Simple Question...fish Alone Or With Someone?

[podum]

I'm the same way wrench. I love to put my dad on fish. No better feeling. Especially as he gets older.

[Mitch f]

I still have a bit of the guide mentality. If I know where the fish are and how they are biting then I wanna take someone. But if I've been suffering through a dry spell and know that I'm going to have to spend some time and effort figuring out the bite then I prefer to do the struggling solo.

Couldn't have said it better myself, I'm pretty much the same way, love putting people on fish

[Al Agnew]

I'm pretty picky about my fishing partners. I'll take just about anybody once, if scheduling and such allow it, but there are some I would prefer to go with over and over again, most of whom are people that are on here fairly often. What I'm worst about is PLANNING to go with somebody else. Seems like most of the time if I go with them, it started out being their idea. And that's not because I didn't care enough about fishing with them, it's just because about 90% of my trips are pretty spur of the moment things...get up in the morning and just decide it will be a good day to go fishing. So I go alone more often than with others. I enjoy both, but they are very different experiences. The solo trips are more selfish, perhaps...I can fish how I want, go as fast or slow as I want, stop when I want, and quit when I want, and I am neither pressured to produce good fishing for my partner nor pressured to fish well so as not to disappoint my partner if he's handling the boat for me. I know that I HATE to pass up or mess up good spots, or to see others do so, and I always think that others hate it as much as I do.

[hank franklin]

Great question. I MUCH prefer to go with someone. My kids love to fish so I'm generally with them or with my cousin, who is my number one fishing partner. Also my brother. I agree with Al regarding planning, and in fact I pretty much won't go on a trip that someone else has planned.

When I was younger I did a lot of solo stream stalking and it was fun, but now that I'm older with kids who can fend for themselves I just won't go without them. No point in it.

Also, like others, I take great pleasure in putting others on fish. When in a canoe I am always in the stern and if I put the bow on a fish, I consider that fish half mine. It really doesn't matter who is doing the catching, and obviously with kids I'd just as soon they do it than me.

I also feel there's an art to float-fishing in a two-man canoe, where you work as a team. My cousin is an excellent angler and so when we're out together my job is boat control while his is targeting the sweet spots. And of course I have input on where to throw, and where I put the boat so he can make his throw. Etc. Obviously I do my share of fishing from the stern but I truly enjoy the boat control aspects. To fish a stream well of course you have to get out on occasion and wade it but nothing and I mean NOTHING is more pleasureable to me than a day of true float fishing, where the majority of the fishing is done from the boat and the majority of the casts are taken by the bow guy, and I in the stern am secondary. Who catches what? who cares?

Here's a couple pics of my favorite bow anglers:

Hank Jr.

Henrietta

[DaveMac]

I guess I'm in the "with someone" camp. The camaraderie, shared successes (and disappointments) and the safety factor - I often fish where if something happens, you really don't want to be alone - make fishing with someone preferable. My sons and I, and friends from the past, have always enjoyed some version of first fish, biggest fish, most fish, most species contests, which obviously doesn't work when alone. Having said that, I find myself more and more in the situation of, if I want to go fishing I have to go alone (sons grow up and do their own thing, friends drift apart).

Maybe I should get a dog!

[ness]

Kinda depends. I do like to fish alone -- just do it when, where, and how long I want. If I want to take a break, smell the roses, smoke a stogie, explore a little, whatever -- I can do it without thinking about what the other guys have in mind. It's nice to just be there alone, soak it up, not interact with humans -- which I get plenty of in day-to-day living.

But, I also love to fish with others too. I've gotten to be friends with a few folks through the internet -- the old Conservation Cafe, Ozark Chronicles and now here. Good folks to spend a weekend with. It's just gotten harder to find the time and sync up for a weekend the last few years. I've got local friends I like to fish with too, but it's gotten just about as hard to hook up with them as it is my St. Louis buds.

What I've enjoyed the most the last few years is 'guiding' my daughter and nephews. The nephews are in their 20s and both aspiring fly fishermen. My daughter's college age, and has come back around to wanting to spend a little time with pops (especially when there's nothing better to do). When I'm with them, the whole dynamic changes and I'm 100% focused on getting them fish. I get more exited about their success then I ever do on my own.

[sandbc]

i most definitly like a fishing partner. someone to share the gas expense. but i sure wish that 9 year old grandson would get a job.