The Learning Curve

[Mobasser]

My grandson Aiden is a junior in high school. He's a typical high school kid. He likes music, movies, football, girls, and bass fishing.                    When I compare the way Aiden fishes at his age, compared to how I was fishing at his age in the early 1970s, it's obvious he's so much better than I was at that age.                                            He's grown up in an age where fishing info is at his fingertips. If he has a question about something fishing related, he can get several answers in seconds through the internet.It's amazing to me how quickly a youngster can learn now. He still has to get out and fish as much as possible of course, but, he's learned things about fishing that I wouldn't have had a clue in the early 1970s.                                 He's only one of thousands of young men across the country who have taken full advantage of modern technology and have become very good fishermen in the process. Its a good thing for him, and I'm happy he's learned so much so far.         The learning curve has been shortened by a large amount.                                          Anyone care to comment? Do you know a youngster like my grandson Aiden?                 

[gimruis]

I think the addition and exponential growth of HS fishing as a varsity sport/activity has fueled this too.  That and the sporting clays are literally the two fastest growing HS sanctioned activities here in the state of MN.

 

Neither one existed when I was in HS.  And honestly, it wasn't THAT long ago either.

[Fishin Dad]

I am a teacher and interact with a lot of high school fisherman as well as seeing a lot of young people in small tourneys.  It is incredible.  
I started fishing with my grandpa and dad.   My learning was Saturday morning fishing shows and magazines once per month.  It was also living on a lake and fishing all the time.  BUT, all of that pales in comparison to what these kids can learn in a couple hours online.  I also do think the young generations just have a natural ability to understand and use technology to a different level.  
It can, and has, been argued TOO much lately, but technology has changed the game exponentially!!!  
I am personally not a fan of it at all, but it is here.   

[WRB]

Bass Resource is a product of technology that we all enjoy and learn about bass fishing.

Tom

[Columbia Craw]

I am a firm believer that what is different from the learning curve is the accessibility to information.  Also, the ease in which younger people access it. We in my day had very little print media and less television.  Here’s one for you:  how many under eighteen know what a slide rule is?  The age of communication and tech is long with us and with that the expectation to get what you want now.  It’s following culture.  There’s nothing wrong with that.

[GRiver]

Computers sure has changed the world of fishing….. and everything else.

Now you can ask about bass fishing and you get a ga-zillion ways to catch them.

Before you had to rely on what somebody else showed or told you about. 

 

[king fisher]

You can learn all you want to on the internet, but you still have to go out, backlash your reel, set the hook to soon on a top water, and finally land a bass, before you really learn what bass fishing is all about.

[islandbass]

I say it is both good and kind of bad. 
 

Before I ever made a cast, I read fishing for dummies and the idiots guide to fishing and a whole lot of other books because I was trying this with no knowledge at all. In a way the library was my Google search bar 😂. Yeah, I’m a nerd that way but when possible, I want to be as prepared as possible whatever endeavor I pursue. 

 

As much knowledge I gathered and gained, I soon realized that is was just a small piece of the overall picture and that time on the water was just as important, if not more critical to fishing success, learning, and enjoyment. 
 

The “bad” side to such quick access to information?

1) There is so much information you might not know where to start

2) You might have some difficulty discerning what info is legit and what is hogwash

3) You might delve so deep that you forget to fish. Only justifiable excuse is some of us who live where cold temps exist in the winter and are therefore susceptible to cabin fever. Delving deep might be the major method to get us through the winter. 
 

@Mobasser: excellent topic! I appreciate you making it easier to get through the winter 😂.

 

I am looking forward to reading all the responses in this thread. 

[Catt]

Lotta knowledge on the World Wide Web...very little wisdom.

 

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

 

As with everything it starts with a solid foundation & that starts at home. 

 

My grandson Aiden is 17 & a senior, his source of bass fishing information is PawPaw, friends of the family, & bassresource. 

 

He's 💯% old school 

 

[Pat Brown]

8 hours ago, king fisher said:

You can learn all you want to on the internet, but you still have to go out, backlash your reel, set the hook to soon on a top water, and finally land a bass, before you really learn what bass fishing is all about.

