Fat Dad Fishing Show

EP 54:Ten Saltwater Fishing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

• Fat Dad Fishing Show • Episode 54

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Boats piled on a blitz, motors roaring, and someone floors it straight through the bunker. We’ve all watched the bite die in seconds. This week, we break down the most common saltwater mistakes and share the simple, high-impact fixes that turn chaos into confident results. Rich is joined by Scotty Sevins to dig into smart stealth around bait, how to plan by tide and wind, and why “following the fleet” is a shortcut to nowhere.

We get practical about what actually moves the needle. You’ll hear how to approach pods without blowing them up, use your senses in the dark to find life before sunrise, and tune your side scan to spot bait rather than just admire your screen. We talk knot choices that hold under load (FG done right), when to retie, and the hidden costs of gear neglect—from rusty hooks to kinked soft plastics that swim wrong. We also go deep on rod angles, drag settings, and why overpowering fish leads to more pulled hooks, broken rods, and stressed releases.

Precision matters. We explain the difference between fishing an area and fishing the spot, how small edges on current seams and structure create bite zones, and why a five-foot miss on a flat can spook the entire school. Plus, clear guidance on handling and reviving stripers the right way: keep them horizontal, wet your cradle, cut deep hooks, and swim them forward to push water across the gills.

If you’re serious about catching more and stressing less, this is your playbook: plan A through D, approach quietly, read your electronics with intent, tie clean knots, and respect the fish. Enjoy the stories, the laughs, and the field-tested tactics you can use on your next tide. If this helped you fish smarter, subscribe, share with a buddy who needs it, and leave a quick review so more anglers can find the show. Tight lines!

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Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Following the fleet. You don't know where you're going to go, so you just go to where other boats are. Yeah. And I'm going to tell you that is one of the biggest mistakes that you can possibly make because it is I don't know if this is a fact or not, but I'm going to say at least 90% of people driving their own boats have no freaking idea where they're going. And probably at least 75% of them followed somebody else who didn't know what they were doing. Hello and welcome back to the Fat Dad Fishing Show. I'm your regular host, Rich Natoli. And tonight we're going to do uh Scott, actually, Scotty Sevens is on with me tonight. And we're just going to kick back and we're going to talk about the things that we screw up as saltwater fishermen. So we're calling it 10 mistakes. We'll probably talk about more. You know, we got an hour to talk about mistakes, and uh I have a ton that I could just rattle off. So we're gonna jump into that before we get going. We're gonna roll into the sponsors. Number one sponsor is Great Bay Outfitters on Radio Road in Tuckerton. If you need anything for your kayak, check them out at Great Bay Outfitters. And I'll tell you right now that uh in addition to native and old town, they're going to be offering a new line, and it's not announced yet. Uh so just be on the lookout, hoping to do it next week. But very excited. There's a reason that Great Bay Outfitters is growing so fast and is one of the top in the entire region. And uh it's not just the boats that they have, it's the service that you get, the selection that you have in there, and the fact that Paul is absolutely insane when it comes to pimping out your kayaks. And uh he's the guy that will indulge you and uh probably get you thinking of different things that you hadn't even thought about. So if you want to put power on your kayak, if you need a kayak, if you want to look at used kayaks, he's got them also. Radio Road in Tuckerton, uh quad state tune. Kevin Driscoll is your guy if you have a Toyota truck. So you're talking Tacoma, Tundra, Forerunner, even a couple of the Lexus models. If you want to tune for your engine, get more horsepower, torque, uh, better, better uh transition between the gears is how I would phrase it for us non-tech guys or non-mechanical guys. Uh he has the tunes that'll actually get those trucks working better for you, especially if you're towing. If you're towing something, you're towing your boat around, you should probably check it out. Uh his number is 44-633-5975. And then I am your other, your other uh sponsor, so Natoli Real Estate. I am a realtor in southeastern Pennsylvania with Weikert Cornerstone in Bluebell. I also work out of the Collegville office. So if you're looking at anything real estate related, reach out. Give me a call, 267-270-1145. You could also text me if you just find that easier. And if you need all the information for the sponsors, that is in the bumper to this on the video. It would also be in the podcast in the description. So, with that said, I'm gonna bring Scotty on right now. We're gonna jump right in and we're gonna start off, Scotty, as you come on. I a couple of things I want to say before we really get rolling, but I just want to say hello and welcome back.

Scotty Sevins:

How's it going, Rich? It's good to be back on.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

It's going pretty good. We got some some weird it's see to me, since I had like the control room in front of me. Yeah, I see two of you and two of me because there's some new feature now in this streaming. You can see it too. Okay, so there's a vertical view, and then there's the horizontal view. So those of you hopefully, and I'd like to see feedback on this. Those of you watching on a phone should have a vertical format, which is much better than it used to be, where we were side by side. And those those that are watching on YouTube on a computer and have a horizontal screen, it should just look the way that it normally does. So hopefully that's the case. If not, I apologize, we'll get rid of it.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, it looks like it's uh uh top and bottom right now.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

On the phone?

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, and when I turn it to the side, uh it's top and bottom still.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, okay, because it's on a phone. Yeah, okay.

Scotty Sevins:

Oh, but but the vertical mode in full screen, it looks okay, actually. It's still top and bottom. Weird.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Okay. All right. So the question is on YouTube, is it top and bottom? Yeah, or is it side by side? It is. See, that's not that's not good. Okay. All right, so all right. It looks good for Joe Bills. My brother doesn't like it.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, yeah, it kind of looks weird. And let uh it you can't like file along in the chat and everything looks small. You know what I mean?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, all right. Well, hey, we're trying new things, trying to make it easier on people. Still, the vast majority of people end up listening to the audio only. So they're not they're like, what the hell are you talking about right now? But before we jump in, let's let's do a couple of things real quick. I wanted to let people know for the trip on the Osprey out of Atlantic City that we're doing the top trip for the show. It's it's an open boat for anyone, by the way. But there are only, I think, eight spots left on the entire boat. So there were a bunch that were filled this week. So if you want to get on there, jump in now. I believe it's about 120. 120, yeah. 122 with taxes and and all that stuff. So yeah, sign up if you can. And I I want to say this. So, Scotty, you're going. Yeah. Yeah, I got my ticket. There are other people that have been on the show that are going that all of you may recognize if you're watching, right? So I would hope that regular listeners and watchers would recognize me. But just keep in mind, I won't recognize you. So, and it's going to be a mixed crowd. So, not everyone's going to be there. So, I would like to ask that people introduce themselves to me because I am, believe it or not, with the podcast and all that other stuff, I'm a big introvert. And when I'm fishing, I kind of like, I don't know, crawl in upon myself. And I'm not very vocal at first. So maybe people can introduce themselves. I want to make sure I say hi to everyone and say thank you to everyone for coming that's there with us. And I leave the people alone that are just there.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah. You know, no, I I I will second that as well. Definitely, definitely come say hi, introduce yourself, please. And yeah, because I I may not have met everybody before.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, yeah. And I well, hey, I may have met some people and and not recognize people as well because it's been a couple of years since I've been on the water. But yeah, I just wanted to mention that hopefully, you know, hopefully we have some good weather because the wind has sucked. And let's use that kind of as our segue into your update. How's it looking? What's the what's your report over the last week or two out there on the waters in you know, central New Jersey?

