Who do you emulate and why?

[Swamp Girl]

Of those who post at Bass Resource, who do you emulate and why? 

 

For me, it's @WRB, and not because of the peerless, enormous bass he's caught, which are beyond me, but his peerless appetite for learning, which isn't. Tom has shared again and again how he tapped (the masters) like a thirsty frat boy at a kegger. So, I ask questions of so many of you. I admit when I'm stumped. For example, I didn't know how to pull bass out of weeds, I couldn't catch ravenous wolf pack bass, I didn't know what every other lure mentioned at BR was, I didn't know many of the techniques, like rolling and strolling, etc. So, I asked and asked and asked and still ask. In this way, I'm like Tom. I know he's Yoda now, but he was once Luke, eager to learn.  

[A-Jay]

I just try to be me.

Every one else is already taken.

A-Jay

 

[Catt]

8 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I just try to be me.

A-Jay

 

 

That keeps me busy all day.

[Columbia Craw]

I bought some Bill Dance sunglasses once.

[Catt]

1 minute ago, Columbia Craw said:

I bought some Bill Dance sunglasses once.

 

Like these? 😉

[Gera]

My dad I guess, he is the one who taught me the basics.

 

Just not his knots.. they sucked!

[GaryH]

My conscience. It always steers me in the right direction. And try as you will, you can’t win a debate with it.

[Susky River Rat]

John Gustafson or Max Goldman

[Bankc]

Ken Climo.

 

He's the greatest disc golfer of all time.  Winner of 221 Open Division Tournaments, 12 World PDGA Championships and 5 USDGA Championships.  Cool stuff, right?

But here's why he's my personal hero.  Total winnings from his career spanning from 1988 to 2017:  $398,732.  That means he averaged an income of $13,750 a year, before taxes, for 29 years, being the greatest the world has ever seen at something!  He followed his heart, and there is no purer way to live.  

[scaleface]

I p--- and moan like Randy B.

[Mike L]

As far as emulating one specific person which I’m assuming is what you’re asking, I can’t say I do. 
I try to take a little or as much as I can from proven and successful people that I respect.

On here there’s too many to list. 
 

 

 

Mike

[Glenn]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with Hank Parker while fishing with him.  He said he did a show once about Paul Elias' kneel-and-reel technique.  At the opening of the show, he explained what the technique was, and said - with his signature southern drawl - "Today I'm going to immolate what Paul was doin'"

 

Hank said, "You know, my brother was the smart one of the family.  If he brought home a B grade from school, he got in trouble for not getting an A.  If I brought home a B, I got in trouble for cheating!"

 

"Well, my brother called me up after the show aired. He said, 'Hank, do you know the difference between Emulate and immolate?'

I said 'No'.

'Well, "Emulate" means to copy someone. "Immolate" means to set them on fire!!'

 

"So I was telling everyone I was going to set Paul on fire!!"

 

[throttleplate]

When i get a fish on i start talking trash outloud, especially when its a good puller in the river current i just talk "yeah baby yeah baby take some line here i am loosening the drag baby wear yourself out baby dont cut my line baby yeah make a circle come on ride that current but you aint gettin away takin in line now nice and easy".

So after all that i make weird faces and say things like " vercil he gots the runs real bad, vercil always picken his boogers and eatin them dang boogers"

Richard gene the fishing machine.

[Woody B]

Not a fisherman, but the person I try to emulate in fishing, and every other aspect of life is a friend of mine who was a race promoter and track owner back when I raced.   He was always positive, upbeat and friendly.  It didn't matter if it was the worst day of his life if you asked "Steve, how are you today?"  He'd say "Never better my friend" with a big smile.   He said no one really wants to hear your troubles, and being positive and friendly toward others can actually make your bad day better.   I strive to have this attitude fishing, and in pretty much anything else I'm doing.   I stay positive and upbeat.  If this makes someone else smile, it makes me smile too.  I don't copy his "never better my friend" word for word.  If someone asks me how I am I say "Great, hope you are too" or if it's someone I see all the time I'll occasionally say "if I was any better they'd start an investigation".   I've gotten write ups at work for "exceptional communication skills" from being friendly and upbeat with problem customers.  I think the fish prefer friendly anglers too.   

 

I love fishing so it's not very hard to have a good attitude then.   A bad day fishing is still a pretty good day.  

[TnRiver46]

I strive to catch SMB about 2/3 the size of @Dwight Hottle avg catch 

[GreenPig]

Any of y'all that can cast baitcasters. 

[Bankbeater]

Just me, myself, and I.  Although I do try to siphon off as much knowledge as possible from this website, I realize that no two bodies of water are the same so my results may vary. 

[islandbass]

I am usually just me. I also fish alone 99.9999% of the time now and more often than not, I usually have the entire body of water to myself. 
 

However, on occasion, I have been known to copy a few people for fun. One of the first things I did when I started fishing was watch fishing shows - Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Shaw Grigsby, and Italo from Canadian sport fishing. 
 