 

 

Basically this.

 

I'll expand on this a little more.

 

I'm 37 and really got into bass fishing within the last 3 years and I'll tell ya, fishing nearly every day for 3 years I'm only beginning to build a data set that looks remotely like 'wisdom' for my local fish/waters.

 

I'm a little older than your  grandson, sure, and I fished my whole life for this and that with friends.... but I still consider myself a newcomer to the sport of targeting the LMB with artificial lures on lowland reservoirs in the Piedmont region of NC.

 

It takes a lot of dirt time before you get bit and even more dirt time before you can catch em all year.  

 

You gotta put the time in just like any passion or pursuit.  There's no shortcuts!

 

I love that it's unpredictable and that there's always new stuff to learn.  It's been one of the best things I've ever committed myself to!

[Woody B]

Yep, time on the water is important.   I think being a kid helps though.  They are able to delve 100% into something.  Once your grown a certain amount of brain space, and "bandwidth" is taken up by "adult stuff".   A kid can be 100% into the moment.  For me (and many others I suspect) fishing is an escape.  Even when we're escaping a certain part of our minds are still on the electrical problem I have to diagnose Monday, whatever bills are due or any other number of adult problems.   

[A-Jay]

Interesting topic and one that could probably be 'updated' every ten years or so.

Might even seem to carry the same theme much of time as well.

Availability of Bass fishing information is currently at an all time high.

From my spot in the cheap seats, I can't really say if that's good or bad.

I'm willing to bet that some of us that have been around a while,

probably have already forgotten quite a bit of 'information'

that bassheads who have taken up the sport in the last 5 or 10 years,

may never learn.  Some of that may revolve around the improvement of 

boats, motors, electronics, rods & reels, lines and even the baits themselves.

Finally, good information (and there's a difference) can help point an

angler in a certain direction. 

Experience helps us navigate the many crossroads which we inevitably encounter.

Fish Hard.

btw - I could really use a day of floating right about now. 

A-Jay

 

[Mobasser]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Lotta knowledge on the World Wide Web...very little wisdom.

 

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

 

As with everything it starts with a solid foundation & that starts at home. 

 

My grandson Aiden is 17 & a senior, his source of bass fishing information is PawPaw, friends of the family, & bassresource. 

 

He's 💯% old school 

 

Catt, Aiden and I fished together for a long time. We still do sometimes also. I agree getting out there and fishing is the best teacher. The things Aiden reads about are structure, weather patterns, seasonal movements etc. It's the more in depth stuff he's interested in learning, and there's a huge amount of it out there. But, as we know, not all of it is correct or good. He's smart enough to not believe everything he reads. He'll read things, then come and ask me about it. I try to help him the way I learned, and, am still learning.

[Swamp Girl]

3 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I still consider myself a newcomer to the sport of targeting the LMB with artificial lures on lowland reservoirs in the Piedmont region of NC.

 

I admire your humility here, Pat, acknowledging that you're learning in your little corner of bass fishing, as we all are, whether we admit it or not. I've shared more than once how @AlabamaSpothunter and @PhishLI coached me to fish less water to actually learn the remaining water. In other words, the urged me to learn in my little corner of bass fishing. Of course, there are fishing greats like @WRBwho fished arguably the greatest little corner of bass fishing of all time and others like @Dwight Hottle, who fished one little corner after another with extraordinary success, but singular little corner fishing can produce extraordinary results too, as demonstrated by you and Alex too a few weeks back. 

 

Sean, you and Aiden are a great team, combining the best of old school and new school.

 

 

[garroyo130]

5 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

He'll read things, then come and ask me about it. I try to help him the way I learned, and, am still learning.

 

IMO that's key. The moment you start watching things it gets dangerous ... especially if you don't realize its just a bunch of people trying to make money or sell you something. 

[greentrout]

I'm watching the Bassmaster Elite fishing right now on FS1 Fox. Brief discussion about how young some of the participants are -- some have qualified at 18- yrs. old and they are really good. I enjoy watching the Pros to see how their minds work to catch the bass. That said, for me, I have come to the point where I believe it's better to get competent in less techniques and get really good at it.