Scotty Sevins:

It's been the weather has been really, really difficult. I mean, that's the bottom line. However, the one saving grace is there's been a lot of west winds, which you can fish along the beach and tight to the beach and right out front in winds that would typically I would never go out in. However, west winds are horrible for the back bay, especially like where I am in Ocean City. So those winds have really kept me off the water in the back bay for for weeks.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So and you got to run the inlet, too, which is well, yeah. That's not that's not necessarily good. Like a small boat with a west wind, you're fine off the beaches, usually in a lot of places, but you still have to get there. And some of those inlets can get, depending on which way they're facing, they can get pretty nasty with a west wind pushing out on them.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah. But I I don't know. Other than that, the day city could get out. I mean, things have been like really insane.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah.

Scotty Sevins:

I've seen some of the most incredible sights this year that I've ever seen in my entire life. I really have. Well, as far as like the uh the the amount of the amount of bluefin, just uh miles and miles of bunker getting blown up by mix of bluefin and bass, like uh the I'm not gonna lie, there's been some tough days in there too, you know. And it and it it it really all like kind of works around like the moon, you know, like I'm a big believer in that, but but yeah, the majority as a whole, it's been it's been some of the the greatest times and some of like the the the toughest times as well, in a way. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Well yeah, and you've gone primarily for striped bass, right? Correct, yeah. All right. So I I have a couple of a couple of folks have reached out to me with their reports on TOG.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So I'll share that. And again, it's the weather that's really messing with them. However, what I'm hearing is if you can hold the peace, there are there are big fish in in close, and it is going to be a great season for tog, you know, and that's what I keep seeing, even in the backwaters. If you can hold the structure that you're fishing with the winds, which can be pretty tough in the backwaters, because you're usually up against hard structure, you know, at the water line. But if you can hold the structure, it seems to me like the water has cooled enough, the fish have moved enough that people are putting together some nice days. But again, just like you said for the striped bass, it's not every day is a consistent bite throughout, but there have been some nice fish pulled up over the rails on not only private boats, but a lot of the the charter boats and the the party boats that I've seen. That I've seen some really nice fish coming up, so it's encouraging from that standpoint. The fish are here.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah. So I was gonna ask you is that uh primarily what you're hearing for South Jersey, is or is that uh all Jersey as a whole?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So most of the guys that pass me reports are going to be Ocean City North, right? Okay, the South Jersey guys that I know the most are fishing central Jersey and North and into New New York. I keep hearing from the New York guys that they're just having fun.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

The fish are there. It's it's a it's a solid season for striped bass, although the striped bass that I've heard has tapered off a bit up in up in like Long Island Sound. But the tog, I mean, the the tog bite is good. Rhode Island, the tog, everything is going crazy. Incredible.

Scotty Sevins:

I just keep seeing the fish come out of Rhode Island, and I gotta tell you, like it really wanna makes me want to take a trip there.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah. No, I'll I well Frank was up there and he was talking about it. Oh, and the other thing, I don't want to leave out Maryland and Virginia. Yeah. Striped bass bite out front, so in the ocean, I'm not talking Chesapeake right now, it has has been fine, it's it's kicking off down there. So with some large fish too, some you know, over 40 inchers that are being caught sporadically. It's not like it's not like the the border between New York and New Jersey right now with the you know the the 40 inch plus fish, but they're catching them, and it's a legit shot of catching them down there, both in the front, in Maryland specifically, in the front and in the back. So if you're down in Ocean City, Maryland, you head back to those bridges, there's some nice holes there. They are actually pushing through there and and into the inlets. So yeah, so it it sounds to me like it's a great season. I haven't been able to hit the water, you know. The the weather, the one day that I had, and I said, you know what, I should work today, but I'm not going to. So I was gonna head down. I looked at the weather, I was like, there's no way I'm gonna go down for this. Yeah, there's just no way. You know, if it were a west wind, I would have fished the beach, but it wasn't. And I was like, it's what's what's the point in in making that drive? And I where I was going to go, I'm not gonna say it, but where I was going to go, the reports I got was it wasn't that good, just a few small fish. Yeah so yeah, so that that's how it looks. I but look, encouraging if we can get this damn wind to lay down for five minutes.

Scotty Sevins:

Actually, this week looks phenomenal. This this looks like the nicest week of the entire fall, honestly.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Well, it's good. I mean, it's it's when the fishing should be picking up the most, too. Yeah, you know, now through you know, Thanksgiving for striped bass, and then and then after that. Well, at least at least let's get the 7th of December for the dog. No more starfish, Scotty.

Scotty Sevins:

No more starfish or lobsters.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Or lobsters, yeah. Yeah, well then yeah, then I'll take a lobster or two, but otherwise, no, no. I you know, my nephews are gonna be on there. I'm I think it would be hilarious if Dominic, especially Dominic, because he likes to pick on me, if if he, and he's just a little dude compared to me, if he catches lobsters. I I think it would be hilarious. Or starfish. So I'm so I yeah, or starfish.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, there's there should be a star uh a side Calcutta for starfish.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

You know, what would be great is if Paul catches starfish because he's the number one person that keeps reminding you of your your starfish prowess. So it would it would just be poetic justice.

Scotty Sevins:

Yep. Oh, I I'll I'll never forget it. No, and in fact, it it is it's it's properly dried and mounted, and yep, I still have it.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

You you what you should do is attach it to a pineapple, like a like a necklace.

