Just interesting to know what everyone thinks about their fishing skills. I know it is very subjective but you kind of know what you know if you know what I mean.

I would like to see who replied with what answer.

I'll go first......Above average.

It depends on what I'm fishing for. If it's salmon or trout,I'm in the top 25%,maybe even higher. If it's steelhead I suck,I'm in the bottom 10% for sure. But then I've really only fished for steelhead this last year.

I'm the opposite. Out of all the salmon species, silvers are the only ones that seem to cooperate with my offering. As far as steelhead go, I'd put myself in the top 10. Might sound cocky but confidence = success in my book. Whenever I find a stretch of H20 that looks good, I'm always confident that I'll land some steelies, and usually do.

I'm the opposite. Out of all the salmon species, silvers are the only ones that seem to cooperate with my offering. Kings hate me. As far as steelhead go, I'd put myself in the top 10. Might sound cocky but confidence = success in my book. Whenever I find a stretch of H20 that looks good, I'm always confident that I'll land some steelies, and usually do.

How can 30% be the top 10%

It is not about the math, but what is in your head.

I have rivers where I expect to catch crome, not hope I will catch something. On other rivers it is just a hope.

Depending on the species and time of year, the salt water is the same.

After 45 years of fishing 50-100 days a year --- very average. Sad, but true.

I think driftboater did more than "try" to get you all riled up, HBP! I think he succeeded!

As I said before, I don't actually catch any fish. I just find photos out there on the internet and paste in my face.

I think that puts me in the Top 10% of the Bottom 10%..er...or something like that.

Thank Glub I'm good with Photoshop.

Sorry Jerry!

Did I miss someone having to change soiled panties? Bawahahahaha

Where did my post go?

Did the PC police come and take it away? What was so wrong with it? I do believe it met all guidlines of this forum, if not please explain. I would hate for the PC police to work any overtime on my behalf.

Were his claims of knowledge towards "warm and fuzzy feel good ballet box biology" a little different than what I stated?

Don't you think it might be time to take a hint?

I am not very good at beating around the bush. Do you not like me? is that what your trying to say?

Just where was my deleated post out of line? huh!

Wow! According to the poll, we shouldn't have too many fish left in Washington!

Downriggin'

He wouldn't know a hint if it smacked him in the back of the head with a 2x4.

I suck at Steelheading. I have fun, and I play the blind squirrel a lot, and usually catch a fish or two. I do have fishing partners out there who regularly kick my ass in numbers of fish, regularly. Josh in particular. I must say though, that once I hook them I am patient and rarely cracker a fish off.

Andy

Bri Bri,,

Are you another one of those that expect us to know what your thinking? This is the GD internet TYPE what you mean!

Do you not like me either, just say it, wont hurt my feelings. I am not here trying to win a high school popularity contest.

Come on, pull that tail out from between your legs and say what you feel!

I pulled the post and will pull more if this turns into a grade school game of name-calling. 'Nuf said.

I dont recall any names being called on my part.

I used a "tail tucked" comment, is that where the panties started getting knotted up?

I have read many more stronger insults on here than a warm fuzzy tail remark.

Oh well

elkrun,
LOL, It is a new math I am sure you know the answer but it was funny nonetheless.

Seems like I missed the fun. Kids are misbehaving again

I don't know you, so I guess I can't answer that. But, when posts start disappearing, it's usually a sign that the administrator(s) don't like the direction the thread is going. So why keep going down the same path?

ONLY THE FISH CHECKERS KNOW FOR SURE

I made that 30% get a little bigger

But as it was stated, it depends upon the fisheries. I'd like to believe that in some, like those I guide upon, that I'm in the top 1% or so. On the other hand, I'm not much of a saltwater salmon angler or a trout angler on a lake and the reverse is more likely true.

I think the scenario would be true for most out there ... skilled at a few, sorta helpless at others.

Always nice to fish those that you're good at, but also a lot of fun to try new things too!

Get a little green out in the big pond do ya Bob???

I can make you a top 1% lake trout angler in one word. POWERBAIT


However, it takes 2 words to make someone a top 1% steelheader. GOOD LUCK

No question there Stihlhead!! I'd much rather have luck on my side than knowledge any day of the week!

I'm a firm believer that the fish gods reward those that look out for them as well

Next week, I'm really gonna work at learning a knot other than the same one I use to tie my shoes

Depends a lot on definition. I suspect I am in the top 1% of all anglers IF you consider a general knowledge of many fish and fishing circumstances.

