Who is Smarter: You, or the Fish?
I’ve often asked myself this question, usually in the 11th hour of a fruitless fishing trip. Dan Bagur asks a similar question in the tag line of his new book, Where the Fish Are. It reads: ”If you want to catch fish, shouldn’t you be smarter then they are?” Well Dan, all I can say is [...]
I’ve often asked myself this question, usually in the 11th hour of a fruitless fishing trip. Dan Bagur asks a similar question in the tag line of his new book, Where the Fish Are. It reads: ”If you want to catch fish, shouldn’t you be smarter then they are?” Well Dan, all I can say is I’m trying… really trying… and your book will help.
Bagur is a fisheries biologist in Wales, who I “met” over the phone a few years back while researching how fish see things, for an article in Boating Magazine. He got in touch with me a few weeks ago and sent me a copy of Where the Fish Are to review. Being a publisher and editor of how-to fishing books (see my latest fishing books on Amazon) with eight titles under my belt, I mean it when I say that this is some of the best work I’ve seen yet.
Bagur digs deep into the physical characteristics of fish, how and why they think the way they do, and how these factors relate to us as anglers. It helps you get inside the head of the fish and figure out how and where they’ll be feeding in response to changing conditions. In short, it helps you out-think the darn critters.
The really cool thing is that Bagur uses zero conjecture or guesswork, and everything he says is backed up by referenced science. In fact, there are over a dozen pages of references; this guy did his homework. One down-side for us salty guys: most of the information in the book relates directly to freshwater fish. Don’t let this deter you, though. There’s a heck of a lot you can learn from Where The Fish Are that will help with saltwater angling, too. And if you do learn it, you might finally be able to answer that all-important question by saying ME.