Scotty Sevins:

I probably should.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, you should have it out on the pineapple every time. Right. All right, so let's roll into this. So, yeah, what we wanted to talk about, look, as we're as we get to this time of year, it's it's not all just we can't just talk tog and strike bass every single freaking week. So I'm trying to break it up a little bit. This is this is one of those things where we're just gonna kind of go back and forth and be interested to see some of the comments in the chat as well about your thoughts on this. What are we missing? What are some things that you think? But we're gonna go through, we're gonna say the top 10 mistakes that saltwater fishermen make. And they're not in any particular order. There may actually be 12, 15 of them, but we're just gonna start talking about these in the hopes of pointing things out, making fun of ourselves and other people, and just pointing out just some of the things that we all do. And we and most of these we know, we know our mistakes, but we do them anyway, and we do them on purpose. So uh I'm going to start off, Scotty, if you don't mind.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, no problem. I'm following along in the chat too. So if you see me looking around, that's why.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Very good. All right. So the first one I'm gonna do is it was the thumbnail for this, and I'm gonna say not being stealthy. Now, when I say this, I'm not saying don't talk when you're fishing, because that is absolute nonsense. And I actually love when people get angry when somebody's talking out on the water. But what I'm specifically talking about is a few things running into a bunker pod and running into the bait because the run and gun got a hold of your adrenaline and you just can't pull back on that stick soon enough, right? So running up onto it totally blows up the school, sends the fish down. I'm talking about sitting in a kayak or in a boat and dropping weights and having them hit the hull and just kind of echo through. I'm talking back, especially in the back bay, yeah, and I'm talking about, and if John Creely is watching, he will eventually playing your radio on the water.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, I I I actually don't do that while fishing at all.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, not at all. So I'm gonna say that though that those are mistakes that you make where you're not being stealthy, and with that, I'm not saying you have to be dead quiet. I'm not saying any of that at all. You know, we all fish, think of the summers. You're fishing for fluke in the backwater, and they're and you're you're fishing next to a channel. There, there are gonna be boats and jet skis and everything going through, and they they get accustomed to that. But what they don't necessarily get accustomed to is dropping lead weights, the boom of kid rock coming through the hull. Yeah, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And and there there is research that says that it will disturb them and it may not make them leave, but it will make them more cautious and more alert and less likely to feed the way that you own it.

Scotty Sevins:

I totally agree with that, Rich. And to to add into that, like even like an idling boat motor makes a huge difference. Even even I'll say, like, while fishing out front, if you're fishing on bunker pods and that sort of thing, you know, some of some of the guys that I've known that have done the best have been in the smallest boats. They would always go out and cut the engine, like in the middle of the pod and do their thing. And yeah, and they always crushed it. So there is that there definitely is something to that. You know, when you're in the fleet of a bunch of boats and the wind's howling, it it's not always possible, but there really is something to with it to that, and I agree.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, well, so I will say this when when I'm out kayak fishing, bunker pods will literally go right around the boat. Yeah, they do, unless I start pedaling. And just the propeller, and it's not even making any noise. I mean, the propeller's underwater, but just the sound there, they'll they'll scatter. They yeah, and they'll move further away and they'll stay away until I stop and get still again. So I don't know scientifically if there's a a big reason or not, but anecdotally, I can tell you that I can get closer with a kayak, and they don't seem to like when there's a lot of waves slapping off the hull either.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So they'll they'll stay further away, they'll still get fairly close. But I, you know, in the kayak, they'll literally be within feet of you, like two, three feet. Like you could reach in. And I there have been times in the past where I've just taken my GoPro off my head and dunked it in the water to get a view of the fish underwater, and they are literally right there.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So I'm gonna say that that is based on this time of the year, that's why I wanted to say it first. Don't especially don't be the guy that's running and gunning full speed into the bunker. Take your time, approach it intelligently, and understand that you are using spinning gear for a reason. And that reason is so you don't have to get on top of them.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, yes, exactly. And there's a lot of that this time of year. And the way the current is moving and the way the wind is moving as well should really dictate where you're and how you're going to approach that pod. You know what I mean? And if you see a fleet of boats, don't cut right through the cent the dead center of all of them. It's just not like the intelligent way to do things. And listen, like we've we've all done things, you know what I mean? But I've seen a lot of what you're talking about, and people, boats getting too close and cutting other people's fish off, which actually happened this week or nearly happened, but it happens, yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, I see. I I do get entertained by that because I love watching the fights on the water and the yelling, and and when you're lucky enough to be on the same channel as them on the radio. Oh, yeah. I do and I do enjoy listening to that.

Scotty Sevins:

I actually funny you say that about the radio. I don't I don't even turn my radio on, not even once.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

I rarely do. I you know, in a kayak, it's a little different because you want to have that like right there. So I'll often keep it on low if we split up and we put distance between each other. But when there's a fight though, like the Raritan Bay is the case. When there's a fight, especially if it's a New Jersey versus a New York boat, I will I will start scanning channels looking for it.

Scotty Sevins:

I I I can hear it in my head now. Oh, it's yeah, it's a beautiful thing. I'm gonna lose it.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

It's beautiful. I I love it. Yeah, you stupid New Yorker, you stupid New Jersey person, and as I always say, it's most likely a Pennsylvania person.

Scotty Sevins:

You mother. Yeah. No, it's just his ass.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah. Oh, it's it's a beautiful thing. All right, so that's number one. What do you want to give number two, or do you want me to keep going?