I have fished for and caught marlin, bonefish, tarpon, gar, trout, steelhead, salmon, bass, catfish, char, sailfish, giant trevally, jacks, three species of tuna, yellowtail, roosterfish, cubera snapper, amberjack etc.,etc. I know a bit about an awful lot of fish and fishing.

I am only an expert on steelhead, and am a fairly knowledgable salmon angler. This all adds up to a giant SO WHAT! The guy who has the most fun wins. End of story.

I've been known to turn a few shades of green on the salt before Wouldn't look good if the Capt. was the first to the rail

Just never been excited to do the salt thing for salmon much ... I do enjoy our butt days and ling / yelloweye trips we do, but I get enough salmon in the rivers to get my fix of them

Bob,
I meant more like yeh, right, "Good luck getting there" but I agree you need to have a good luck/karma as well. There are some rivers that ALWAYS kick my butt and I have become superstitious. Nowadays if I am going fishing I greet the river the first time I see it and try not to pi$$ it off and I say thank you and good bye when I am leaving

Stihlhead......"Nowadays if I am going fishing I greet the river the first time I see it and try not to pi$$ it off and I say thank you and good bye when I am leaving "

What we talkin bout here?
Do ya gotta be macho to answer the poll?

And if the answer is yes are gonna run a poll just for FLY (GUYS) ?

Is skillfull catching targeted fish every outing?
Every cast?
Catching more targeted fish than your partner?
Catching more on a slow day?
Knowing all the knots, lures, catalogues, most expensive reels, being able to post the best pics, where to compile data (fish counts, river conditions, tides etc. etc.)

I've been skunked when all around me were catching, I've been the only one who caught anything. I've been there Thurs. and I've been there the tomorrow when you should have been here yesterday.

One of the questions on the final test of my drivers education class in high school (1960) was how do you rank yourself as a driver... class of 28 , 16 of us said above average. We had all just turned, or were gonna turn 16 yrs. old. I have a feelin the instructor had a differant view of our skills.

If were talkin skillful liar... Top 10%
Gear in order, ready to rock..above ave.
Bring coffee and smokes... top10%
Do the lights on my trailer work?..Top 10%
Do I love to fish and enjoy all the related B.S.
that goes with it? .... Absolutely top 1%

I'd say that makes me... about average.


herm

(BTW I'm a bait thug)

32% of the people on this board 10%rs I doubt that . Can you catch other sportfish as good as you catch salmon or steelhead? How well do you pick up on techniques? How many do you invent yourself? can you pick up a flyrod and cast it, or bait cast or spinning. Do you consistently catch all species? Do people get mad at you for putting them to shame?

Do people get mad at you for putting them to shame?
If a 10%ers actions on the river came across along the same lines as your statement above shouldn't they expect resentment.

A true 10%er doesn't take issue with envy or conquest.

If you are fishing with a group of people and someone chooses to call you an A-hole because your skill or luck level is peeking take it as term of endearment and show them the way.

herm,
Getting the trailer light to work is no easy task especially if you are taking a friend's boat or they are taking yours You need to have a bunch of spare fuse with you and you end up giving up.

This poll covers everyone but as far as running a poll just for fly fishermen, if I remember correctly we only have 4 hardcore fly fishermen. In "Which lure to use" poll, only 2.9% of ~ 141 guys voted for using flies exclusively But I have a feeling that Bob voted for fly. He made some hints about it. I guess some guys are more into the way they catch it as oppose to how many. Everyone looks for a mixture of quality & quantity. I can go so far with quality but I need some quantity to get me going. It is a vicious circle for me

Hey Micro,

Sounds to me like you watch a little too much Bassmasters!

Surecatch nailed it IMHO.

Are you happy when you go fishing?
Do you feel satisfied by what you get out of fishing?
Do you fish to commune with nature, test your skills, relieve stress, enjoy the good things in life?

If you answered YES to these questions, you ARE a 10%'er, no matter what anyone else says!

Seems to me that there is a whole lot of truth to the old saw:

"The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know."

