MOST people will have heard or read Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” which can be applied to all aspects of our lives, including fishing.
Preparing properly for fishing sessions can improve our performance vastly. The benefits can be seen clearly in match angling and specimen hunting, but even taking some time to prepare for pleasure sessions can turn a fruitless day into a fertile one.
Fishing preparation can take many forms. I could write reams and reams on the subject, so I’ll just cover the key points here.
My preparation starts many months, sometimes years, before I fish a venue. Once I hear and learn of an interesting venue, I make a note of it, even when I’m engaged with fishing on another water.
You can learn a lot about a new venue by walking around it, by speaking to other anglers about it, or by reading articles about it. I like to find out some key details about a new venue, including its size, stock, the amount of angling pressure it receives and the best baits, swims and tactics. All of this will help me to decide whether it is a venue that I want to target in the future.
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