Scotty Sevins:

I I'll tell you, I'll tell you what, like, and you know, like I never shied away from putting my fishing fails. Like, I I actually did it for a while. Like, I would put together like my fishing fail video for the year, or even do like fishing fail Friday every now and then again. Because I have like I don't care how good you are, how long you've been doing this, stupid stuff happens when you're on the water all the time. You know what I mean? You know, from from getting stuck with spiny dogs to literally casting uh this is this is my favorite that that I do a lot. When I'm in a rush and I'm trying to retie, you know, I'll try to trim the tag ends and clip the clip the entire knot off. You know, you ever do that? Then you have to retie a second time. Um so much.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So that's actually one of the ones I had. We'll bring it up. Uh fishing knots. So I have that on there. Tie your knots correctly when you're on the water. So there's no excuse if you know what you're doing. So for example, I know that I'm gonna be on the osprey on the 7th. So I will have everything tied up beforehand on the rod that I need. So that rig will be tied and ready to go. And I know it's gonna be a good knot. But what happens is you lose a rig, it gets chafed or something, you want to replace it. So you decide, I'm not gonna wait for the mate, I'm gonna tie it myself, which is probably a good idea. And it's not a knock on the mates, it's just that they they are going to tie the fastest knot possible. So what you run into is you end up tying a knot and it's not done properly. So use the FG knot as an example. Oh you can tie an FG knot and it can look perfect. If it's not tied right, if you just reversed one thing, all you have to do is put about two pounds of pressure on there and it will literally slide apart. Yeah, I mean, very neatly slide apart, but you but it'll it has enough strength on there to hold the the weight until you set the hook, and you'll set the hook and it'll immediately just pull right off.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, sensing that up that knot up properly is like of the utmost importance. And I'll even go as far to say this like for me, my experience with that knot, it's an amazing knot and it has its purpose. I use it especially when I'm like chasing bluefin, because the size of the leader, that's the only thing smooth enough to run through the guides. However, I noticed that that knot will come untied on you. At least it does for me, no matter how many half inches I put on it, no matter what. So I always secure that up with super glue. That's just for me. And honestly, that's a knot that I'll tie at home and not on the water. If I'm out on the water, you know, a lot of people. You're doing a what uni to uni to uni. It's just I can tie it the fastest in my sleep, you know, but yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So that's that's what I call a mistake.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Go into the uni-to-uni. And and here's why. All right. So if you're uh I will say a couple things about the knot. Practice it so that you can do it fast. And in my mind, you want to use the best knot possible. It is my only opinion, it is my opinion that the FG knot is the best knot that you can tie when you're going leader to breed. All right. So in my mind, you should always take the extra 30 seconds. You know, it only takes about a minute to tie if you know how to tie it quickly. I was at the point, probably not now because of all the time off the water, but I was at the point where I could tie it in the dark and not even have to look at it. And it was it was good. And and I would leave it on for like a year, yeah, until until my leader got short enough that I had to change it out. But what happens is people will try to tie quickly to get down on the bottom again or get that line out there, and they end up just because of a pour knot, they end up losing the fish. You know, they get the bite, they hook it for a second, and then it parts. And yeah, you saved 20 or 30 seconds, but now how many minutes did you you lost a whole fish? Like that entire time that you were fishing, maybe it took five minutes, 10 minutes before you got that bite. That was that entire time was wasted because you're never going to be able to land a fish.

Scotty Sevins:

I I agree with you, and yeah, just testing your knots, that's it's something that I do regularly, every single time. You know what I mean? Just to make sure it's secure, because I think that we've all had that happen before.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

You know, oh literally everybody. Yeah, I don't care who you are. Yeah, Poveromo, it doesn't, it doesn't matter. Yeah, everybody's done it. All right, now you throw one of yours out there.

Scotty Sevins:

So let me see here. Now you got me drawing a blank.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

All right, I got I got more. There was actually one in the chat that uh that Benji put in there.

Scotty Sevins:

Oh yes, that's a beautiful one. Abandoning your fishing plan. Um actually, uh something along these lines was actually on my list. So that's a really good one, Ben.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, so so abandoning your fishing plan. So I have it across two different things. The first, the first thing that I have is you should have a plan.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

And and that's first and foremost to me. So when you go on now, I I don't, I'm not going to say that I always have a plan, but when I want to be sure that I have the maximum chance to catch a fish, like I'm out serious fishing, and and full disclosure, I'll do both. I'll just go on the water and screw around all day and not care. There will be days where I that's my plan. But then there are days where I'm going and I'm like, I'm gonna limit, or I'm gonna go for this, and I have a very specific focus. In that case, you better have a plan. And the the reason is to me really simple. The spots that you want to go and the techniques that you use for nearly every fish is going to be dependent upon several factors, all of which change, right? So a lot of variables. You have the tide, you had the wind, you had the air temperature, you have the water temperature, you have all of these things, the structure and how the water flows over the structure, how the current's going. So you have all those things. So if you don't plan, all you're doing is going to a structure or or a spot. And and and to me, if you're going and to get to to Benji's point, if you're going to go through that and you're going to plan according to the conditions to maximize your opportunity to get fish, you need to have confidence in that plan and know that you didn't just make this this stuff up. The fish should be there and and have confidence in yourself because maybe maybe you didn't get them on the first one or two drifts, but the third one might be where you unlock it.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, it's it's that, and it's I it it's something that I I probably say almost every show, but having a plan B, C, and even D, you know what I mean? Um when you're going out. And and I I agree with you, and this is a mistake that I make spending too much time on something that clearly just is not working. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's it's like a fine line, you know what I mean? But you usually I I usually get a feeling in my gut if you know if I if if I know like uh the fish are there or and what we're gonna do is gonna work out, but there's also times that like like I said, like I spend entirely too much time focused on one thing and not just jumping, you know, to to plan B or keep keep in in the case of this time of year, keep searching until you find what you're looking for. You know, that is that's the one big thing that I always say.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, and and think about tournament fishing. There have been several tournaments, and there are people in the chat right now that could back this up that I've been out with, and we had the plan, and it was our first. Our first spot is A, and if that's not working, it's B, but it's in that same area and very close to each other. And then the plan is we're gonna fish this way until it gets to be 1130, and then the tide's going to do this. So we want to be at this spot. And if that spot's not working, we have this other spot that we think is going to work, you know, based on the conditions. And and the other side to that though is some people don't stay long enough on a spot. Right? They don't stick to the plan long enough. They don't put enough into it. And it, you know, this this is a another point that kind of bleeds into this is some people will go to a place and they'll single drift it. Right. So they'll go over one piece and they'll go over once and then they'll keep going. And next thing you know, you've drifted two miles and you didn't get anything. You didn't really fish a spot, you fished maybe three feet of a spot in that one drift in in just like a line down a channel. And to me, then they pick up and they leave. And to me, you haven't given it what you should have given it. If that spot checks out and those variables should line up for you, you should have confidence in that and give it another two, three, four drifts until you're really sure that you've hit it every way from every angle, and then move on. And I will say this is probably why I see a lot of kayak fishermen outfish boats on certain days where it's more of a grind day. It seems the kayaks, because you can't just pick up with most kayaks, you know, you can't just pick up and just motor somewhere else a mile and a half away and be there in a minute, right?

