period..... in anything..... so I still stand with my no luck involved theory

 Let's put it this way...................your lucky to be around such skill here

I always say 10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish...in other words its 90% skill and patience with 10% luck

I catch fish 60% of the time, all the time.

I agree though, there is a bit of both involved in this sport no matter how you look at it.

 Let's put it this way...................your lucky to be around such skill here

 

I try to tell myself it's skill..............but my friends would say otherwise haha!!!

Luck can save the day but it lacks the repeatibility of skill.

 

Let's say an angler is fishing for a trophy pickerel, but winds up catching a trophy bass.

Whether he's thrilled or disappointed depends on his luck/skill orientation

 

Roger

Luck is a part of it, but some one once told me luck is where preparation and fate come together. I believe it, I look back at a college tournament I fished last week, I had a very good bag day one, but day two I fished the same water, but never got a good bite. I cant control what bites, all I can do is catch what does.

Well Mr. 6 to 7 pound personal best, looks like u dont have much of either 

Well Mr. 6 to 7 pound personal best, looks like u dont have much of either 

 

Really? Seven pounds in Wisconsin is a really good fish-unless you use the method of weighing used by most anglers. By the magic of the internet we can be as good or lucky as we want to be though...

I´m where 10+ lbers are common, a 6 - 7 lber is a very nice fish no matter where you are at, most of the guys here have never caught a 6 pounder.

I´m where 10+ lbers are common, a 6 - 7 lber is a very nice fish no matter where you are at, most of the guys here have never caught a 6 pounder.

 

Ditto Florida

Well Mr. 6 to 7 pound personal best, looks like u dont have much of either 

 

Never does a man portray his own character more

vividly than in his manner of portraying another's.

 

That was weak.

 

A-Jay

I believe skill trumps luck, but luck plays a major role in my success. I caught my personal best sitting on my kayak looking down at my cellphone holding the rod in the other hand. I guess while I was texting I drug my Texas rigged trickworm over a partially submerged log and a 2-3 lb. bass was sitting there waiting to inhale my bait. The rod was almost gone, but I was able to set the hook and bring it in. I would absolutely call that luck. I'm not very skilled but I get lucky once in awhile.

I believe skill trumps luck, but luck plays a major role in my success. I caught my personal best sitting on my kayak looking down at my cellphone holding the rod in the other hand. I guess while I was texting I drug my Texas rigged trickworm over a partially submerged log and a 2-3 lb. bass was sitting there waiting to inhale my bait. The rod was almost gone, but I was able to set the hook and bring it in. I would absolutely call that luck. I'm not very skilled but I get lucky once in awhile.

 

Your luck is exceeded by your honesty  

 

Roger

Your luck is exceeded by your honesty  

 

Roger

We are all friends here right?

Well Mr. 6 to 7 pound personal best, looks like u dont have much of either 

 

Well that was just plain not nice.

I´m where 10+ lbers are common, a 6 - 7 lber is a very nice fish no matter where you are at, most of the guys here have never caught a 6 pounder.

Ditto Texas/Louisiana

out of my years on this board, that statement has got to be the single most rudest unprovoked comment I've ever seen another fisherman tell a fellow fisherman...says all anyone needs to know about your character...

I wrote out a paragraph portraying my same feelings on that comment made.  I decided to delete it as it's not even worth wasting time on Internet tough guys. 

 

Congrats for sticking a red flag on your backside BigBass. You may as well delete your account now.

Why dignify this fellow's statement by giving it more attention than it deserves?

Dwelling on the negative it just so Twitter   

 

Roger