Old timer named George called my sandbar plan dumb, saved my week

I was running a small job up in Green Bay clearing a sandbar near the marina. This older guy George who used to run a clamshell scow walked over and told me I was cutting too wide a swath with my cutterhead. I figured he was just some retired know-it-all, but he showed me on his phone how the current would just push the slurry right back in. I narrowed my cut by half and slowed to 2 feet per minute, and sure enough I cleared that bar in 6 hours instead of fighting it for 3 days. Anyone else have an old timer give you advice that sounded crazy but worked out?

3 comments

3 Comments

nora_walker5714d ago

Had a guy named Walt tell me once I was setting my trotlines too deep for catfish on the Tennessee River. I thought he was full of it since I'd been running those lines for years. He said the big blues were feeding up higher that time of year because of the shad spawn. I moved them up three feet and pulled in a 40-pounder that night. Never second-guessed that old timer again even when he told me my boat looked like it needed a paint job. Thing is, those guys have been watching the water for fifty years, they notice patterns we miss.

emery19914d ago

Old timers like Walt are just guessing half the time and getting lucky with the other half. You probably would have caught that 40-pounder anyway, maybe just a different night. Not saying the guy's crazy, but people act like every piece of advice from someone older is gospel.

robinson.hannah14d ago

Walt probably wasn't guessing, he was just going off years of watching how the shad move that time of year. You're right that luck plays a part in fishing, but those old timers have seen enough seasons to narrow the odds way down. Just saying, writing off their advice as pure luck might mean missing what's actually in front of you.