I believe we all know fisherman who seem to have some type of winning edge that trumps all others fishing in the same water, using the same bait or lure, and yet they consistently out fish other fisherman.

I credit my father and grandfather teaching me the love of the outdoors. Both men were knowledgeable in how to be successful in both hunting and fishing. My friends dad, George Davis however took that success to higher level. He was one of the best fisherman I have ever known. He was an amazing man, a former test pilot at General Dynamics he flew some of the most advanced fighter planes ever developed. Until his passing, I had the pleasure of fishing with George on many occasions.

And for all of his accomplishments in life, it was his love of fishing and humble demeanor that I most respect and admire. The man could put most of us to shame in one on one catch ratios. Instead of being a braggart, he was a teacher to make me and my friend Steven better fisherman.

I strongly believe that all that we know is in large part due to the time others have taken to teach us, what we have been exposed to is what you will know best. One of my favorite fishing memories was a result of George kindly inviting me along with his son at the age of 10 to join him on a two week fishing trip to Destin Florida.

Because of Georges exceptional knowledge and skills, we caught fish I had only seen in magazines and on television.

Who is the fisherman you know and have fished with that will never be known to the general public but were nothing short of superstars when it came to catching fish, and did they take the time like George did to help show you how it is done?

Simply, my dad. This would be the days of no electronics and trolling motors. Our TM was a paddle. If you had a TM, you were rich, at least to us.

He grew up on False River outside of Baton Rouge. In the mid 50s to 60s he took up the Atchafalaya Basin (Belle River). I really don't recall why. I remain in awe, of how he could navigate and maneuver that expanse without today's GPS. It was a bass haven in those days (and a well kept secret) before the gas drillers got in there and straight-lined canals, which changed the fishery as we knew it. He would pull up to a spot, cast a few times, and pronounce they are here, or not, before I had casted once. He also made our own spinner baits as the hell diver was the only one available and wasn't of the quality he desired nor large enough. I still have 1/2 of the mold. I regret having not been able to locate the other half. He made the spinners from dining spoons purchased at the local Gibsons. He made other modifications such as using large open shank double hooks to keep the large goggle-eyes from getting hooked, and more importantly, to make it more snag free because the points of the hook would slide over obstacles. Years later, in Canada way up NW Ontario, I used this method effectively to keep from snagging the abundant rocks by modifying Rattle Traps; first removing the trebles, adding an additional split ring, rehooking with double hooks to allow for the RT to run true.

There were days we wouldn't see anyone in the Basin, occasionally, a surveyor. A few years later, someone made a local map of the Basin (not anything like today's maps) and named a bayou after my dad.

We later did commercial crawfishing to supplement income. At our peak, we ran over 500 traps - these are swamp crawfish, not pond raised. FYI, in 1964, crawfish was selling for .06 cents/lb. That was an exceptional year of crawfish migration. Instead, we sold by the sack, $5, which our customers knew they were our crawfish so the additional $ was worth it to them.

Thanks dad.

Thank you to OP for the topic - brings back a lot of great memories.

UJC, what a wonderful tribute to your father. Great share.
Thank You

There were two gentlemen that inspired me, first as a youngster, and later as an adult. The first was my Uncle Roy Bell of Ft. Worth. He was an outdoorsman and taught me a lot about fishing (and hunting) in general. He wasn't a "great" fisherman, but he was a great teacher. Because of him, I enjoyed every aspect of the outdoors, regardless of whether or not we were successful by our bag. The other gentleman was my late father-in-law, Bruce Henry of Broken Bow, Ok. As an adult, I learned a lot, not much about bass fishing, but about crappie and catfishing. He had given up the art of fishing for bass many years ago (with artificial)lures, instead he concentrated on crappie and catfish. His lessons on fishing in general has helped me a lot these last twenty years or so. We all are responsible for passing on our knowledge to others, especially the young ones, whether they be our children, grandchildren, or just youngsters that we meet through youth activities such as scouting or high school fishing clubs. Just my 2 cents.