Patience

Patience

Andy Dear | Monday, 3 July 2023

The really good fishermen I know are NOT patient fishermen.
From the VHS video, Bass Fishing Top To Bottom with Rick Clunn, 1982.

  Back in the early 1980s when Bass fishing was first starting to explode, 3M came out with fantastic series of VHS videos called the "Sportsman's Leisure Series". It was a series of educational tapes that ranged from bass fishing, to fly tying and fly casting, to rod building. Back then you really didn't buy VHS tapes, you rented them. Being a young 12-year-old bass angler, I probably rented the Rick Clunn tape "Bass Fishing Top to Bottom, at least 20 times throughout my teens. At one point in fact, I had to learn how to piggy back two VCRs together so I could pirate the darn thing because my parents got tired of paying rental fees!
 
  Rick Clunn, in my eyes really is the godfather of modern bass fishing. Even back then he was on the cutting edge of tournament angling. At one point I just about had the script of that VHS tape memorized. 40 years later I have forgotten a lot of it, but one line still sticks with me; "THE REALLY GOOD FISHERMEN I KNOW ARE NOT PATIENT FISHERMEN".
 
  Having grown up around the old school concept of "bait and wait", this seemed a bit counterintuitive to a young 12 year olds developing brain, but time and time again Rick's philosophy has proven to be true. Even today in my early 50s, I still am reminded of Rick's quote when Captain Freddy Lynch and I are chasing Redfish. At least 5 times during the day, I'll hear from the poling platform, "reel in, we've gotta go find 'em". Honestly, I am NOT a patient person and never have been. So, this style of run and gun fishing suits me just fine. Even when I am angling out of a kayak, I am constantly on the move. Call it, impatience, anxiety, or just good ol' ADHD, more often than not being impatient results in more opportunities to put a fly in front of a fish.

  As for the 3M VHS series, unfortunately it has long been out of production.  Even today when I watch those old tapes, it brings back such a deep sense of nostalgia. And, those old tapes really did give those of us growing up and learning to fish in that generation a much deeper angling foundation, and more importantly, an opportunity to learn from pros like Rick Clunn, that we would have never had if it werent for good ol VHS technology!
 
  Ironically enough though, back in 2007 I took advantage of an opportunity to purchase the the copyrights from 3M for their two rod building videos that I subsequently sold in 2009 when I sold my first company. That's another story altogether!

Hope you all are having a great week!

Andy