 

Good Fishing

[Swamp Girl]

9 minutes ago, greentrout said:

I have come to the point where I believe it's better to get competent in less techniques and get really good at it.

 

I go back and forth on this. I am competent with an underspin, whopper/plopper, and wacky Senko. But then I see @AlabamaSpothunter's success with strolling and @T-Billy tells me that I'll lose fewer big bass to weeds with more vertical fishing and so I buy those lures and watch the videos and want to add them to my bag of bass-catching tricks. 

[roadwarrior]

My suggestion:

 Add techniques and lures one at a time.  I think you will find this quite simple.

[Tennessee Boy]

The Internet has more information than a person could ever consume.  The same is true with your local public library.  The key is discernment.  Am I asking the right questions?  Do I know what’s true and what’s not.  Do I know who is telling me the truth and who is trying to deceive me.  The thing is, much of the Internet is intentionally designed to tell us what we want to hear not what we need to know.  
 

We can ask questions on this forum and tap into an unprecedented amount of bass fishing knowledge and experience.  Are people asking the right questions?  If I ask what’s the best lure to use in February,  I will get lots of answers.  The real question is does it matter to me what lure is working in south Florida or what’s working for ice fishermen in Canada?  

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, @roadwarrior. That makes sense. Well, I'll work on strolling this spring and then when the weeds thicken, I'll work on vertical fishing with beavers, Rage Tails, etc. So, I'll be learning one thing at a time. I think strolling will be easier to learn, as I've caught bass on flukes and jerkbaits and strolling seems similar. The thing that scares me about vertical fishing is that I might actually hook some of those monsters and then have to land them! I'm expecting six pounds of bass and six pounds of weeds to come aboard. 

[Peddiesake]

Today’s technology certainly gives everyone an opportunity to see what’s happening relative to new baits and approaches across the country. It shortens the learning curve however, the great teacher will always be experience in any approach. Marrying them both together, gives us or vest opportunity to excel in a shorter period of time.

[Swamp Girl]

4 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Are people asking the right questions?  If I ask what’s the best lure to use in February,  I will get lots of answers.  The real question is does it matter to me what lure is working in south Florida or what’s working for ice fishermen in Canada?  

 

Heck, yeah! What we're asking is "What will work in my little corner?" and the answer is, "Here's what works in my little corner."

[Crow Horse]

Great topic!

 

I've found that the internet has been a valuable resource for instant information. One caveat that has been mentioned is that one must employ intelligence to filter out what is usable information and what isn't. I geek out with all the information to sort through.

 

On the opposite end of the spectrum in the learning process is learning from a coyote teacher. When a student asks a coyote teacher a question, the answer will never be direct. The answer will direct the student on a circuitous learning journey that could take months or years (maybe a lifetime) to arrive at the answer.This learning journey will teach exponentially more than a simple direct answer. The obvious drawback is the time element. We live in a instant gratification society and this teaching/learning method flies in the face of it.

 

Another facet that bares mentioning is the difference between "believing" and "knowing". Believing is iffy. Knowing is absolute. It's the difference between concept and percept. Personally, I'll take "information" and test it to the best of my ability. After testing I'll make my assessment and decide which category it belongs in.

 

My experience has been that without the results of direct experience, untested information can be easily forgotten.

[MN Fisher]

10 minutes ago, Crow Horse said:

One caveat that has been mentioned is that one must employ intelligence to filter out what is usable information and what isn't.

What Orwell wrote about books in 1946 relates to the Internet today

 

"In much more than nine cases out of ten the only objectively truthful criticism would be "This book is worthless ..."

http://www.george-orwell.org/Confessions_of_a_Book_Reviewer/0.html

 

Of course Sturgeon was much more succinct.

"ninety percent of everything is crud"

https://christopher-mckitterick.com/Sturgeon-Campbell/Sturgeons-Law.htm

[Team9nine]

22 hours ago, Mobasser said:

The learning curve has been shortened by a large amount.

Technology has shortened the learning curve so much, I don’t even like discussing the subject