Scotty Sevins:

It it's yeah, it forces what you have.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Right, right. So you make sure you work it. So yeah, but that's that's a good point that that Ben brings up there.

Scotty Sevins:

So uh I also have another one similar to that. So and I used to make this mistake all the time, especially this time of year. Like, I always leave in the dark, you know, and I'll have an idea of where I want to go. And I I'm I'm running, running, running, running for miles in the dark, just to realize that I missed the bait pod in the dark 10 miles back, and now you're just finding out about it from you know your buddy that might be out on the water. And that that's something I used to do all the time. And I started to approach things a little more methodically in that way. You know, I'll still have an idea of where I want to go, but some days I'll really take my time searching, especially while it's still dark out and you can't visually see see the bait pods, and you don't so I'll I'll take my time a little more and like using like all my senses. In fact, I just made a post about that, and that that's another thing that uh I'm a big believer in too. Not just fishing with your eyes, but sense of smell is a big one. What you can hear when you're quiet, you know. I I just the other day I I took that approach and I didn't because I didn't want to blow past bait, and I I kind of I I just crept along really, really slowly, pulling it out of gear, smelling uh a lot of times I'll get the smell, I'll I'll smell a bunker pod before I'll even see them or hear them a lot of times. You know that they're around. Then like it was still dark out and had the boat at total idle. I could I could hear off in the distance, I could hear like the splash, the little bit of splashing and everything. So using all your senses is a big one, especially if you know you might be in a lot of fog or you're fishing in the dark or low light times, you know. So that's a big one to keep in mind.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah. And I would say if you're going to go out that way, if you have side scan, you should be slowing down every once in a while and just checking the side scan. It's the same thing as your vision. It's amazing what you can pick up, you know, 100 feet off to the sides. I mean, you're covering, you know, you're not covering a ton of water, but you're covering, you know, 200 feet plus, and you'll get to see what's there. And all you're looking for for striped bass specifically is the bait pods.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I have mine set on 200, I believe, looking out 200 feet to each side, which might be a little much, but like uh when I'm going at like a high rate of speed, or you know, it just helps me kind of like narrow it down.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, I mean it's like a search bait, you know, you're just hauling it as far as you can to see, you know, is there anything of interest, any reason to stop and actually spend time here?

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So I I think that's a great one. I think it's a it's a great thing to think about. And I I know a lot of people don't think about it, they just kind of set it on cruise and just start going.

Scotty Sevins:

Do you have side scan on your kayak, Rich?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

I do. Yeah, that's awesome. That's yeah, I only help I only use it to look for bunker. So I I don't use it for I never turn it on unless I'm looking for bunker, to be honest with you. Really? You know, I don't need it for striped bass, I don't, I you know, I don't need it for other things like that. I I use it just to find the schools of bait. And that's it.

Scotty Sevins:

It's I will say it's amazing the things that you can locate, even in the back bay, like rubble piles and structure that you never knew was there, just by having your side scan on as much as possible.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yep. If I were more into the bottom fishing in the kayak, yeah, as far as like you know, tog fishing and and so on and so forth, I I would definitely be I would have that on all the time. Yeah. You know, moving between spots, I would be scanning everything. You know, sheep's head, I would be scanning because we all fish bridges, but bridges are just the easy way to do it. They're they're all over. If you can find the pieces anywhere, I mean, you're you're you're just gonna be all over them. But I don't do a lot of sheep's head and tog, I like cold water tog, which means I'm not in the kayak, I'm jumping on a boat.

Scotty Sevins:

Right.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So so it's a little different for me, but yeah, I I think using the side scan and understanding how to use your electronics is a huge piece. You know, I can't tell you how many people, and you've seen this, they buy this great, you know, this great fish finder. They're like, this is great. I got side scan, I got, you know, look at this high definition. They never dial it in and they don't know how to use it. You know, I I can't tell you how many people I've seen uh in kayaks and they're looking at their side scan. I'm like, you have it reversed. That's not your right, that's your left. Right. And I don't know how they did it. Like it should default the right direction. But yeah, they're like they're looking at structure, I'm like that, just switch it. Like that's your right hand side. That fish is on your right, but you think it's on your left because you have it set up wrong.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, I guess, and knowing how, yeah, knowing how to read what like a side scan properly, because it it is really confusing when you first try and start start to figure it out.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Oh, yeah, because it doesn't, it's not the same as a traditional sonar. It's not at all. It does different things and you have to look at it from a different perspective. So uh we could put that as a mistake, not not knowing your electronics. But yeah, I I think you you bring a good point. You know, it was it was commented in there, I think Paul said running over fish to get to fish. Yeah, don't do that.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, uh and people like running running over feeds. I know we already covered that, but just like blitzing bass and people just running right through it, or and and not again, not knowing how to approach a feed properly, you know, to where uh you're not gonna disturb them and they'll move towards you instead of you pushing them away.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Right, right. All right, how about this one? Here's another one. I I submit to you in most cases, not all, in most, and I'm thinking more specifically summer fishing. Yeah, following the fleet. You don't know where you're gonna go, so you just go to where other boats are. Yeah, and I'm gonna tell you that is one of the biggest mistakes that you can possibly make because it is I I don't know if this is a fact or not, but I'm gonna say at least 90% of people drive in their own boats have no freaking idea where they're going, and probably at least 75% of them followed somebody else who didn't know what they were doing.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

