Target Fishing

When an angler starts off new in this crazy sport of ours he usually just wants to catch fish. Whatever species, on whatever tackle and any and which way he can. This approach usually wears off rather quickly. He then graduates to what we may call target fishing. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this sport arise when an angler has gotten through his initial numbers game and starts narrowing down his objectives on a days fishing. Some anglers will always simply want to go out and come what may just want to catch fish regardless of species. That is fine and not a thing is wrong with this approach. However, invariably anglers develop tastes as to the type of species they enjoy catching the most. For some it is the firm white flesh of the surmai which is paramount and as long as some surmai features as part of the bag they do not care.

What interests us here, in this article is the angler who for one reason or the other, decides to target a species and go after it religiously. This is the pinnacle of angling. Where most species have already been caught and a certain size and type of fight is what the angler is yearning for. Often this has nothing to do with recognition (although all anglers love recognition from their colleagues) but rather it has to do with beating ones own achievements regardless of what others are catching. Such anglers will often ignore good catches being made in productive areas and persist despite all odds after a certain species. It is testing, tiring and often frustrating as one foregoes an action packed day for that one fish. More often than not the angler is not successful; sometimes he actually gets the fish online and then loses it due to light tackle. But what others have to understand is that this is what makes the angler happy. It’s almost like playing a game in which you know the odds are stacked against you and one which a lot of the time the angler will not win. But that’s what makes those rare occasions when you do win especially well.

Angling is all about testing oneself. Testing ones own will against the sea, the odds, the organization of tackle and technique and finally testing against the power of a wild fish. We in Pakistan generally have this insane desire to collect numbers, scores and then boast about them. All of us are guilty of catching too many fish at one time or another. The logic that “If we don’t do it someone else will” is commonly heard. But really deep down every angler who has used this excuse knows that they have done something wrong by killing far in access and under regulation size fish. Why do we do this? Perhaps Pakistanis have a strong in built hunting instinct that cannot be tempered. I don’t know but I think what we must all learn is that this hunting instinct is best preserved for a battlefield (god forbid) and that when we are out fishing we are actually playing a game. A game which to truly win you must stack the odds in favor of your quarry and then try and win. Fish only have power and instinct on their side. While humans, in addition to having the above two qualities also have the power to think and to reason on our side. This is how anglers the world over catch fish way over the prescribed line weight. It has to do with your ability to fight fish and your level of skill as an angler.

So those of you, who find yourself tiring of the standard way you fish, try and downsize your tackle, use excellent quality line and try and target certain species that interest you. Be prepared to forego quantity, heavy tackle, and be ready for frustration. But at the end of the day, when you finally succeed, when after an hours battle you have subdued and beaten a wild beast on its own terms with a rod resembling spaghetti and near invisible line, you will feel gladness the like you will not have previously thought possible. A deep satisfaction that you will never get from beating another angler in quantity of catch. In fact the matter becomes one of personal choice. You will stop feeling frustrated even when another angler catches a better fish on even lighter tackle because you are only competing against the fish not against any other angler. Besides, I don’t know any angler who does not get frustrated when he sees a great fish which he has NOT caught. Wouldn’t you like to not feel that frustration? Wouldn’t you like to be unaffected by what others catch so that you don’t feel that you are always fishing against someone? If so, then try this approach if you feel ready for its shortcomings. You will find that a whole new aspect will open up to you and many new directions are suddenly visible. Perhaps then you will even be ready to tackle the monsters of the sea on the ultimate light tackle challenge – saltwater fly fishing.