Getting someone’s lifetime of Knowledge in a Day – By Peter Ford
Its funny how we spend countless thousands on Boats, motors, and the latest electronics but very little on finding out how to use all this stuff to help us find fish.
I have always been a sponge for knowledge, and I think every fisherman is the same, how can I get the key pieces of informationI am missing.
Traditionally your tackle store was where you went to get that knowledge and you would spend more than you should buying gear based on what you had been told by the local tackle shop.
With the digital / online world thrust upon us we are now spending less time in stores and more time online so the information we used to get in a lot of cases simply does not exist anymore, there are a few exceptions to this.
some of the better tackle stores understand this and have local fisherman on hand to give advice, but its not free you have to buy some gear and bait before you get anything in return.
I know myself I spend time before a trip gathering intel on what is being caught and where to find it, but you only pick up little snippets here and there and must try and piece it all together.
Online fishing courses are not new but have gained popularity in recent years due mainly to the lack of time that the average weekend worrier mustspend researching and experimenting whilst on the water trying to find fish, I know myself I do not want to waste anytime whilst fishing as I do not get out as often as I would like to.
I decided to explore some of these courses to see if they really delivered bang for buck and helped the average punter find more fish.
The leader in this area of online fishing courses is Ryan Moody a long-time charter operator in north Qld with over 30 years’ experience in catching everything from Blue Marlin to Meter long Barra his website carries the catch cry “fish smarter not harder” and offers Courses like Barra basics, sounder skills, and wonky holes just to name a few.
My starting point was Sounder Skills 2 as I assumed, I knew enough about my sounder to be able to take on more advanced information after all I have spent the last 40 plus years fishing with and without the latest technology.
The course is made up of a series of well put together videos that take you on a journey of discovery about how to use your sounder with a strategy.
In the course there is a printout that Ryan has created on what frequencies to use at certain depths as well as how to effectively use side scan, down scan and traditional 2D transducers when searching for structure or fish.
What I also liked about the course is that it was not dependent upon you having all the latest and greatest gear as all the examples given in the course can simply be applied to the cheapest 2D sounder on the market.
Being situated on the Sunshine Coast I was at first skeptical about the content in this course believing it might be all about catching Barra in the creeks or fishing in under 50m depths.
I must admit I was pleasantly surprised as course runs through all depths and how to interpret what is happening under your boat.
The more I got into it the more I realized what I did not know, and I must admit I found it hard to put the course away for any length of time.
One of the biggest takeaways was being able to differentiate between structure, fish, and bait at different depths and how to adjust your electronics to help you determine what is going on.
There is so much to learn, and I found this course explained everything in very simple terms from having the right settings for deep and shallow water right through to identify fish as opposed to bait and structure.
The course costs vary depending on how advanced and what species or equipment you are trying to get a handle on for details on the full range of Online fishing courses visit their website.