When I first started doing fishing seminars in the 1990’s I needed a format to teach fishing that made sense.  A formula that would help anglers prioritize factors, make better decisions, analyze information and make it easier to zero in on a pattern.  I settled on the 8 steps in the early 2000’s and have taught it countless hundreds of times to countless thousands of anglers.  The system is the foundation to EVERY decision I make on the water, from where and how deep to fish, to how fast to run and what my presentation should look like. 

Take a few seconds to look over the System.  The items are listed in order of importance to catching fish.  The higher an item is on the list, the more critical it is to be right.  Items lower on the list are irrelevant UNTIL all the items above it are correct.  Now ask yourself a simple question; Are you fishing backwards?  Also notice the yellow line that separates the “location” factors (above the line) from the “Presentation” factors (below the line). I am going to make a bold statement that I believe with every bone in my body to be true…if you do everything above the line right, you can do everything below the line wrong and still catch some fish.  Conversely, if you do everything below the line right, but do ONE thing above the line wrong, you will catch NOTHING!