Things that people think are true, but maybe aren't....

I'll start. When a person catches a 12 inch bass with a gash in it, I often hear, "WHOA! Something really big must have tried to eat that thing..." and they look as if they are holding a fish that just went through something pretty traumatic and that there is a HUGE fish probably in the same waters. 

Ok, maybe it's true. But......it's also possible that it's a sore, or a scratch mark, a scar from a long time ago, or something else....

Over the years I have watched people fish and do things with their tackle and gear that I thought would never work and which made me laugh internally. 

Life has taught me  to keep my mouth shut. Some of these strange activities really to work!

You cant catch fish without a fish locator/sonar/flasher. Some people just go home when they find out they got to the lake and forgot their electronics.  

Well, I spent most of the last 5 years fishing with no open water electronics and 1 1/2 winters with no flasher. But somehow my freezer is always full of fish.

fishing reports and pro fisherpeople always catch fish

James...that was especially true when I have fished in Colorado.  Sometimes the walk down the steep hill/ canyon took an hour and 1 1/2 hours to climb out.  But, that made the adventure way more fun too.

I think many, who have never fished or fish very little, think of fishing as a very sedentary sport for folks with little ambition and they tend to do more beer drinking than fishing. The last part may be true, but wading streams, rigging up and deploying lines after launching a boat, or casting off a pier for hours are, to me, the polar opposite of sedentary. Fishing can be easy, but most of the time it's lots of work and concentration.

Channel catfish are bottom feeders... nope

I'll agree with that one Elliott.  Suckers are pretty darn good. They just have a lot of bones in them.  Maybe that is why I pickle them and my friend cans them.  Another buddy makes fish patties out of them.  

“Suckers and rough fish and don’t taste good.” I strongly disagree with this. It takes very clean water to support sucker and their diet is much like a trout. https://youtu.be/1hLDM5MX1e0

Here are a couple more....

Many believe the biggest fish hit the hardest.  In my experience, the largest muskies I have caught often are the ones that hit the lightest.  Sometimes your bait just disappears (no weight) as it is overtaken and engulfed from behind.  If you are not on them in an instant, they are off before you even set the hook.

Another...The Musky is the Fish of 10,000 Casts.  I believe most people understand this is not reality but just a figure of speech.  Based on how I fish, I make about 50 casts/hr.  If the above statement were true, that calculates to 200 hours/fish.  If it took 200 hrs on average to catch a musky, I definitely wouldn't waste my time fishing for them.  I am a very focused and data driven fisherman.  I am fortunate that my annual rate is generally 1-2% of the above statement.

Here's one. 

"I'm fishing the same lure, and same spot as the other guy, and he's catching three times the fish. Makes no sense."

Well...actually, some guys (and I'm not one of them) just have that touch, that presentation awareness, the depth locked in etc...that makes all the difference in the world sometimes. It's not luck. They just have something that the most of the rest of us don't. 

On the flip side, I don't buy the whole: "This color is the only thing that works" theory.

I know it makes a difference at times. But, finding active fish to me is number 1. I'll worry about color later....

I agree Badger - anytime out is a good day. I used to never let the weather dictate when I went fishing, I would just go all the time. Now with the wife, kids, and work I try be more selective based on weather and water clarity/ level of the Mississippi River to go when the conditions are above average. Big cold front in winter just moved through - won't go ice fishing the next day now. Just rained 3 inches and the river is chocolate milk - won't waste my time. 

I seem to do great on foggy, calm mornings.  But the best fronts to fish for me are the "not at work" fronts along with the "wife lets me go" fronts.  

Depending on the time of year, I have most of my best days when it is flat calm out with no wind. So much so that if it is completely dead calm out I try to get out fishing that day. I found this true on rivers and a lake I fish up north. Other bodies of water, flat calm days really suck. 

Wind from the east, fishing is least.....wind from the west, fishing is best.  Many think this is true and adhere to it.

However, several of the largest muskies I have caught have been on an east wind (including my 56+ incher...actually caught 2 fish over 50" that day).  In addition, several of the 30"+ northern WI walleyes I have caught have been on a wind that had an easterly component to it.

This is a fun topic!  My dad used to fish Gilmore Lake near Minong back in the '50s and '60s with one of his buddies.  They found a dead walleye along the shore with a big bullhead lodged in its gullet.  The walleye was over 30" and while they did not weigh it - I recall that it was pretty nasty when they found it -- they guesstimated its weight at 12#.  

One of my buddies caught a northern from a quarry in Thiensvile that we used to fish a lot.  He had caught a 4 inch bullhead and was dragging it in when the northern grabbed it.  Bullhead and northern pulled up on shore in one motion.

Finally, I fished on Lake Springfield in central Illinois with a buddy who insisted that the bass there never took spinnerbaits.  That was backed up by him and the members of his club.  I did catch a bunch of bass on a tube jig but nothing on a spinnerbait - I tried it just to prove him wrong but nope!