So you end up just kind of stacking up on people who are only there because you know, maybe they caught a fish there two years ago, but it's a totally different situation, you know, different conditions and everything. So they go there. Somebody else goes out and saying, I don't know where to go. Oh, there's a boat over here. Let's check out near them. So now both are thinking, oh, well, there's someone else here. There must be fish. And then the third comes up, and it's just like this vicious cycle of people fishing just because somebody got there first and started fishing. Now, that doesn't necessarily apply to all types of fishing, right? I mean, if there's a school of bunker and there's 30 boats around it, and you know, there's a good chance that they're there because they found the fish there. But for other, you know, when you're fishing specific spots, I think that happens all too often. People just see boats and they just head for boats, and nobody knows it. There's there's nothing to say that they know why they're there. If you can't figure out why they're there, they probably shouldn't be there.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, so an another, well, mistake too, but it helps me out in the way, is people not leaving early enough and leaving too late or missing a tide. You know what I mean? Because sometimes and tide, tide can like really correlate to fishing out front as well, on on certain days or certain moon phases that like aren't as favorable. Like we've had like days this year where you would you the the those fish would only turn on like after that tide switch, and you would get like a short window out, you know what I mean? So yeah, leaving early enough, you know what I mean? That's like like leaving the dock too late. That I I feel like that's that that is a big mistake.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can often miss the window. I don't want to get up at this time. Okay, well, you're probably gonna miss the window.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, and and and I actually made that mistake the other day, actually. But um it happens to everybody.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah. Oh, yeah, it definitely does. And I I mean I'm guilty of it. I'm like, I I'm not gonna go, so I'll suffer. But I know that if I'm not gonna go and be there at first light because I don't want to get up at 3 a.m. Yeah, I I I've made that decision that I'm going to miss the best bite of the day.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

And and if and if I still go, then that was fine with me. And I just accept it. But there are people that go and they think, well, it's still gonna be good at 10 a.m. Recent reports say it's not, so I don't know why you think it's going to be today. Um, unless it just happened to flip the trend today.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, the it I'm telling you, Rich, it's just so crazy how different every single day has been this year. Yeah. You know, from an ocean that's alive and boiling, and the like the most natural, national geographic, epic things you ever saw to the next day. Totally dead. Yeah. All the bait's still there. Yep. All the bait's still there. Nothing changed, you know. But yeah, it's crazy.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

All right, what else you got?

Scotty Sevins:

So uh oh, I talked already about burning past the fish and driving too far because that that was a big one with me. Taking care of your tackle, that's I am so bad with this, you know, because really, when it comes down to it, that's the like you spend all this time, money, and it gets so amped to hook like the fish that you've always wanted to hook, but then your your reel seizes up because you didn't have it serviced or or something to that effect. Or you your your tip has been loose for like a couple trips now, but now now your tip, like you're on the water, and now your tip fell off, and you're kind of in in a pit. You know what I mean? And this it's something that happens to me all the time. In fact, I'll call myself out on this one. Like, I think I broke like the second or third guy down on my rod, so it didn't exactly affect it. It was still fishable, and I still fished for a couple of weeks before I took it to like my rod guy to have like spun up and fixed. You know what I mean? It's stuff like that, but it would get it would often get tangled every time you want to make a cast, it you know. So taking care of your gear properly, that's that's one of the biggest things, and it's something that I really need to take my own advice on.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, so I'm I'm pretty good with the the more expensive gear, so like the rods and the reels. What I'm bad at is hooks and lures. Yeah, Scotty, I can't tell you how much money I waste because you know I'll fish a bucktail and I'll just like throw it in a bucket and I won't even rinse it. And I won't, but here's the thing, and here's where I don't make a mistake, I just kind of suffer the consequences of my actions. I won't fish it after that. Yeah, I'll just have to get a new one. So I just end up wasting money because uh I I believe I this is stupid, but I'll say it out loud. I think I may have said it before. In my mind, every single drop when I'm fishing salt water has a potential for a world record something. So I want to approach it that way. So I will not put a crappy rusted hook or a previously bent hook or a a white bucktail that turned brown because it was sitting next to something that rusted out. Yeah. So I I won't.

Scotty Sevins:

Listen, I got $70 plugs that are sitting in my plug bucket right now with that exact thing on it and rusty hook. Like I this is something I am horrible at, Rich. And again, I'm calling myself right out for it. I got a whole bucket full of stuff that's like you either have to replace all the all the trebles and uh split rings on them now, or or just throw it away. And depending on, I mean, if it's a nice plug, you know, like a big expensive plug, like I'll do it. But that costs a lot of money, and it's easier to just wash it off and dry it out and take care of it the first time than it is to have to, you know, and and I am super guilty of that. Also, the way I store, especially my soft plastics for the fall, is I'll hang them. I have a bucket that I'll hang them on, so all the tails will be flopped over, right? Well, guess what? After a couple weeks, they're permanently flopped over, and that bait doesn't swim right. Okay, like I have a like a it was like a $40 like hoagie, hoagie tuna lure, and uh 40 bucks, man. That's a lot of money. And that it the it doesn't swim right now because the turp the tail has a permanent uh like bend in it, you know?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yep. Well, and and you see actually people with fishing rods like that too, because they store it with tension on it, and it's you know, where they lean it against a wall in a corner and it gets a permanent. Now it's usually the fiber class that'll do that most easily, but yeah, like those types of things. That that's a huge mistake. I make that mistake with my terminal tackle all the time. I totally admit it, and I have spent thousands of dollars just buying just bucktails alone. I mean, I'll I'll I I I took my kayak in a couple of weeks ago, finally got the garage cleaned up and the way I wanted it, got the kayak in there, and I noticed that my my fluke bucktails are not only in, I knew they were in there, but the waterproof tackle box was open. So water it didn't fill with water, but it filled, it was almost like a greenhouse of moisture. So, you know, that that's probably about I mean, you figure they're like five to eight dollars each, and I think I threw out maybe 25 of them.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, get so expensive real quick.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, and and yeah, so anyway, that that to me is a huge mistake. Huge mistake. I I agree with you. What about what about the mistake? Do you make the mistake of you probably don't anymore, but I I I'm gonna make a statement here. Okay, shoot. And I'm gonna be overly dramatic with it, just to kind of, even though it's what I say is not perfectly true. If you break a fishing rod, yeah, it is your fault. If you break your fishing rod, it is your fault. All right, not 100% of the time, but you have probably either A high sticked it, or B, damaged it in transit or storage, you know, chipped the laminate or something like that, and weakened a spot on it. I I have watched people on the water snap a rod and then insist they weren't high sticking. And you're literally the definition of high sticking. You don't want to go much past 45 degrees on these things typically, and they're loading the tip of that rod and snapping the rod. And that is a huge mistake. And most of us will do it on purpose, and hopefully you understand you're doing it because then you can, you know, you can try to accommodate what you're doing wrong, but that's a huge mistake. There are a lot of people that high speed.