For me, fishing, like golf, can be very, very humbling. (I keep telling my wife that's why I need to get out more often. ) And while I might think at times that I can hold my own as fisherman (or golfer), it's a good thing I don't have to hold a job and provide for my family doing it. My hat is off to those that do though; these are the true 10%ers 'cause frankly, talk walks and money talks.
But of course, there is nothing really wrong with seeing ourselves as something we'd like to be, just so long as we know the reality, which is the difference and the distance it's going to take to get there. Regardless of how far I may think I’ve come, it isn't nearly far enough. Everyday that goes by brings me closer to the realization that to be a half-way decent fisherman, golfer, husband, father, friend or any-number-of-things-I’d-really-like-to-be is going to take more time than I’ve got left to wade these waters.

But having said that; Tiger and Bob watch out!

4Salt,
You are absolutely right. But I rather be a 10%er that catches fish as oppose to a 10%er that doesn't

i feel that a fishermans skill depends on his ability to adapt to any situation, which translates to being able to catch fish on any river or tributary that he/she are placed on or have the privelage to fish on. Knowledge is power. All of you may think your a bunch of hot shot fisherman, but you need to step back and think. Most of you fish only fish one or two rivers maybe 4 different rivers in a year. The law of averages says your going to catch more fish the more time you spend hunting down all the spots YOU KNOW always hold fish. But take you off your home rivers your like a blind man looking for a corner in a round room. You'd have to spend all that time HUNTING for all those spots on the NEW rivers. Being or I chould say becoming an elite fisherman is achieving the ability and talent to take your rod,vest,waders,and smile to anywhere in washington,Oregon,California and catching just as many fish, if not more than the locals goggling at your answer to their inquiry as to how many fish you've caught besides the ones they've seen you catch. The answer to that question is and always will be ............"A few" <img border="0" alt="[wall]" title="" src="graemlins/wall.gif" />

As for how good I think I am? I can't really say. When I go up to the Peninsula and sit down to dinner in J.D Loves house and have dinner with my father-in-law Greg Hartman and J.D.'s family and he and my father-in-law have a few glasses of wine and start talking about years passed and secret techniques they've invented that can catch fish on every river Ive seen some of them used on I realize the answer to this question; not good enough. My father-in-law taught me how to catch a steelhead as good and sometimes beter :p than he himself can at 40 some odd years old,which since he was 18 have been spent fishing. Him and I go on new stretchs off river and old rivers he hasn't fished in 20 years every trip and I can tell you that 99.9% of the time we catch as many and most of the time more fish than the people we encounter on the river. Bill Herzog said it best the last time I talked to him, it went something like: Everyone asks me what one secret weapon ,if there is one, to catching salmon and steelhead consistently, and I tell 'em all the same thing. Read the water ya zipperhead!

I wish I could claim that quote as my own. Ol' Bill is quite a wordsmith.

4salt I prefer to be a legend not a legend in my own mind

I did not say I was a 10% though I may be.
I believe there will always be somebody out there that will know something I dont. You can never learn all there is to fishing just when you think you might someone will prove you wrong. There is so much water and so little time! there are general techniques that will catch fish everywhere but every piece of water holds a secret some people will say B.S but there wrong, have you been to blue creek on a bad day and have somebody walk in at 10:00 and bang out two steelies, was he tall and ugly ? Unlocking the secrets in a wider variety of waters for a wider variety of species is what will make you a 10%r.

I think in generaql I'm just above average. But if you are talking about tidewater chum salmon, I might just be in the top 5%. I had six days last November that I caught over fourty fish wile hopping around the South Sound and Hood Cannal!

Jay

I Have caught over 40 in one day. Now thats got to be some kind of a record. Yes I can repeat. No 4salt, jerry, stlhdh20. chappy, sparky, and anywone else. They were not snagged!.

40 what micro? Are you talkin' tidewater chums?

Though I get a chuckle out of most of the things that you post, I don't believe that I've ever referred to you as a snagger?

It is my humble opinion however that given the proper circumstances, legally hooking large quantities of tidewater chum isn't particularly difficult, and does not take the same amount of skill as enticing low/gin-clear water springers on a bright sunny day with lot's of angling pressure to bite! (bait that is, and NOT at the Barrier dam. )

Yes, I am talking tidwater chums. And no its not that dificult. I was replying to fishingjunk15's remark about over 40 chums in six days.

And the rest was just to cover my arse so you guys couldnt come chiming in with anti micro rhetoric By the way I do believe I forgot to add surecatch :p

Once in fishing camp

I walked down to a stocked pond and caught a trout, is was 12 inches long.

Leadthower wins, leadthrower wins :p