One thing that really caught my eye watching Bill was he’d be fishing and talking and not directly in front of the camera. Then when he gets a bite, he turns toward the camera and shows a huge grin and sets the hook. I thought that was pretty cool. So, if I hook into a decent fish, I’ll pause and turn toward the imaginary camera filming me, put in a huge smile and set the hook. God’s honest truth. Stupid, right? 😂😇 Never ever lost a fish from the stunt yet. 😎

[Pat Brown]

Pro Fisherman (older) : Denny Brauer.  I really like his demeanor and his fishing style.  I relate to Denny.  Hank Parker is my other one.  Another NC boy.  Rye sense of humor.  Fishes like I fish.   Just an all around great guy and amazing fisherman.  David Fritts.  Just a machine and a monster with the crankbait.  I aspire to master each technique I learn to the level David has mastered cranking.

 

Pro Fisherman (second wave) : Greg Hackney.  My spirit animal of bass fishing is probably Greg if there is one!

 

Pro fisherman (youngin') : Kyle Welcher.  If you aren't aware of Kyle.  He's the best in the world IMO.  Humble and cold blooded.  Still has a good sense of humor and he's probably gonna win a classic or two before he's done.

 

Educator: Tyler Berger (BassFishingHQ), Jony Schulz (Bass Fishing Declassified/Fish the Moment), Jimmy Easterling (The Fishing Teacher) Paul Rogers (The Nature of Fishing) are all really good resources for people who really wanna figure this stuff out.

 

Forum Members:  I think everyone here is super into the game and think this place is cool because I learn deep level juice from everyone every day but there are some stand outs....

@ol'crickety - positivity/reverence/enthusiasm/support/friend of the bass and to us all!  She's a hog snatcher and numbers getter that puts more pressure on Maines isolated big bass than everyone else in the state combined from a canoe with a paddle!  @Catt -rye sense of humor/tons of experience that he shares in ways that encourage anglers to use their own brains to figure stuff out and that's my kinda teacher.  @WRB a deep well of information and stories from arguably the most mysterious and famous bass fishing boom to hit the US.  He lived it and has wild information that really helps shatter the preconceived motions us Southern anglers treat as gospel.  We can learn a lot from our big clear water fisher friends. 

 

Personal: My Dad.  The voice in my head and the man who put a rod in my hand and taught me how to find fish, catch fish, clean fish, cook fish and how to make sure there's fish there when we get back.  A conservationist and a man of science and God at the same time.  I am proud to call him my father.

 

[GRiver]

Batman, cool boat, gotta love the utility belt, I’m really not crazy about the tights( I’d look shameful in them). The cape would have to go…. Probably foul my PDF.

Everywhere you go you’ d get to hear Naha , Naha ,Naha Naha…. Batmaaaan!

on a serious note….. @ol'crickety I think we all emulate everyone at one time or another. My Grandfather said something profound to me when I was in High School. 
One of my instructors, gave me a lesser grade for not following procedure…. I got the same results, just went about the different way. 
I was complaining about the instructor and …. You know the teenage punk crap… I knew more than him, my way was better blah blah blah.  I guess he got feed up with my belly aching. Looked at me, with that big cigar in the side of his mouth, and said “ Everything you’ve learned you got from someone else, even if it’s what not to do”

Then he walked away…

[OmegaDPW]

Outside of Roland Martin, Bill Dance and KVD I don't even know any other professional guys to emulate. In all honesty, if I didn't get some fishing magazines in the early 2000's, I probably wouldn't know KVD. He was in every single one back then. 

 

Of the folks here, I'd like to thank @RRocket and @looking45 The other day when I posted looking for a specific worm these two fabulous members sent me a PM saying that they'd be happy to send me some that they think would fit the bill. Hopefully, I can emulate their generosity when the time comes. Class acts. 

[T-Billy]

I don't try to emulate anyone. I just do my thing.

 

[Catt]

Emulate: match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation.

 

I may learn from all y'all but in the end I gotta make the final decisions.

 

@Pat Brown if you truly believe it, prove it.

 

Even back in the early days lot of what we heard or read was regurgitation. 

[Pat Brown]

Proving things to ourselves is the only real way we learn any kind of confidence in bass fishing!  🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[Swamp Girl]

I ran the numbers on these responses and here's the crunched data, with a few exceptions, of course:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaalq3RYAyw

 

@T-Billy: Did you read what Leonard Cohen wrote about your linked performance by Sid Vicious?

 

"I never liked this song [“My Way”] except when Sid Vicious did it. Sung straight, it somehow deprives the appetite of a certain taste we’d like to have on our lips. When Sid Vicious did it, he provided that other side to the song; the certainty, the self- congratulation, the daily heroism of Sinatra’s version is completely exploded by this desperate, mad, humorous voice. I can’t go round in a raincoat and fedora looking over my life saying I did it my way — well, for 10 minutes in some American bar over a gin and tonic you might be able to get away with it. But Sid Vicious’s rendition takes in everybody; everybody is messed up like that, everybody is the mad hero of his own drama. It explodes the whole culture this self-presentation can take place in, so it completes the song for me."