Scotty Sevins:

Another one that's happened, it's happened so many times. Like you'll reel the fish up too close to the rod tip, right? And you'll go and pick it up, and guess what? The fish flops out of your hands, your rod standing straight up, and boom, the way that the fish coming down snaps your rod tip off. I actually have video, I'm not gonna say the person by name, of this happening, but yeah, I I I've seen it happen too many times. I've done it myself. Yeah, I've also made the mistake of using too nice a gear for the fish that I was targeting and being upset like when I broke it, you know what I mean? Like, or like so, for instance, and now I did this strike bass fishing twice, too, mind you, with two of my rods. But like, I'll have a fish take a run like around the front of the boat, and you can't get around the front fast enough, right? Yeah, and the fish, your line runs around the cleat of the boat, and and as as as your rod tip touches the cleat of the boat, that fish runs and boom, snaps, you're done. Yeah, that the cleat thing has happened to me twice, as a matter of fact, and I broke one when it ran around an engine as well, as a matter of fact.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Something on I broke I broke one on an engine. Yeah, I see it happen on kayaks a lot. If a fish takes you across the bow and you have a rod that's too short, you're you're almost guaranteed to high stick it. Yeah, I mean, there's there's almost nothing that you can do, especially if you have your drag too tight. Yeah, which brings me into another one. That's okay. Now I'm gonna make fun of people online on this one. Yeah, we've all seen these absolutely ridiculous asses that show their videos of them hooking up. It's usually on a beach, and they grab that rod and they set that hook, and they're like, you know, they're powering backwards and they're putting everything in, and then they're getting pulled towards the water and all that stuff. It being overly, and look, we know that they're making it all up, it's all BS. There's no fish that's actually doing that. Right. But but the overly aggressive, I'm not saying hook set. You you can set hooks very aggressive if you have as long as you do it in line with what your tackle is.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Like bass fishermen, they can do that because their tackle is meant for that. But this whole thing about just power on power on power to to horse that fish in, I think what people don't realize is the harder you're pulling that fish, the harder it's pulling back.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

And it can be bad on the rod, but more importantly, it can be really bad for the fish. Yeah. Because you are bringing it to ultra stress immediately. So if you want a really stressed fish to go into your ice box, okay, I I guess I would assume that it's going to make it taste a little bit different. But if you want to release it, I mean you're you're doing about as much damage as you can before we get into my next point, you know, by by just making it barrel through the water because you're just, you know, way too aggressive on it.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, and uh it kind of uh playing off that same note too. And it's something that when I'm guiding, I see happen all the time, all the time. People doing a super high hook set, and as soon as they drop the rod tip down, the hook pops out because yeah, slack. Yeah, because you got slack in the line. And especially with certain fish, and you know this with flounder, like you don't want to pump the rod with certain species. There's actually a few species that you don't really want to pump the rod, just a steady, even reel, because the more up and down, you know, that you have going, it's just more chance for and the further your rod travels up and down, it's just more chance for that frit fish that there to get a little slack in the line and that fish uh to get away. Yeah, right. It's it's something that happens on my boat weekly, I would say.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah. And I make that mistake all the time with fluke. I I will absolutely raise and lower the rod. Right. I'm very careful, but I know I'm doing it wrong. I I know because I I don't need to do that. I I set the hook hard and I should just reel it in and just leave it. Yeah, leave it at the right angle and just reel it slowly. That is the proper way to do it. I do not do it that way. I make that mistake on 100% of the fish that I catch, unless you know, of keeper size. The little guys, I just you know, I don't even get excited about them. I just kind of reel them. Yeah, you can usually tell. Yeah, so I I I'm definitely guilty. I'm definitely guilty of that one. 100%. All right, handling fish improperly. Yeah. I have to bring this up. So there are certain things that you need to know about fish, right? And if you're going to release them, if you're going to keep them, I don't care what you do. You know, as long as you're not torturing the fish, I it doesn't matter to me. Hold them vertically, whatever. But fish are not built to be held vertically out of the water. So when you're holding up your striped bass vertically, I get it if you're just lifting it up and you're turning it horizontal and you're trying to support it. But no, even just lifting it that way is going to damage it. Understand that they have slime coats for a reason. So when people get on you because your your beach striped bass or your beach bluefish is covered in sand and they they talk about how you breaded it, that's not good for them. It'll pull it off. If you're in a kayak and you pull it onto your lap because you want to keep it horizontal, that's great. But if you're wearing a dry suit and that dry suit is not wet before you pull it up there, you just pulled all the slime off of it. So there are certain things that you you need to keep in mind. You can grab the gilt plate and you're not going to injure it. The fact is, those same 90% of people that can't find their own spots don't know how to hold a fish by the gill plate without hitting the gills. You are you are probably killing it.

Scotty Sevins:

That's a that's a big irk for me. I I don't I I I hate I hate seeing people holding fish by a gill plate, especially ones you're intending to release, you know.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Well, yeah, if you're gonna keep it, I I get it. It's very good.

Scotty Sevins:

No, that yeah, I I I agree with that statement. I I would say like 98% of what I do is like catch and release, but yeah, holding it by the gill plates is just yeah, what one of one of the worst ways that you could hold a fish for sure.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, people get upset, they're like, oh, he's holding it by the gill plate, it's fine. It's like it maybe if you did it, because maybe you know how, but a lot of people don't realize just how close those actual gills are and what the what the gills what the gills do. It's similar to the people that are trying to revive fish and they're pulling them backwards through the water.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, yeah. The backs don't work that way, guys. Yeah. So yeah, I totally agree with you. And there has been so many fish that like, especially like in the fall, and even in the back bay, I'll have to do this sometimes with like some of the bigger bass, where like I'll actually have to take the additional time. Just because a fish floats right away doesn't mean it's it's dead or can't be revived. Um a lot of times you you you really should take the extra time to try and revive the fish. Like I always do this. Like I'll if if I see a fish floating, I I either know whether it's in tonic immobility. Does it I'm not sure if everyone knows what that is, but sharks, if you turn them on their back, that it puts them in like a trance-like state where they're they're just they're almost like comatose and they can't swim or move. But if you right side them, they'll go. So I usually know if a fish is in tonic immobility and you can just poke it, or that I'll actually have to put the boat in gear and swim that fish along, like you're you're kind of trolling that fish along in the water for a minute or two, and you could usually get them to kick off that way. But uh proper proper fish revival is a big thing. And you know, there's sometimes, you know, you hooked one in the in the gill and it just bled, and there's your your cockpit looks like a murder mess, and there's nothing you can do about that. But taking the time for extra taking the extra care to revive fish goes a long way in their you know post-catch survivability.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah. I think the next one is doesn't even need to be said, but based on that same thing that you just said, if you hook it too deep, just just cut the line as far down into its mouth as you can and let it go right away. Revive it and let it go. I see a lot of people really proud that they saved their $5 lure.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Like get over yourself. You don't need your five-dollar lure. You should you should never cast a line out and if you're not willing to lose what's on that line. And look, it maybe I'm being a little too preachy on it, but I I don't think killing a fish, any fish, even a dog fish, is worth it for a lure. Just put it back in the water and let it go and cut it as far in as you can.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah, I totally agree with you. In fact, and this was like years ago, one of my biggest backwater bass at that point in time had had broken off somebody's leader, you know, had gotten away. And the fish had swallowed it, it was all the way down its throat, you know what I mean? And it had like it was trailing like three or four feet a liter, even when I caught them. And when I caught them, I of course I cut that as deep as as I could have. But just because they're hooked deep doesn't mean that they're not going to survive, right?

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah, to give them a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a few. All right, we're we're getting up to our time we're over 10. I do want to mention let's see I have uh two more the first one is when you're when you're fishing and it's not not talking pelagics not talking about migrating species but talking about specific you know think again fluke weak fish speckled trout redfish things like that you're fishing spots not areas so just because you're in the area of a spot doesn't mean that you're fishing that spot the spot is the actual structure and the convergence of currents and you know the bait collection that's the spot and that's why it's often takes more than one drift or more than one cast to get in there because there's it's it's almost impossible to hit it perfectly every time the first time so I I a lot of people say you know I fished here I fished 2 FB W what does that mean? Did you fish the you know the not 2 FB specifically but did you fish the ridge to the south? Did you did you fish you know this current to the north what what did you do? That's not a spot that's an area you fished in the area of this buoy you didn't you didn't unless you actually literally fished the buoy so I think that a lot of people think they're fishing spots but they're not they're just in an area you know and and a spot can literally be a 20 by 20 spot. It could be just if you missed it by three feet you didn't fish the spot and and I think that people need to realize that and that's where electronics do come in. They are important to understand how to find the structure I don't use them to find fish unless they're bunker but you know learn how to read your electronics because you could be fishing the area and not actually the spot that's going to produce for you.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah I I I agree with you and on that similar note Rich playing off of that like especially pertaining to like backwater stripe bass and flats fishing for stripe bass like you could have a point that's holding you know a half a dozen fish you know and you could with one improperly placed cast you could spook that entire school there and you just blew an opportunity you know so that that is a big one. I I've definitely seen that happen especially with big big top order plugs and stuff like that. I've done it tons of times you hit the wrong you hit the wrong area I do that with docs like in in progress or or you're not you're you're you're working with the current and you you sh because you got like a wind against tide and you know I I don't know it's it's just something I I've done plenty of you know and and you can actually see the fish leave you can actually see them wake away and spook them all.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

If you want an education go to a flat and actually take a look at what you know where you can see the fish. You know like fish the outer banks go back in the sound in Pamlico and and just stand up and fish and you you realize very quickly that it does make a difference that you put it five feet to the left. It does because you just spooked off the entire freaking school of redfish ask me how I know. Yeah you know I'm not incredibly accurate like you know in the northeast you don't typically have to be that accurate unless you're fishing flats. Well down there it's very humbling because it's not just oh there were no fish there. It was oh my god I saw these six fish and I literally spooked them because I didn't hit my spot. Yeah definitely all right I have one more that I want to bring up and this was this was given to me by a friend and he with his and his wife agreed one big mistake that saltwater fishermen make is they bring their wife fishing with them and expect to outfish them. Oh because it never happens there we go okay yeah so I actually I'll be honest I actually have that experience with my wife she typically outfishes me really when we when we go out fishing yeah yeah it used to it used to annoy me when we were you know before we got married it used I'd be like what the hell is happening you know I'm on the boat like she's never gone or she's only gone a couple times and I remember one time I'm out there it's me and my dad and my wife we weren't married at the time but and we're fishing and my dad just he's like elbowing me I'm like what he's like what the hell is happening I was like I don't know he's like we shouldn't even be fishing she was catching like four or five fish for every one that we caught it was it was the most the most annoying thing I I say it all the time my favorite one of my favorite things to do is to to guide for women because they they truly do in a lot of cases in most cases end up out fishing the men they really do.

Scotty Sevins:

Yeah so just just say never underestimate a woman on the water.

Rich Natoli - Fat Dad Fishing:

Yeah don't expect just because you bring somebody and it shouldn't just say whys but don't expect the real point that that they were both making was uh if you take somebody out for the first time or somebody inexperienced don't automatically assume that you're going to have better results than them on that especially on the first day. Oh yeah but but but she the the wife I'm not gonna say any names but she wanted to also point out that she also has the biggest deer for this year. So the same carries ever for hunting. Awesome. Yeah so all right are there one do you have any others you want to do or are we ready to wrap this one up? I I think I'm uh I'm good nothing pressing but this this was a fun one yeah we could go for 43 days I mean there's a lot of good ones there's a lot of good ones in there a lot of people making fun of uh you know I apparently have a Barbie rod that I broke don't have a Barbie rod Thomas the tank engine rod is what I have yeah yeah there's a there's a lot of good ones in there a lot of good points in there um people that don't like kid rock music playing just because it's kid rock apparently gangster rap from the 90s is really a draw to fluke uh yes I'll second that biggie yeah Wu Tang uh is for the children and for the fluke is what it's saying. So yeah so okay so maybe if we're gonna play music we have to we have to switch it up a little bit. So yeah so Scotty thanks for coming on I appreciate it. Uh everyone thanks for tuning in and uh look if if you know anyone that you think might enjoy these would appreciate a share to everyone. And by the way we're only two subscribers under 3700 I think or 3600 one of those two but wow uh the channel's been growing pretty well and the podcast is going bananas. So thank you to everybody uh obviously people are sharing out and it is greatly appreciated. We'll be back next week don't know the topic yet it's that time of year but we'll figure something out everyone until next next week get out there get on the water and get some tight lines

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Rich Natoli

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